Nick Saban addresses his Lane Kiffin conflict of interest

Nick Saban defended his potential conflict of interest in privately offering advice to Lane Kiffin while publicly criticizing Ole Miss for not allowing Kiffin to coach the team in the College Football Playoff.

Saban faced some criticism after it emerged that Kiffin sought his advice while contemplating whether to leave Ole Miss for LSU. At the same time, he used his platform on ESPN’s “College GameDay” to criticize the Rebels for blocking Kiffin from coaching the team during the playoffs, and essentially absolved Kiffin from any role in the drama. Notably, Saban and Kiffin have the same agent, Jimmy Sexton, which also rubbed people the wrong way.

On Saturday, Kiffin addressed the criticism. He said he is consulted all the time by people within the sport, and that he never tells anyone what to do, but tries instead to put them in position to make a good decision for themselves.

“I think I get a lot of calls because some people view me, maybe, as a senior professional that has a lot of experience in the game after 50 years, 25 years as a head coach,” Saban said. “As a person, as a human being, you want to help everybody you can. I’m kind of in this for the betterment of the game, really, for the players. Coaches impact players. Administrators impact players. Anyone who calls me, whether it’s a player, a coach, an administrator, I try to do the best I can to give them the best information to make the best decisions for the betterment of the game.

“The first thing I ask a coach if he’s contemplating changing jobs is ‘what do you want to do?’ I want them to follow their heart in terms of what they want to accomplish and what they want to do. I never tell anybody what they should do. I just try to bring some thought into it so that they can make a good decision for themselves and their family and their future.”