ESPN’s Nick Saban gets candid about Kiffin talk to LSU: ‘Lane is the first name up’

Nick Saban questions whether the LSU and Florida jobs are better than Lane Kiffin’s current job at Ole Miss on the new college landscape.

The former Alabama – and former LSU coach – got candid this week about Kiffin’s spot atop the coaching carousel’s most-wanted coach list.

“Jobs that weren’t great jobs before are now,” Saban told On3’s Chris Low. “Lane is the first name up for Florida and the first name up for LSU, but I think you can have a long debate on whether either one of those jobs is actually better than the job he has now because he has some guys over there at Ole Miss that give him pretty much whatever he wants from a roster standpoint. He may not necessarily have the same thing at Florida or LSU. So you look at these jobs differently now.”

Saban, who turns 74 on Friday, knows a little something about Baton Rouge. He won his first national championship in 2003 at LSU, but, as he points out, these are different times.

“Yeah, maybe you got facilities,” he said. “Maybe you got money. Maybe you’ve got alumni who are passionate about football, but are they willing to invest now to win? Because a lot of people don’t believe in this s–t.”

Saban, like many, doesn’t like where the game is headed. He has said often he believes players should be compensated. What many, including the ESPN analyst, believe is the root problem with college football is also what will lead a program – any program – to a national championship.

“It gets down to not just who has the money, because a lot of these traditional schools have people who have money, but who’s going to spend the money to get these players and how long are they willing to keep spending it,” Saban said. “That’s the truth of it, whether me or anybody else likes it.”