Kiffin makes light of Saban’s gripe
FAU coach takes jab at former boss, media via Twitter.
BOCA RATON — From commenting on cracked cell phones to brightly colored polo shirts, first-year Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin has enjoyed taking lighthearted jabs at the local media.
Responding to a tweet Monday that showed FAU (3-3, 2-0 in C-USA play) had the best odds of winning Conference USA, Kiffin managed to simultaneously poke fun at media and his former boss, Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
“Please stop media,” Kiffin tweeted to his over 253,000+ followers. “This is rat poison to our players!!”
The “rat poison” term refers to comments made by Saban following the No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide’s 27-19 win over Texas A&M on Saturday night.
“I’m trying to get our players to listen to me instead of you guys,” Saban said in comments directed to reporters. “All that stuff you write about how good we are? All that stuff they hear on ESPN? It’s like poison. Like rat poison.”
Kiffin served as Alabama’s offensive coordinator under Saban from 2014-16, making the College Football Playoff all three years and winning a national title in 2015. But his departure from Alabama, in the lead-up to the national championship game last season, was awkward as Saban abruptly annouced that Kiffin was leaving to focus on his new job as FAU’s coach.
Asked on Tuesday about the tweet and the significance of “rat poison,” Kiffin grinned and turned the question back onto the gathered reporters.
“(Rat poison) is like what you guys were just doing when I walked in here telling (FAU center Antonyo Woods) how great he is and how great he’s going to keep breaking records,” Kiffin said. “I’m trying to not do that and you guys do that.”
Kiffin added, “I think it’s OK to have a sense of humor in this profession, the old people think you’re not supposed to, so whatever. I thought it was funny.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the tweet had been retweeted more than 1,600 times.
Kiffin then explained it wasn’t his idea to post the tweet, but FAU feature producer Frank Forte, who hosts Inside the Owls Burrow with Kiffin weekly on Fox Sports Florida, was instead to blame.
“We were filming the TV show last night, he came up with that idea, and I thought it was funny so I wrote it,” Kiffin joked. “I asked him first to make sure I was spelling everything right. There were some hashtags I couldn’t process.”
With the Owls on a bye week, Kiffin will have plenty of opportunities to tweet his heart away. FAU’s next game is against North Texas on Oct 21.
That day will also feature a ceremony honoring the Owls’ 2007 Sun Belt champion team.