LSU Football Coach Lane Kiffin’s Wild Escapades Revealed in New Book: ‘Keep Him Away from the Sorority Girls’

STARKVILLE, MS – NOVEMBER 28: Ole Miss Rebels coach Lane Kiffin during the college football game between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs on November 28, 2025, at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, MS. (Photo by Jason Homan/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

LSU football coach Lane Kiffin developed a sordid reputation during his time at the University of Alabama, according to an upcoming book.

On Wednesday, Vanity Fair published an excerpt from the book Lane Being Lane: The Story of Lane Kiffin, College Football’s Agent of Chaos. The book, written by CBS Sports reporter Chris Smith, chronicles Kiffin’s move from Alabama to Florida Atlantic University.

Kiffin spent three seasons as a coordinator on legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban’s staff before taking the head coaching job at FAU. According to Smith’s book, Kiffin’s tenure with the Crimson Tide included a fair bit of off-the-field baggage.

The excerpt read:

Off-field concerns hung over Kiffin’s entire time in Tuscaloosa. In 2015, rumors of Kiffin being fired for an affair became so prominent that they even made TMZ. In the story, TMZ reported, “Kiffin’s name is blowing up on social media today . . . over completely unverified rumors that Kiffin was involved in an affair with a high-profile Alabama lady. One of the rumors was that the alleged banging set off head coach Nick Saban.”

While Kiffin would not be fired for “banging,” off-field behavior did reach Saban’s desk. Terry Saban, Nick’s wife, had heard through friends that Kiffin, then living separately from his wife Layla and his children who were in California, was out and about on the town trying to pick up women. It led Saban to tell at least one staff member to give Kiffin some helpful advice.

“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.”

These issues, Smith wrote, played a pivotal role in the “disconnect” between the two coaches.

Further down, Smith wrote that Kiffin went “off the rails” in Alabama while his wife and children were away. The coach allegedly frequented local bars and had a reputation for asking about “hotties.”

Smith continued:

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,” says Josh Booty. “‘Can you introduce me to hotties?'” As one friend of Kiffin’s during that time put it, he was afraid Kiffin was going to “drink himself to death.”

Kiffin has become a frequent target in the media. Last season, he infamously accepted the LSU job while he was still the head coach at Ole Miss. The team was in the middle of one of its best seasons in recent memory, and Kiffin left the program right before the playoffs.

He faced even more backlash before LSU’s 2026 season even began when he expressed support for the NFL players attempting to enter the transfer portal and re-enroll in college.

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