Recently, Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin stirred up the college football world when it was announced that he would be abandoning ship and taking the same position at LSU football. As a result, Kiffin will not be able to coach the Rebels on their likely upcoming playoff run and instead will get to work on the recruiting cycle for the Tigers.
On Monday, Kiffin had his first press conference at LSU, and may or may not have hinted that his former head coach when he was the offensive coordinator at Alabama, Nick Saban, encouraged him to make his controversial decision.
“Someone very close to me reminded me this week in this decision, that LSU is the best job in football. When you take the history, tradition, passion, and the great players in the state of Louisiana. No one can argue that when you're in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night, there is nothing like it,” said Kiffin, per SEC Network on X, formerly Twitter.
“Without directly saying it, Lane Kiffin strongly hinted that Nick Saban told him to take the LSU job,” reported Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports on X.
“Coach Saban coached at another place in this conference, so I can't say exactly what he said. But I think the world of Coach Saban, I respect him, and there's a reason I'm here,” said Kiffin later on in the press conference, per Stewart Mandel of The Athletic on X.
Saban coached at LSU prior to his legendary stint at Alabama and helped lead the Tigers to a national title at one point before bolting for Tuscaloosa.
Kiffin will now hope to follow in those footsteps and lead LSU football back into the national title discussion for the first time since they won the whole thing back in 2019-20.
The Tigers' visit to Oxford to take on Ole Miss will certainly be a sight to behold next season.
