Lane Kiffin reacts to former boss Nick Saban sharing life lessons with Alabama graduates 

Lane Kiffin is the latest to react to Nick Saban’s inspiring speech to the University of Alabama’s graduating students.

Saban returned to Tuscaloosa last weekend for the University of Alabama’s 2025 commencement ceremony. The former Crimson Tide coach introduced the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who was billed to give the commencement speech, at the ceremony.

In his introductory speech, Nick Saban outlined three lessons that have aided him in his life for the students. With his success during his time at Alabama, he is a respected figure among the students, and as usual, he gave them an inspiring speech.

“When you embark on this journey, there’s three things that I think always help me,” Saban said in his speech. “First of all, have compassion for other people. Treat people like you would like to be treated. Treat people nicely on your way up, you might meet them on the way down.

“So it’s nice to be important, but it’s also more important to be nice. So that was the first thing, compassion for other people.”

He added:

“The second thing is be responsible for your own self-determination. You’ve got to earn it. Don’t look at somebody else. Don’t blame somebody else. You be responsible for your own self-determination and have accountability for what your job is and what you need to do.

“And the last thing is, it’s not about beating the other guy. It’s not about being better than somebody else. It’s about you being the best that you can be.”

Lane Kiffin gave a one-word reaction with an emoji to Nick Saban’s speech on social media. Having worked under Saban at Alabama, Kiffin is not new to that kind of motivating speech.

Lane Kiffin clarifies his relationship with Nick Saban

Lane Kiffin opened up about his relationship with Nick Saban during an appearance on “This Past Weekend with Theo Von.” Despite previously noting that Saban does not reply to his texts, he shared that they have maintained regular communication.

“No, you got to call him. He did just learn how in the last, like, two years to text. He had never texted before. Ever. Like when I was an assistant coach there, he was just like, ‘I’m not texting.’ He just refused.

“It was like that old school. Like he’s got those old school things that aren’t changing. Then I got a text like two years ago from him that said ‘Good luck’ or something like that,” Kiffin said. “And I was like to the group, ‘Dude, I got a Saban text.’ This is amazing. This is Vanderbilt beating Alabama.”

Lane Kiffin had a complex relationship with Nick Saban while working as an assistant under him at Alabama. They, however, recorded significant success together during the three seasons, winning one national championship and three SEC titles.