Alabama coach Nick Saban is not known for dishing out a lot of effusive praise, so his comments about Ole Miss counterpart Lane Kiffin on Thursday were quite notable.
Kiffin spent three seasons as offensive coordinator under Saban at Alabama, and Saban said on “The Pat McAfee Show” that the current Ole Miss coach was vital in modernizing Alabama’s offense.
“Lane did a fantastic job when he was here,” Saban said, via On3. “We kind of went from old school ball to modern day ball I want to call it, in terms of doing some things with RPOs and advantage throws, and really sort of set us off for the future of what we do on offense and what we’ve been able to do on offense.”
On paper, Saban and Kiffin would not seem to have a lot in common in terms of personality, but the partnership did work. Kiffin has always been quite complimentary of Saban since he left Tuscaloosa, and even spoke of the more difficult moments with some degree of fondness.
Kiffin and Ole Miss got obliterated by Alabama in last year’s matchup, which probably makes the praise come a bit easier.
