As he sat beside Kirby Smart in the many staff meetings led by Nick Saban at Alabama in 2015, Lane Kiffin never really thought about all the coaching talent in the room. «No, not really.
I just knew that you better be on top of your game every day or you were going to hear about it from Coach [Saban],» Kiffin said. «We all did.
Nobody was spared. Didn't matter if you were a coordinator or a [graduate assistant].» The Crimson Tide won the national championship that season, and 13 staff members — including analysts, personnel/player development directors and graduate assistants — went on to be Power 5 head coaches or coordinators.
Three others would become NFL assistants, while another position coach, Bobby Williams, had previously been head coach at Michigan State.