Nick Saban Admits He Wanted To Hire Dan Lanning Before Kirby Smart Did

On Friday's airing of the "Pat McAfee Show" from Dublin, Ireland, former legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban admitted that he wanted to hire current Oregon Ducks' head coach Dan Lanning to the Alabama staff when Lanning was a graduate assistant in 2015.

Lanning served as a graduate assistant under Saban for the 2015 season before leaving to become a linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator with the Memphis Tigers on Mike Norvell's staff from 2016-17.

When Saban was asked about his opinion on the expectations of the numerous programs entering new conferences this fall, he praised Oregon's Dan Lanning for his accomplishments as head coach and admitted he wanted Alabama to hire Lanning when he was a graduate assistant with the program.

"You know, Dan Lanning's a really good coach," Saban said. "I actually wanted to hire him."

Saban continued by explaining his theory of developing young coaches, whom he could eventually hire full-time to his Alabama staff.

"You know, my theory of having all these young guys on the staff and developing them was to get them a job at Memphis State and then be able to hire them when all of these guys started coaching," Saban added. "Kirby, Pruitt, Billy Napier, Mike Lockley... They all hired him before I could hire him."

Despite Saban's plan to use smaller programs to provide experience for his younger coaches, Lanning was eventually hired by Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart in 2018 before eventually becoming head coach of Oregon in 2022.

As Saban enters his first year as part of ESPN's college football coverage, there will certainly be more interesting storylines to come as the 2024 season rolls on.

The first game of the 2024 college football season will be on Aug. 24, when the Florida State Seminoles will clash with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from Dublin, Ireland, at noon (ET) on ESPN.

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