Twenty-two years after leaving the program, Nick Saban is still doing favors for LSU. According to new head coach Lane Kiffin, it was Saban who convinced him to leave Ole Miss for the Tigers in December.
Kiffin's decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU right before the College Football Playoffs remains one of the most controversial moves in recent history. However, the 50-year-old recently admitted it was Saban who pushed him to make the move, as he had been sitting on the fence.
“When I called Coach Saban and talked with him, he said, ‘You know, Lane, you'll always regret if you don't go to LSU, it's the best job in America,'” Kiffin said, via WAFB sports director Jacques Doucet. “When he said that, that really made the decision for me. It has pushed me. It has gotten me out of a comfort zone. We were doing amazing things [at Ole Miss], but you come here and you feel the power of the place, and it drives you every day to go to another level.”
"You'll always regret, if you don't go to LSU. It's the best job in America."
Nick Saban to @Lane_Kiffin during #LSU effort to land Kiffin as the new @LSUfootball head coach.
"When he said that, that really made the decision for me." @WAFB pic.twitter.com/Oo6VxzwY1F
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) January 20, 2026
Saban might have helped, but LSU's $91 million offer was certainly persuasive as well. That deal is a $4 million-per-year raise and puts him just below Georgia's Kirby Smart, who is the highest-paid coach in college football.
Saban coached LSU from 200 to 2004, after which he left for the vacant position with the Miami Dolphins. Two years later, he returned to college at Alabama, where he remained until his retirement in 2023.
Kiffin briefly worked with Saban at Alabama as his offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016. He joined the legendary coach in Tuscaloosa following his failed stint with USC before eventually leaving for his next head coaching opportunity at Florida Atlantic.
