A new book about Lane Kiffin has made a striking claim about his time in Tuscaloosa, alleging that his late-night behavior around Alabama’s student bars prompted legendary Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban to tell staffers: “Keep him away from the sorority girls.”
Kiffin, now 51, worked under Saban as Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016, a high-profile stint that ended with his departure before he took over as head coach at Florida Atlantic ahead of the 2017 season.
Before arriving in Alabama, Kiffin had been the head coach at USC. His wife, Layla, and their children chose to stay in California rather than relocate to Tuscaloosa. The couple divorced in 2016, during his Alabama tenure, before getting back together last year.
According to the book, that living arrangement left Kiffin — who is set to begin his first season at LSU after agreeing to a $91 million contract — free to spend time in Tuscaloosa’s lively college nightlife scene. Those stories are revisited in ‘Lane Being Lane’, a new book by noted college football writer John Talty.
An excerpt published by Vanity Fair on Wednesday describes how accounts of Kiffin trying to meet women in Tuscaloosa began circulating and eventually reached Saban.
The excerpt claims the rumors moved quickly through town, with Saban’s wife, Terry, hearing about Kiffin’s alleged conduct from friends. She then passed along what she had been told to her husband, who was overseeing one of college football’s most dominant programs.
A new book claims Nick Saban told Alabama staffers to keep Lane Kiffin away from sorority girls
Kiffin and his wife, Layla, divorced in 2016 during his Alabama stint but reunited last year
The book alleges that Saban, upon hearing about Kiffin’s antics, told at least one staff member to pass on some important advice to him.
‘You’ve got to keep Lane away from the girls that are in college,’ Saban is alleged to have said, according to one former coach.
‘Just keep him away from the sorority girls. Make sure they’ve graduated college or are working a job.’
According to the co-owner of the Innisfree Irish Pub in Tuscaloosa, Kiffin would demand to know ‘where the hotties are’ and ask staff: ‘Can you introduce me to hotties?’
It’s also been claimed that Kiffin would use the name ‘Joey Freshwater’ in a bid to conceal his true identity from women when he would be recognized in local bars.
During an interview with Clay Travis in 2017, however, Kiffin denied he ever used that alias. ‘I’ve used Jimmy Chestnut but not Joey Freshwater,’ he said.
The book also quotes a friend of Kiffin’s at that time, who admits he was concerned he would ‘drink himself to death.’
The friend added: ‘I’ve seen him on the floor crying like a goddamn baby and then I’ve seen him doing s*** that’s like “you got to put your d*** back in your pants.”‘
The book also alleges that Kiffin’s antics during his time at Alabama effectively ended his chances of being the man to replace Saban when he retired after 17 seasons and six national championships.
‘The fact he made it out of Tuscaloosa without anything becoming super public is wild,’ another bartender admitted.
Kiffin’s wife and three children, including daughter Landry, stayed in California instead
Towards the end of the 2026 season, Kiffin failed to emerge as a serious candidate for prized openings at Texas, LSU and Oregon.
He interviewed twice with the Houston Cougars before the job went to an internal coach. Billionaire booster Tilman Fertitta later described Kiffin as ‘not a safe hire.’
In December 2016, Kiffin agreed to become the new head coach of Florida Atlantic but would stay with Alabama through their national championship playoff run.
However, his relationship with Saban quickly soured and it emerged that Kiffin was calling plays the team hadn’t been practicing during their victory over Washington that secured a spot in the national championship.
Veteran offensive players visited Saban and raised concerns with Kiffin’s focus, while the head coach privately discussed how he thought his team should have beaten Washington by more than 17 points.
Finally, Saban had had enough. Days before the national championship game, Saban declared: ‘I’m firing the cocksucker.’
The son of legendary NFL defensive assistant Monte Kiffin, Lane went from playing quarterback at Fresno State to coaching at USC under Pete Carroll to getting the Oakland Raiders’ head-coaching job in a little more than a decade.
And when things went wrong with Raiders owner Al Davis, who tried to force Kiffin to resign in 2008, Kiffin took head-coaching jobs at Tennessee and, later, USC.
Kiffin is no stranger to controversy and he stunned the world of college football back in November when he quit playoff-bound Ole Miss to join LSU, leading to weeks of furious fallout.
Kiffin signed a $91m deal to coach LSU last year and is preparing for his first game in charge
The outgoing head coach even claimed he was nearly ‘run off the road’ by scorned Ole Miss fans as he left Mississippi under a cloud.
In May, Kiffin admitted his drinking led to his 2016 split from Layla and hampered his career.
‘My whole drive when I was younger was like, “How fast can I get everything? How fast can I get the big job? The big contract?”‘ he told Vanity Fair.
He would later quit drinking in 2021 as head coach at Ole Miss, and it was around this time he discovered yoga, which helped him lose 45 pounds.
‘As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to work on that, making decisions that are more delayed gratification,’ he told VF. ‘I got tired of digging out of hangovers, tired of digging out of situations or things I said.’
Kiffin also began journaling, later sharing with ESPN an Alcoholics Anonymous quotation he’d written down: ‘Ego was being replaced with self-respect, resentment and hatred were being replaced with tolerance and understanding.’
And in January, alongside an X post that included a photo of himself with a smiling Layla, Kiffin marked five years of sobriety.
‘Welp 5 years ago today, I made a decision that would change my life and many others around me,’ he wrote on January 30.
‘I want to say to anyone that has something holding you back from being the best version of yourself you CAN do it!! It won’t be easy AT ALL, but I promise you it will be worth it.’
