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Lane Kiffin’s booze-filled past during his three seasons on Nick Saban’s staff in Alabama is making waves before his LSU head coaching debut, when the Tigers host Clemson in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
Vanity Fair published an excerpt Wednesday from the John Talty book, “Lane Being Lane: The Story of Lane Kiffin, College Football’s Agent of Chaos,” which details Kiffin’s rocky transition from Alabama to FAU in 2016 — and his alleged risqué behavior at Tuscaloosa-area bars.
On at least one occasion, an Alabama staffer had to go to Innisfree Irish Pub to retrieve a golf cart Kiffin had left there the night before.
“[Innisfree co-owner Derick] Purdy would call me and say, your boy Lane’s back in here asking where the hotties are. ‘Can you introduce me to hotties?’” former LSU QB and Alabama assistant coach Josh Booty said.
The book claims Saban had a member of his staff warn Kiffin to stay away from college students and sorority girls after his wife, Terry Saban, had heard through friends that Kiffin — then living separately from his wife Layla and their children, who were in California — was out and about on the town trying to pick up women.
“You’ve got to keep Lane away from the girls that are in college,” Saban 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.”
In 2015, rumors swirled of Kiffin being fired by Alabama for an affair, and TMZ reported at the time that the matter set Saban off.
The book also states that Kiffin’s off-field antics fueled a disconnect between him and Saban, and stunted his growth for opportunities.
Kiffin announced the couple’s divorce in February 2016, telling Fox Sports at the time that their split was a mutual decision, and co-parenting their three kids was their priority.
Layla officially filed for divorce a month later, citing irreconcilable differences. The pair stirred reconciliation rumors during a trip to New York City in December 2024, and Kiffin appeared to hard-launch their reunion on social media in March 2025.
The book paints a picture of Kiffin turning to booze because of the strain on his personal life and the stress of his disconnect with Saban.
A friend of Kiffin’s during that time said he was afraid Kiffin was going to “drink himself to death,” the book states.
“I’ve seen him on the floor crying like a goddamn baby,” the friend said of when Kiffin faced repercussions from mistakes that impacted his family. “And then I’ve seen him doing shit that’s like ‘you got to put your dick back in your pants.’”
Kiffin allegedly used a fake name when he was recognized in local bars, and would tell women his name was Joey Freshwater.
“The Joey Freshwater thing, it got out there for a reason,” said Trevor Hewett, a former employee at Innisfree. “Lane was visible publicly in a time where Alabama coaches were not visible publicly. The other coaches just never went out, and Lane was definitely different in that aspect.
“Lane was going to be in public at times, sometimes at very odd times during the season. The fact he made it out of Tuscaloosa without anything becoming super public is wild.”
Kiffin denied that nickname in a 2017 interview with OutKick’s Clay Travis.
“I’ve used Jimmy Chestnut but not Joey Freshwater,” Kiffin said at the time. “Someone told me Joey Freshwater is the best thing I’ve ever heard, and I said, ‘Well, his friend is Jimmy Chestnut and is just as good.’”
Kiffin, who has been sober since January 2021, is open about his past with drinking.
In a May interview with Vanity Fair, Kiffin explained that his drinking damaged his marriage with Layla and attributed it to their 2016 divorce.
They have three kids: daughters Landry, 21, and Presley,19, and son Monte Knox, 17.
Kiffin made significant life changes while rebuilding the football program at Ole Miss, where he compiled a 55-19 record over six seasons from 2000 to November 2025 before he controversially left to become head coach at LSU before the Rebels’ College Football Playoff appearance.
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