To illustrate how different he and Saban are, he pulls up a graphic on his phone. The text comes from Dr. Chenavis Evans, a psychologist who works with Alabama, NFL franchises and other colleges in her job as the owner and CEO of Critical Insights Consulting. Evans profiles the personalities of the coaches and players to help maximize how they work together. Kiffin’s profile comes up as a conceptual thinker. “You’ll like this,” Kiffin says with a smile. “It means I’m imaginative, intuitive about ideas, visionary, enjoys the unusual and learns by experimenting.”
He laughs: “Doesn’t that explain me and everything that’s not in the staff room at Alabama?”
He then points out that Saban and a majority of the Crimson Tide staff are labeled structural: “Practical thinker, likes guidelines, cautious with new ideas, predictable and learns by doing.”