Kiffin comments on 'ass-chewings' from Nick Saban

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

Lane Kiffin, Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, more tell hilarious untold Nick Saban stories

Updated: Feb. 02, 2024, 12:16 p.m.|Published: Feb. 02, 2024, 12:13 p.m.

4–5 minutes

---

If you thought you heard all the Nick Saban stories, you are in for a wild ride.

ESPN caught up with a number of the former Alabama coach’s assistants, including - but not limited to - Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal, Dan Lanning, Charles Huff, Brent Key, Billy Napier, Steve Sarkisian and more.

Each story gives you a deeper insight into the 7-time national championship-winning coach. Many of the stories are just further examples of the 72-year-old’s relentless focus, passion and fire. Of course, there are plenty of reasons to laugh.

Perhaps no assistant is talked about more than Kiffin, now the coach at Ole Miss. The former Alabama offensive coordinator got at least one butt chewing we never heard about. Until now.

The biggest, he told ESPN, took place during the 2016 fall camp during a “good-on-good” drill, which pits the starting offensive and defensive units against each other.

As the story goes, Kiffin was warned by other assistants not to try and make Saban’s defense look bad, but you know Kiffin.

“I’d come from the Pete Carroll camp. I wasn’t wired that way, to let the defense win,” Kiffin told ESPN.

Kiffin had the offense ready with “cool plays,” and, as the story goes, coaches knew Saban wouldn’t be happy.

“We had a really good day on offense, ran some reverses, threw a double pass and had all these touchdowns, and he said that all I was trying to do was win the drill and trick the defense and not help the team,” Kiffin said. “I was like, ‘Isn’t that the point in good-on-good situations on offense, to see if you can move the ball?’

“He was furious.”

In typical Kiffin form, the current Ole Miss coach did an about-face. He did the exact opposite the next day, going conservative in a passive-aggressive way that Kiffin laughs about today.

“Stubborn old Lane, I ran the most generic, basic, under-center offense I could, sort of their old-school offense they ran under Joe Pendry,” Kiffin said. “And the defense killed us. We’d be third-and-8, and I’d have the quarterback under center.”

Kiffin said Saban was mad and wanted an explanation for the conservative look.

“‘I’m just running what I thought you would want me to run against the defense,’” Kiffin answered. “Again, it was just me being smart-ass me.”

That’s when the butt chewing took place. Kiffin said Saban cleared the room of coaches.

“I have to sit there, and he is screaming at me, standing over me screaming as I’m sitting in my chair. I thought he was going to fight me physically,” Kiffin said. “So, yes, I got a lot of ass-chewings, but that’s the biggest one and one that no one saw. But I deserved it.”

Kiffin also shared Saban compared him to a children’s book character, P.J. Funnybunny, a spoiled bunny who went around creating havoc.

“He screamed at me that I was the bunny,” Kiffin said, “and we were like, ‘What the hell is that? There’s no way Coach has read a little kid’s bedtime story like that!’”

The story is just one of the many told in ESPN’s piece. He also talked about when he first saw the softer side of Saban over one Easter.

Other stories include:

• Smart’s “dumb comment” when interviewing with Saban for the LSU defensive backs coach in 2004
• Cristobal’s story about driving in the snow on a recruiting trip with Saban
• Lanning talking about getting a butt chewing for running a drill wrong at Saban’s youth camp for sixth and seventh graders.
• Huff explains how a meeting with Saban during COVID was like a scene out of the movie “Saw.”
• Napier talked about his Saban and Miss Terry always took care of assistants and their families.

Check out the extensive piece at ESPN.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[WillMunny 1,378]

Kiffin's story was hilarious.

[NCAubs 377]

On 2/3/2024 at 9:38 AM, aubiefifty said:

 

Lane Kiffin, Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, more tell hilarious untold Nick Saban stories

Updated: Feb. 02, 2024, 12:16 p.m.|Published: Feb. 02, 2024, 12:13 p.m.

4–5 minutes

---

If you thought you heard all the Nick Saban stories, you are in for a wild ride.

ESPN caught up with a number of the former Alabama coach’s assistants, including - but not limited to - Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal, Dan Lanning, Charles Huff, Brent Key, Billy Napier, Steve Sarkisian and more.

Each story gives you a deeper insight into the 7-time national championship-winning coach. Many of the stories are just further examples of the 72-year-old’s relentless focus, passion and fire. Of course, there are plenty of reasons to laugh.

Perhaps no assistant is talked about more than Kiffin, now the coach at Ole Miss. The former Alabama offensive coordinator got at least one butt chewing we never heard about. Until now.

The biggest, he told ESPN, took place during the 2016 fall camp during a “good-on-good” drill, which pits the starting offensive and defensive units against each other.

As the story goes, Kiffin was warned by other assistants not to try and make Saban’s defense look bad, but you know Kiffin.

“I’d come from the Pete Carroll camp. I wasn’t wired that way, to let the defense win,” Kiffin told ESPN.

Kiffin had the offense ready with “cool plays,” and, as the story goes, coaches knew Saban wouldn’t be happy.

“We had a really good day on offense, ran some reverses, threw a double pass and had all these touchdowns, and he said that all I was trying to do was win the drill and trick the defense and not help the team,” Kiffin said. “I was like, ‘Isn’t that the point in good-on-good situations on offense, to see if you can move the ball?’

“He was furious.”

In typical Kiffin form, the current Ole Miss coach did an about-face. He did the exact opposite the next day, going conservative in a passive-aggressive way that Kiffin laughs about today.

“Stubborn old Lane, I ran the most generic, basic, under-center offense I could, sort of their old-school offense they ran under Joe Pendry,” Kiffin said. “And the defense killed us. We’d be third-and-8, and I’d have the quarterback under center.”

Kiffin said Saban was mad and wanted an explanation for the conservative look.

“‘I’m just running what I thought you would want me to run against the defense,’” Kiffin answered. “Again, it was just me being smart-ass me.”

That’s when the butt chewing took place. Kiffin said Saban cleared the room of coaches.

“I have to sit there, and he is screaming at me, standing over me screaming as I’m sitting in my chair. I thought he was going to fight me physically,” Kiffin said. “So, yes, I got a lot of ass-chewings, but that’s the biggest one and one that no one saw. But I deserved it.”

Kiffin also shared Saban compared him to a children’s book character, P.J. Funnybunny, a spoiled bunny who went around creating havoc.

“He screamed at me that I was the bunny,” Kiffin said, “and we were like, ‘What the hell is that? There’s no way Coach has read a little kid’s bedtime story like that!’”

The story is just one of the many told in ESPN’s piece. He also talked about when he first saw the softer side of Saban over one Easter.

Other stories include:

• Smart’s “dumb comment” when interviewing with Saban for the LSU defensive backs coach in 2004
• Cristobal’s story about driving in the snow on a recruiting trip with Saban
• Lanning talking about getting a butt chewing for running a drill wrong at Saban’s youth camp for sixth and seventh graders.
• Huff explains how a meeting with Saban during COVID was like a scene out of the movie “Saw.”
• Napier talked about his Saban and Miss Terry always took care of assistants and their families.

Check out the extensive piece at ESPN.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Two pricks

[AURex 1,998]

When I read this article yesterday I laughed out loud. PJ FunnyBunny. I never encountered the series because never had kids, but when I looked up PJ FunnyBunny, I just cracked up. Just looking at Kiffin, I'll forever start laughing. He is indeed the great PJ FunnyBunny! hahaha

 

Edited February 5 by AURex

[aubiefifty 16,791]

8 hours ago, NCAubs said:

Two pricks

did you see his girlfriend at the auburn ole miss game? WOW!