Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban seem to have no beef. Seriously, there’s no bad blood between them, and they’re both making that clear to everyone.

Last week, rumors started flying that Saban made some pretty harsh comments about Kiffin back when they were at Bama together. But that’s “fake” according to people who know the situation.

Pat McAfee, Saban’s new co-host on ESPN’s College GameDay, jumped in to clear things up. On his August 26th show, McAfee addressed the rumors by referring to the supposed quote from an unreleased book by Armen Keteyian, titled “The Price: What It Takes to Win In College Football’s Era of Chaos.” The quote claimed that Saban once said, “I’m going to fire you Jimmy forever talking me into hiring that narcissistic pr**k.” But here’s the thing—this quote supposedly came from a sports agent, Jimmy Sexton, who has flat-out denied ever saying anything like that.

McAfee and his co-host both pointed out how these kinds of baseless rumors often come from anonymous sources and fan blogs, spreading like wildfire on the internet. McAfee’s co-host even joked, “Blame AI,” and McAfee agreed, saying,  “There could be fake accounts like there’s you know people tell stories about like a narrative wanting to be built. So you get a bunch of bots and send them.” Even in the end, McAfee made it clear: “It’s all fake, not even real.” 

So, let’s just listen to what the humans Kiffin and Saban themselves have to say. It’s a no-brainer that both coaches have denied the rumors.

Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban react to the rumor

It’s easy to see why some people believed the rumors about Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin. After all, Saban is known for his tough love, while Kiffin is all about having fun on the field. But their time together at Alabama proved that opposites can attract, especially when it comes to football.

Saban brought Kiffin in to modernize Alabama’s offense, and it worked great! For 3 seasons, they made it to the playoffs every year, even winning a national championship. Even though Saban let Kiffin go after the 2017 season, it wasn’t because of any feud. It’s all for a good cause as Kiffin was ready for a new challenge as the head coach at Florida Atlantic.

Even Nick Saban himself denies such baseless rumors about them by simply stating, “I never made them.” And not just him, this Monday, even Kiffin had the opportunity to clear the air. In a press meet, he clapbacked at fake reports, saying, “I think it’s a shame when people make comments and they write things with quotation marks. And then you know the coach or the agent says they’ve never spoken to the writer about that subject.” Looks like with both giving their statements, there’s not much to speculate here. The drama ends for good!