If we have the entire conversation regarding what makes Nick Saban the GOAT, everyone would probably always talk about the wins and the trophies and stuff. However, what one would skip is the fact that Nick Saban had to deal with some weird staff issues back in Alabama. When major teams go 4-8 and tell you that their entire staff was a mess, well, Alabama had the same problem yet they were the champions and that is what makes Saban great. Now, why are we even discussing this? Well, the biggest headache for Saban during his entire coaching history at Alabama has to be Lane Kiffin.

We got Josh Pate on his show Late Kick on August 23rd talking about his entire firsthand experience of watching the Saban-Kiffin fallout happen inside the stadium. “Ellis Ponder turns his back, Lane runs into the locker room and jumps in the shower. I believe he got left at the building that night,” Pate noted. At this point, we all know that Kiffin was some sort of a rebel during his time with the Tides. Saban has even gone on to bash Jimmy Sexton who had first suggested hiring Lane. Back at the Stadium, what exactly happened was that Ellis Ponder (current athletics director at the Crimson Tide) was getting everyone ready to leave. However, while everyone was set and had their bags of food and had showered, and were sitting on the bus, Kiffin was still not there. Ellis had to yell at Kiffin. “It’s time to get on the bus. We gotta go. Everyone else is on the bus,” he had said. Despite all that, Kiffin turned around and went to have a comfortable shower. The team had to leave him at the stadium because of his act.

“So if you want to know how great Nick Saban is, it’s not all the titles he won. It’s the dealt with some of the mess,” Pate noted on his show. They hired Kiffin solely based on the fact that he was young and could get along well with the new generation of players at the time. This backfired big time for Saban. The biggest fallout both had was when Saban first found out that Kiffin was having conversations regarding switching his job even after he had promised Saban that he would do it after the Championship games.

Saban gives Kiffin the cold shoulder

On the same show, Pate also mentioned one more incident that happened between Saban and Kiffin after a kickoff game at Tuscaloosa. “Jimmy Sexton, standing, right there,” Pate mentioned. The scene that happened was that Sexton was waiting inside the stadium for Kiffin with a phone in his hand. This was related to the news of a new position opening up for HC on another team.

Pate was there inside the tunnels when it all unfolded and he said that Saban didn’t even care about Kiffin anymore. “Nick Saban walks down the tunnel. Box right past both of them and no eye contact is made,” Pate noted. The rest of the day Saban did not even interact with Kiffin was off once the game and the celebrations were over. The HC was so pissed that he called up Jimmy Sexton and bashed him for even thinking about hiring Lane Kiffin. Right now, we can say that the entire rivalry has subsided but who knows, maybe the book that revealed it all will bring out some more secrets?