Nick Saban strongly endorses LSU's hiring of Lane Kiffin

On Sunday, LSU announced the hiring of Lane Kiffin as the next head coach of the football program, sending shockwaves throughout the country. Part of the reason Kiffin took the job was because of advice from mentors like Saban and Pete Carroll, two of the most accomplished football coaches of this century.

On Tuesday afternoon, LSU released a statement from Sabvan on Kiffin getting the job:

“Lane Kiffin played a significant role in helping us win a national championship at Alabama, and I’ve always said he’s one of the brightest offensive minds and one of the best play callers I’ve ever been around. He brought creativity, energy, and a real competitive spirit to everything he did. Lane has done a fantastic job everywhere he’s been a head coach, especially with the success he built at Ole Miss and the turnaround he led at Florida Atlantic. I have no doubt he’ll be a great fit at LSU, and I’m confident he’ll continue to elevate the tradition and meet the expectations of that program at a high level.”

Kiffin talked at length about the importance of those two in helping him make this decision and with that, helping guide him as he wrestled staying at Ole Miss or taking this chance.

“I felt like, everyone I talked to outside of the state I was in, all basically said the same thing, ‘you are going to regret it if you don’t take the job at LSU’,” Kiffin said. “It’s the best job in America with the best resources. It’s been done here by several people before. Pete Carroll told my dad that he’d always look out for me and he said ‘This is exactly what he would tell you to go do.’ Coach Saban coached at another place, so I cant say exactly what he said, but there’s a reason I’m here.”

Now, Kiffin is locked in on building his staff and attacking the rebuild for this program over the coming month. There’s plenty to do and with the support of the university, he has the freedom to shape everything exactly how he likes before the portal opens on Jan. 2.

“Our immediate priorities are assembling the best staff in the country and securing top talent,” Kiffin said. “The mission is simple: bringing the best players in the country to LSU, and it starts right here in the state of Louisiana. To win big, as you go through this decision, and you look at different places and all the things involved, to win big, everyone has to be pulling in the same direction.

And I felt through this process that the leadership here at LSU was aligned and all in place to give us that. I know that with the passion of the LSU family and our LSU players, we have everything we need to bring championship football back to LSU. It’s time for LSU to take its place back as the best program in all of college football, and that’s what we’re here to do.

So thanks to everybody for showing up. Thank you for believing in me. Let’s go to work, and Geaux Tigers.”