Lane Kiffin spent three years at Alabama rehabilitating his coaching career, but the two rings from national championships are never on his fingers.
According to Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post, Kiffin has the rings sitting on his desk at Florida Atlantic — and they impress recruits — but he doesn’t like to wear them.
“I find that funny. Coaches wear them all the time and they’re so gaudy and big. People that know me, the last thing I want is attention on me when I’m out of the building anyway.”
Kiffin had an unceremonious exit from Alabama, but the FAU coach said he has “very positive” feeling about Nick Saban.
During their three seasons together, the Crimson Tide offense thrived under three different quarterbacks. There’s no guarantee they’d have won the 2014 and 2016 titles without Kiffin’s influence.
He designed offenses around a pass-first mobile quarterback in Blake Sims, a pro-style thrower in Jake Coker and a dual-threat in Jalen Hurts. That three-year stretch helped Kiffin return to the head-coaching ranks.
In all likelihood, Kiffin won’t add to that collection of national championship rings while at FAU, but he’s earned the privilege of showing them off.
Even if they’re never on his hands.