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Lane Kiffin explains the best lesson he learned from Nick Saban
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Lane Kiffin is still trying to find consistency as a head coach in college football, and he credits his former boss for teaching him an important lesson.
Kiffin has had varying levels of success as a head coach, but he has yet to stick with a program for the long haul. He has had head coaching stops at Tennessee, USC, and in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. He is now serving as head coach at Florida Atlantic University where the Owls are 4-3 this season.
Kiffin’s most successful stint as a head coach to this point came at USC with the Trojans. The team went 28-15 over parts of four seasons before things went south.
Following his stay with USC, Kiffin signed on to be Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama. Needless to say, the partnership provided plenty of fireworks in Tuscaloosa. Kiffin helped guide the Tide offense to three straight Playoff appearances and the 2015 National Championship.
During a recent appearance on the 3HL Show on 104.5 The Zone, Kiffin reflected on his time spent under Saban, and he shared the biggest lesson he learned from Alabama’s head coach:
“Slow down. You know, he (Nick Saban) takes a long time to make decisions,” said Kiffin. “And that’s not really how I’ve been. That’s not really my personality. There’s a lot to that. He takes a while to make them. It was frustrating at first for me because I was like, ‘Alright, let’s go to the next thing.’ He’s still talking about it. But now I get it, because he’s making a great decision because he’s taking a long time and getting a lot of information before making that final decision.”
It will be interesting to see if Kiffin can turn FAU around or if he will leave for another big-time program. Either way, at least he appears to have learned a big lesson from one of the best.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
