All the times it looked like Nick Saban was super mad at Lane Kiffin

New FAU head coach Lane Kiffin was masterful at either getting under former boss Nick Saban’s skin or making it look like he had. Saban has praised his OC and said he’s ready for another head coaching gig, but at so many points over their time together, it looked like the two were in a sitcom about an erratic, young mastermind and his grave, by-the-book boss. I guess they were.

Here was the single greatest moment in their relationship, when Kiffin responded to a complaint about something on the field by literally pointing at the scoreboard. Even Allen admitted that Kiffin and Saban’s back and forth was a little different because Kiffin would actually clap back.

No, hang on. This from 2015 was the best moment in their relationship, when the assistant coach overruled a timeout call by the greatest living college football coach, and turned out to be right. Bama converted the fourth down against Texas A&M.

CBS

Or it could’ve been this spectacular Saban rant with 46 seconds to go in a 28-point win over a Conference USA team, sparked by Kiffin’s offense fumbling:

That blowup led to this quote:

It turns out Alabama defenders like to see that happen during practice, too.

In fact, that was apparently the defense’s stated goal, according to Allen, months later:

When asked what he enjoyed more, making a sack or seeing Saban get angry with Kiffin, the answer was easy for Allen.

“Oh easily watching Saban crush Kiffin,” Allen said. “At practice… it was our goal to see how many times we could get Coach Saban to MF Kiffin. I mean that was our goal.”

Allen was then asked if any one particular encounter stood out to him.

“It was just during (drills),” Allen responded. “We would just try to blow it up and just destroy it and kill the offense and then you would know Kiffin’s just…gonna get it, after you just blow it up in the backfield. That’s probably the most fun we had at Alabama during practice this year, just watching Coach Saban lay into Kiffin.”

WAIT. The best moment was this, after a bizarre fourth-down conversion attempt in 2014.

SEC Network

Imagine Nick Saban appearing out of nowhere to make this face at you after you’d just experienced a personal failing:

Wait, no. Here was the single greatest moment in their relationship, when Kiffin praised his boss ...

... and made sure to get in a joke about Saban’s height.

Kiffin continued joking (somewhat) through his final Bama presser:

And finally, here’s a gallery that I feel tells the full story of their relationship, from start to finish.

Please spend time standing near each other at some point again soon.