Pete Golding shares similarities between Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin

Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin built a unique relationship at Alabama, but their personalities are quite different. Kiffin has become a social media darling and was once the self-proclaimed “Portal King,” while Saban gets right to the point during press conferences and his voice still carries plenty of weight as the GOAT.

Pete Golding worked for Saban the last four years at Alabama and is now preparing for his first season under Kiffin at Ole Miss. Despite how they appear in front of cameras or behind microphones, Golding said the two are fairly similar — even beyond their usage of the phrase “rat poison.”

“A lot, to be honest with you, especially in a meeting format,” Golding said of the similarities between Kiffin and Saban. “Obviously, they’re both super intelligent. They both demand discipline in the program — in different ways, but they still demand it. But a lot of the mannerisms are very similar within the room.”

Kiffin worked for Saban from 2014-16 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, giving him a front-row seat to the legendary coach’s style. He brought some things he learned in Tuscaloosa with him to FAU and, ultimately, to Ole Miss.

Golding just missed Kiffin, taking over as Alabama’s defensive coordinator in 2018. But after four years with Saban and the Crimson Tide, he’s now Ole Miss’ defensive coordinator as he returned to his roots in Mississippi.

But even though Saban and Kiffin act similarly in meetings, Golding said he sees one big difference with his new boss.

“I think what Coach Kiffin does a really good job of — I think it’s very easy once you’ve been at that place for a long period of time to go somewhere else and try to run it exactly the same,” Golding said. “And it’s not. It’s not the same resources, you don’t have the same people, it’s not in the same place. So what I love about Coach Kiffin, a lot of the things that helped Alabama get to where they are, we do. And there are some other things at every program — not just Alabama — that are probably in spite of. You’re going to win in spite of doing those things.

“I think Coach Kiffin does a really good job of putting his own personality on the program and still not getting away from the culture and the foundation, the discipline and the toughness and all those things that you need for a winning program, but still having his personality to do it. So I think he and I both learned a lot from there.”