When Nick Saban hired Lane Kiffin as his offensive coordinator back in January, it raised a few eyebrows. Kiffin didn’t seem like the type to fit in with the notoriously regimented Saban, and his reputation preceded him. Despite the doubts, Kiffin has worked out swimmingly so far, and he’s back on the national stage to show everyone just how good of a coach he is.

Kiffin has been a lot of places in his whirlwind coaching career: Southern Cal, the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee, back to Southern Cal. Other than his first departure from USC, those gigs ended somewhere between poorly and very, very poorly. He was fired in Oakland, hightailed it out of Knoxville and was very publicly let go from his head coaching stint at Southern Cal.

No matter how Kiffin’s time in Tuscaloosa ends, he’s shown in his first year with the Crimson Tide what he’s capable of. From introducing some West Coast and spread elements to Saban’s offense to developing first-year starter Blake Sims into one of the most efficient and outstanding quarterbacks in the country to unleashing Amari Cooper, Kiffin’s fingerprints are all over the Tide. He’s been recognized nationally for it as well, as a finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the country’s best assistant.

This is the most successful team Kiffin’s been a part of, in large part thanks to the work he’s done this year. He never got a true chance to prove himself in Oakland and left Tennessee before seeing what he could build there. Kiffin’s USC teams got worse over time, leading to his firing midway through his fourth season, and is the only place he’s been given a chance to truly fail.

There’s plenty that will be on display for a national audience once again on Saturday: that he can implement his offense effectively, that he can help to mold players, that he can get the most out of talent.

We already knew that, though. There’s a reason Kiffin was hired for an NFL head coaching job at 31, and it’s not just because of his football-famous last name. The issues that swirled around Kiffin before — a knack for pissing people off with his comments, occasionally disregarding NCAA rules and a perceived smugness, all of which turned him into a villain in the college football world, have been silenced at Alabama, as Saban’s coordinators don’t talk to the media.

Kiffin’s name has come up in speculation for a few coaching jobs, and many assume that he’ll move on to take another head coaching job sooner than later. Saban disciples have a mixed record, some with national championships and others with short tenures at the top. Kiffin is more of a Saban graduate student, having already had three head coaching gigs, so if he’s considered a Sabanite he’s just learning refininement.

For now, he’s rehabbing his reputation quietly, with everyone left to guess what he’s thinking when the television cameras catch him on the sidelines, sometimes catching an earful from Saban.

The only thing we do know: Kiffin is shown his worth. Now, he just needs to do it against the best of the best.