Nick Saban Had To Keep Lane Kiffin ‘Away From Sorority Girls’ Over Wild Bar Habits
While Lane Kiffin coached under him on the Alabama football team, Nick Saban tried to keep him the college girls at Tuscaloosa bars.
Before he became the head coach of LSU’s football team, Lane Kiffin worked under Nick Saban at Alabama, serving as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
However, during Kiffin’s time in Tuscaloosa, Saban tried to keep him out of trouble. Speaking to Vanity Fair, a former coach alleged that Saban said, “You’ve got to keep Lane away from the girls that are in college. Just keep him away from the sorority girls. Make sure they’ve graduated college or are working a job.”
Kiffin’s ex-wife, Layla Reaves, and their three kids wouldn’t make the move to Tuscaloosa in 2014, and they would get divorced in February 2016. According to Vanity Fair’s story, being alone in Alabama caused Kiffin “to go off the rails,” meaning he started frequenting bars in the Tuscaloosa area using the alias Joey Freshwater. It was a dark time for him, as one of his friends worried he’d “drink himself to death” during this period.
He once left a golf cart at a pub, Innisfree Irish Pub, which one of the Alabama staffers had to retrieve. Josh Booty would receive calls from the co-owner of Innisfree, Derick Purdy, saying, “Your boy Lane’s back in here asking where the hotties are.” He’d even ask, “Can you introduce me to hotties?”
The friend who worried about Kiffin also explained how the stress he was facing led to him looking for “relief” in Tuscaloosa. They had “seen him on the floor crying like a godd**n baby” and also “doing s**t that’s like ‘you got to put your d**k back in your pants.”
Unfortunately, Kiffin lacked the subtlety that other Alabama staffers employed to get away with having a drink out on the town. According to Trevor Hewett, another Innisfree employee and someone who covered the Alabama football team, Kiffin was “visible publicly,” unlike the rest of the coaches.
In the years since, Kiffin has denied using the JoeyFreshwater alias. He previously claimed to be Jimmy Chestnut, but not Joey Freshwater.
Despite all of this, Kiffin landed on his feet following his time with Alabama. He would coach the Florida Atlantic Owls before becoming the head coach at Ole Miss in 2019. He coached the Rebels from 2020 to 2025 before controversially leaving Ole Miss before the playoffs. Kiffin was named LSU’s next head coach in November 2025, signing a seven-year, $91-million deal.
Before he became the head coach of LSU’s football team, Lane Kiffin worked under Nick Saban at Alabama, serving as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. However, during Kiffin’s time in Tuscaloosa, Saban tried to keep him out of trouble.