Lane Kiffin credits Nick Saban, Pete Carroll for shaping his coaching philosophy

Not many coaches get the type of opportunities that Lane Kiffin did through his various stops as an assistant coach in his career. Now the Ole Miss coach, Kiffin cut his teeth under Pete Carroll at USC from 2001-06.

The Trojans won back-to-back national championships in 2003 and 2004, and Kiffin eventually left to become a head coach in 2007. He first took over the Oakland Raiders before returning to the college game in 2009 at Tennessee. He spent one year in Knoxville before returning to USC as the head coach in 2010.

That ultimately didn’t work out, as Kiffin was fired from USC five games into the 2013 season. Looking to rebuild his career, he got a call from Nick Saban to be the offensive coordinator at Alabama.

He would go on to spend the next three seasons in Tuscaloosa and helped lead the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 2015. That experience helped him prepare to become a head coach again and change some of his approach with the lessons he learned.

“(Saban) was awesome for those three years,” Kiffin said on The Pat McAfee Show. “To give me that opportunity to come and work with him, again, think about those defensive coaches I got to be around. I got to be the offensive coordinator for a national championship Alabama Nick Saban team and USC national championship teams. That’s unbelievable to have those opportunities to learn from. I just take a lot of both Pete Carroll and Nick Saban and what they did and have kinda combined it to what we are here. I think we’re a real combination of both.”

Kiffin spent three years at Florida Atlantic following his time under Saban. After two 11-win seasons, he was offered the Ole Miss job in 2020.

He went 5-5 in his first season in Oxford, but has directed the Rebels to double digit wins in three of the four seasons since. This year he has the team off to a 4-0 start heading into a matchup against No. 4 LSU this weekend.

Lane Kiffin knows that he wouldn’t be in the position he is today without what both Carroll and Saban taught him. In particular, the opportunity that Saban gave him following his firing from USC enabled Kiffin to revitalize his career and learn new perspectives on the game. You’ll still see the influence in how Ole Miss plays today.