Nick Saban is wrong: It’s time to hate Lane Kiffin again

It’s officially time to hate Lane Kiffin again.

Alabama fans have come to love Lane Kiffin over the past several years. After participating in the Nick Saban Coaching Rehabilitation Program as an analyst, Kiffin was hired as Alabama’s offensive coordinator headed into the 2014 season. He had quite the run of success, first coaxing a then-school record passing season out of converted DB Blake Sims, then riding Derrick Henry to a national title in 2015. Of course, Alabama fans will also remember him being unceremoniously fired by Saban during the 2016 playoffs for failing to properly juggle his new head coach duties at Florida Atlantic with playoff game prep.

Lane became a classic comeback story, turning FAU around and parlaying that success into the Ole Miss job. He spoke fondly through the years about his time at Alabama, and his bond with Nick Saban. He also showed his chops as a professional social media troll, much to the amusement of fans from across the south, and spoke aplenty about the role of faith and family in his life.

In a few years, this man who was seen as one of the sport’s nepo-baby douchebags thanks to his time at Tennessee and USC had completely turned his image around.

That is, until this week.

Ole Miss is enjoying one of the greatest football seasons in school history, poised to host a college playoff game after going 11-1 in the SEC, the only blemish an 8-point loss to 4th-ranked Georgia. They should be one of the heartwarming storylines headed into December.

Alas, Kiffin has decided to negotiate with, and accept, a job with hated rival LSU before that job was finished. Worse, he is reportedly raiding the offensive staff.

Everything about this is disgusting.

Lane is getting paid an absurd amount of money to coach football, as his SEC peers are. He looked into the eyes of players and sold them on the dream of bringing a championship to Oxford. With his leadership, they navigated a tough schedule and put themselves in position to do it, only to see their leader leave them at the altar.

As you might expect, the players are pissed.

To make matters worse, for perhaps the first time in memory, Alabama legend Nick Saban is on the wrong side of history here.

On the surface, Nick isn’t wrong about the calendar. LSU’s motivation to pressure Jimmy Sexton into getting a commitment now has everything to do with the transfer portal dates and high school signing period. But it’s still a cop out that seems to absolve Lane of any responsibility.

This is the same man who publicly complained about students leaving games early, leading to a controversial tracking system for punishment purposes. He famously spoke to his players through the media with regularity, and finishing the job was often a key topic.

When Blake Barnett decided to leave the team during the 2016 season, after Jalen Hurts had cemented the starting QB job, Saban had this to say.

“There’s certain things that I was taught growing up about not quitting and seeing things through. I think if I would have come home and told my dad that I was going to quit the team, I think he would have kicked me out of the house. I don’t think I’d have a place to stay.”

Kiffin reportedly wanted to finish out the season with his team before leaving to Red Stick, but Ole Miss is not interested for obvious reasons. This is nothing like a coordinator taking a head coach job in another league and juggling those duties. It would be a sitting head coach recruiting for a hated rival in the same conference, one state over, with full access to recruits and players at both schools. Ole Miss was right to tell him to move on. The quitting was in talking to LSU about the opening during the season. A man of character simply would not.

What Saban should have done here is look into the camera and speak to Lane, the same way that he spoke to his players as a coach. He should have told Lane that the grass isn’t always greener, that loyalty is a two-way street. He should have told Lane that negotiating for a new job before the season is over is akin to quitting. It’s bad for the sport, it’s bad for his players, and it ruins all of the good will that Lane has managed to rebuild.

Saban’s comments are disappointing, and Lane Kiffin is the pariah that he deserves to be.

And all of it is sad.