It didnโt take long โ three questions, to be exact โ before was asked about the role his mentors, including , played in his decision to come to .
Kiffin, who was hired as the 34th head coach of LSU on Sunday, stood at the podium at his introductory news conference less than 24 hours later and talked about how โtornโ he was to leave Ole Miss, as it was on the verge of making the College Football Playoff. He relayed what Las Vegas Raiders coach and former Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll told him: That Kiffinโs late father Monte would tell him he should take the LSU job.
โHe would tell you,โ Kiffin said. โ โBoy, go get it. Go for it.โ "
But what did Saban โ the national championship winning coach at LSU and six-time national title winner at Alabama โ say to him about the LSU job?
โCoach Saban kind of coached at another place in this conference, so I can't really say exactly what he said,โ Kiffin quipped. โBut I'll say I think the world of Coach Saban, and I respect him. So there's a reason I'm here.โ
Roughly six weeks after deciding to fire Brian Kelly, LSU finally found its man. But the journey LSU took to get to Monday with Kiffin on the podium โ sporting a purple suit and tie with a white and purple checkered button-down shirt with an LSU pin on his chest โ was anything but straightforward.
Three days after Kellyโs firing, Gov. Jeff Landry stated heโd rather have Donald Trump hire LSUโs next coach than athletic director Scott Woodward. Woodward then parted ways with the program the next day. The next week, LSU appointed Wade Rousse as the new university president and promoted Verge Ausberry to the full-time athletic director position.
Then the search began for a new coach, a process that was helped along by Saban, who speaks with Ausberry every two weeks.
โNick is a very good friend of mine,โ Ausberry said Monday. โHe's one of my role models. I think that's what helped me in this decision of getting him here, was all those great football coaches I knew around the country that really helped me.โ
The process behind landing Kiffin was quiet at first, but it exploded upon the arrival of a private jet to Baton Rouge that included Kiffinโs ex-wife, Layla.
โI just thought it was really important when they offered to have the family come down without me and get a feel for it,โ Kiffin said. โโฆ I don't know that I could have made the decision, or certainly couldn't have made it and felt good, without everybody on board like it was after going to multiple places and coming back and saying, โHey, we're all in. We're all in to go to Baton Rouge and to go to LSU.โ "
The trip to Baton Rouge signaled the seriousness with which Kiffin was considering LSU. He just needed some help in making his decision.
And among those mentors, of course, was Saban.
โI felt like everybody that I talked to outside of the state that I was in, (they) all basically said the same thing,โ Kiffin said. โThey all said, โMan, you are going to regret it if you don't take the shot and you don't go to LSU. It's the best job in America with the best resources, and to win it.โ It's obviously been done here before by a number of people.โ
