Nick Saban Gave Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian the Second Chance They Needed

When Nick Saban retired on Wednesday, his championships and accolades were highlighted at the top of every story and every broadcast. It makes sense. His seven national championships and 11 SEC titles are a big reason why he will be remembered as arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.

But that’s not how I will remember him.

I will always think of him as the coach willing to give someone a second chance when no one else would. Saban didn’t mind getting backlash or a few bad headlines for understanding human beings aren’t perfect and deserve a chance to right a previous wrong.

It’s impossible for me not to think of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian when I think of Saban. I never got to cover Saban as a beat writer but I got to know Kiffin and Sarkisian well when they were on Pete Carroll’s staff at USC and later when each became USC’s head coach.

Everything happened far too fast for the coaching prodigies.

Lane Kiffin was just 26 years old when Carroll hired him to be his tight ends coach when he arrived at USC and Kiffin quickly rose through the ranks to become the wide receivers coach, passing game coordinator and finally offensive coordinator. The Raiders hired him as the youngest head coach in the league at 32 years old in 2007. He later became Tennessee’s head coach in 2009 and succeeded Carroll at USC in 2010.

Sarkisian is just one year older than Kiffin and was also on Carroll’s first-year staff at USC, coaching quarterbacks at 27 years old before later becoming the offensive coordinator. He went on to become Washington’s head coach in 2009 and succeeded Kiffin as USC’s head coach in 2014.

Both Kiffin and Sarkisian were on top of the college football world when they returned to lead USC with the hope of recreating the magic they helped make under Carroll.

By the time both were fired in disgrace midseason, they had become a national punchline and unhireable.

Kiffin was fired five games into his fourth season on an airport tarmac following a blowout loss.

Sarkisian was fired five games into his second season for alcohol issues and later entered a treatment program.

They both went from having their dream head coaching job before the age of 40 to not being able to get a call back from fellow head coaches they had considered friends.

Everything seemingly came so easy for both Kiffin and Sarkisian. Not only had they never been fired from a college job before, they never didn’t get the job they wanted during their quick rise up the coaching ranks.

No one wanted to give them a second chance after they were fired and publicly humiliated by USC. Shoot, many didn’t even want to give them a courtesy interview for fear they might be associated with them. There were times after both Kiffin and Sarkisian were fired at USC that they briefly considered a seemingly unthinkable pivot to another career if no coach was willing to give them a lifeline to prove themselves again. Unlike other professions where you can go solo and maybe start your own business, Kiffin and Sarkisian needed some coach at some school to throw them a bone if they ever wanted to be a part of a team again.

In the end, it wasn’t just any coach at any school. It was Nick Saban at Alabama.

Saban hired Kiffin to be Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2014 and three years later he was named the head coach at Florida Atlantic. He went on to become the head coach at Ole Miss in 2019. This season he led the Rebels to an 11-2 record and a Peach Bowl victory.   

After getting out of rehab and unsuccessfully suing USC, Sarkisian was in a worse position than Kiffin. One year later, Saban hired Sarkisian to be an analyst and teamed him up with Kiffin again. After Kiffin left for Florida Atlantic, Sarkisian was promoted to offensive coordinator, He briefly joined the Atlanta Falcons as their offensive coordinator before returning to once again lead Alabama’s offense. After coaching quarterbacks Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa and being named the nation’s top coaching assistant and offensive coordinator, he was hired as the head coach at Texas. This season Texas was 12-2, won the Big 12 championship and played in the College Football Playoff; falling one play short of advancing to the National Championship.

Sarkisian’s Longhorns beat Saban’s Crimson Tide this season at Bryant-Denny Stadium to put the wheels in motion for Texas’ turnaround season. Before the game, Saban told reporters, “I like giving people second chances. I think that their willingness to do the right things and whatever their mistakes were, they’re trying to fix it and look for an opportunity. Geez, when Sark was here the first time, he did such a good job, there was no question about the fact that we’d love to have him back a second time. He represented the program well, he’s first class in every way, so I was glad I gave him a second chance.” 

That second chance saved the careers of Sarkisian and Kiffin when no one else would return their calls or texts. I talked to Sarkisian while he was working with Fox Sports in 2016. He wasn’t sure what to expect but he was just happy to be a part of a team again, talking about football. A month later, Saban offered him a job as an analyst at Alabama for $35,000 a year and the rest is history.

“Nick Saban saved my career,” Sarkisian said. “He gave me an olive branch when no one else would. That changed my perspective. I will always look to do that for someone else who needs a second chance.”