Nick Saban issues strong statement on College Football Playoff coaches

The 2025 College Football Playoff rolls on with its semifinal round later this week.

The first of the two games is between No. 6 Ole Miss (13-1, 7-1) and No. 10 Miami (12-2, 6-2) in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday (7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN). The second of the two games is between No. 1 Indiana (14-0, 9-0) and No. 5 Oregon (12-1, 8-1) in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday (7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN).

While the four remaining teams in the College Football Playoff are in different corners of the country, they share a unifying factor. Head coaches Curt Cignetti, Dan Lanning, and Mario Cristobal all worked for Nick Saban at Alabama before pursuing jobs elsewhere.

Chris Low of On3 asked Saban about seeing all of his former assistants in the semifinals of the 2025 College Football Playoff.

"It's no different than all your players who go on to have success. All four of these coaches did tremendous jobs when they worked for me," Saban told Low. "Some were with me longer than others, but it was obvious how much they loved the game, loved coaching and developing players and wanted to get better in their own right as coaches."

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“It’s no different than your players who go on to have success,” Saban told Chris Low. “All four of these coaches did tremendous jobs when they worked for me. Some were with me longer than others, but it… pic.twitter.com/chcRUB5UFN
— On3 (@On3sports) January 6, 2026

Curt Cignetti

Until Indiana's meteoric rise to national prominence in 2024, Cignetti was an oft-forgotten branch on Nick Saban's coaching tree. He was the first of the four remaining College Football Playoff coaches to work with Saban at Alabama, joining Saban's inaugural staff and staying through the national championship run in 2011.

Cignetti worked as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator during his time in Tuscaloosa. Between his departure from Alabama and the beginning of his tenure at Indiana, Cignetti made head coaching stops at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Elon and James Madison.

Mario Cristobal

Cristobal was the second of the remaining four College Football Playoff coaches to work for Nick Saban at Alabama. Following his firing from the Florida International head coaching job, Cristobal worked as Saban's associate head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.

Cristobal worked with Saban from 2013 to 2016 in the roles before heading to Oregon as an offensive line coach. The Ducks promoted Cristobal to head coach in 2018, and he would serve in the role for four seasons before taking his current job at Miami.

Dan Lanning

In addition to Mario Cristobal himself, his successor at Oregon also worked for Saban at Alabama. After bouncing around different programs as a graduate assistant, Dan Lanning worked as a defensive graduate assistant for Saban during the Crimson Tide's 2015 national championship run.

Lanning left after the 2015 season to become the inside linebackers coach at Memphis for two seasons. He then rejoined former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart at Georgia in 2018, spending four seasons in Athens before succeeding Cristobal at Oregon.

Pete Golding

Golding was the last of the four College Football Playoff head coaches to work with Saban at Alabama. After working as a defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for a little over 10 seasons, Saban hired Golding as his defensive coordinator at Alabama in 2018.

After five seasons with Saban in Tuscaloosa, Golding left for the same position at Ole Miss in 2023. When Lane Kiffin decided to take the head coaching vacancy at LSU, the Rebels promoted Golding to head coach.