During his introductory press conference, new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin only hinted at the career advice he received from legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban that ultimately helped him make the difficult decision to leave Ole Miss for Baton Rouge. Now, one and a half months later, the new Tigers coach finally spilled the beans.

“I told the story at the press conference, but I was torn. And when I called Coach Saban and talked it through with him, he said: ‘You know, Lane, you’ll always regret if you don’t go to LSU — it’s the best job in America,’” Kiffin recalled Tuesday while speaking at The Leadership Power Breakfast, according to WAFB Channel 9’s Jacques Doucet. “And when he said that, it really made the decision for me. And as I’ve looked at it, it has pushed me, it has gotten me out of a comfort zone. That we were doing amazing things (at Ole Miss), but you come here and you feel the power of the place, and it drives you everyday to even go to another level.”

Saban took some initial heat for seemingly putting his thumb on the scale and helping Kiffin make his dubious decision to leave the Rebels ahead of their eventual semifinal run through the 2025 College Football Playoffs. Of course, Kiffin didn’t help matters by implying Saban — his former boss at Alabama and mentor — practically rubberstamped the intra-conference move.

“I felt like everybody I talked to outside of the state (of Mississippi) all basically said the same thing, okay. They all said, ‘Man, you are going to regret it if you don’t take the shot and you don’t go to LSU,’” Kiffin said during his Dec. 1st press conference, referring to Saban and ex-USC coach Pete Carroll. “It’s the best job in America with the best resources, and to win it. And, it’s obviously been done here before by a number of people.”

For his part, Saban acknowledged he expected to get some heat from fans, but still pushed back regarding how instrumental his advice ultimately was.

“I don’t think you can go from one SEC school to another without a whole bunch of people getting pissed off. That’s just the fact of the matter,” Saban said during a Dec. 5 appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “Because you have these passionate fanbases on both sides of the fence, … (but) I did not make a decision for anybody. I did not. So you think I wouldn’t have been catching Hell on the internet if I’d (told Kiffin to) stay at Ole Miss?”