Why Nick Saban turned to Lane Kiffin for his ESPN homework

Nick Saban needed help with his homework, so he called Lane Kiffin.

In preparation for his ESPN analyst role on “College GameDay,” Saban spoke with Kiffin for about 45 minutes last week. Chief among the discussion topics, Saban wanted to polish his knowledge on Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels.

“He was calling to break down the team,” Kiffin told me during our wide-ranging interview last week. “He wanted to know stuff for the season, because he’s attacking his new job.”

Saban, along with his ESPN duties, retains an office at Alabama as an athletic department employee.

Careful, Lane, he’s a mole!

But, really, this was a conversation among former colleagues. And, anyway, Alabama and Ole Miss aren’t scheduled to play each other – at least not during the regular season.

While Kiffin had the GOAT on the phone, he asked his former boss for advice on managing expectations like those Ole Miss will face this season.

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Nick Saban's advice for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss football

Kiffin has the Rebels performing at their highest level since the early 1960s. Ole Miss profiles as a contender for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

Saban knows all about navigating lofty expectations. He reminded Kiffin about the perils of "rat poison." That’s the phrase Saban coined for when media pump a team full of sweet nothings and flatter players with praise and hype.

Saban also told Kiffin the mountain parable. It goes like this:

A team fights to climb to the top of the mountain. Once it reaches the summit, it becomes the mountain, and every opponent tries to conquer you.

“I’m not saying we’re there yet,” Kiffin said. “I’m just saying, that’s what he said, his advice.”

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Did Lane Kiffin predict Nick Saban's retirement?

Before Ole Miss played Alabama last season, Kiffin dropped a few hints suggesting that it would be his final time facing Saban.

Saban hadn’t announced any retirement plans. Did Kiffin possess inside intel? No, Kiffin says, just an ability to read the room and the knowledge that Alabama wasn’t on Ole Miss’ 2024 schedule. He put two and two together.

“Listening to him in press conferences, … his frustration of the direction of college football and NIL and how that affects locker rooms and everyone wanting to transfer twice a year and all of that, that really bothered him, I felt,” Kiffin said, “and so I just kind of felt like this might be it – and certainly might be it within two years, because they weren’t on the schedule the following year.”

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Saban retired in January. He finished with a 5-0 record against Kiffin. Alabama beat Ole Miss 24-10 last September in their final meeting. That loss seemed to really eat at Kiffin in the moment – he even apologized to his athletic director, Keith Carter, after the game – but he says he’s moved past it.

“I try to adopt radical acceptance in all areas of my life now,” Kiffin said.

Did Kiffin want to be Saban's successor? In answer to that, Kiffin referenced some advice his dad, former coach Monte Kiffin, gave him years ago about the perils of replacing legends. Kiffin ignored that advice at Tennessee and Southern Cal, where he succeeded Phillip Fulmer and Pete Carroll, respectively.

The way Kiffin sees it, no act will be tougher to follow than Saban.

“I think (replacing Saban) and taking over for Coach K would be the two ones that pop to my mind of hardest things to do,” Kiffin said, “because you’re always going to be compared to that.”

Kiffin maintains that Ole Miss doesn’t directly benefit from Saban’s retirement, in light of the SEC expanding to 16 teams and eliminating divisions. The Rebels aren’t scheduled to play Alabama in either 2024 or ’25.

Kiffin does, though, suspect someone is awfully happy about Saban’s transition from the sideline to ESPN.

“I think that Kirby Smart had a really big party that day that he retired,” Kiffin said. “That’s just my opinion.”

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.