What role did Nick Saban play in Lane Kiffin deciding to take the LSU football head coaching job and leave Ole Miss?

It’s been widely written (including on this site) that all four head coaches in this week’s College Football Playoff semifinals were once assistants at Alabama under Nick Saban. Saban’s coaching tree is ever growing,

No matter which coach wins the College Football Playoff, it will be someone whose career was touched by Nick Saban. A closer look at the branches.

During Saban’s 28-year college coaching tenure, 31 of his assistants went on to become FBS head coaches — a coaching branch the size of Yellowstone National Park. He has sown seeds that blossomed into millions of dollars in coaching salaries, nearly 3,000 collegiate games coached and several national championships won.

“Okay, so chaos in college football starts tomorrow, the portal,” the former Alabama and LSU head coach said Thursday on ESPN’s “GameDay.” “There’s all already been 120 starters say they’re getting in the portal from Big Power-4 schools.”

All four remaining CFP teams are led by former Nick Saban assistants at Alabama. They all learned how to run a program under the coaching legend.

Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Oregon's Dan Lanning, Miami's Mario Cristobal and Ole Miss's Pete Golding all spent time under Saban's Learning Tree.

LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has assembled a star-studded staff in Baton Rouge with multiple assistants having ties to college football icon Nick Saban. It