IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Nick Saban was reportedly worried about Lane Kiffin hooking up with college girls while at Alabama.
A new book by college football insider John Talty reveals the strange relationship between Saban and Kiffin.
According to Talty, Kiffin had marital issues after moving to Tuscaloosa and became a regular at local college-area bars.
Via Vanity Fair
Layla and the kids never made the move to Tuscaloosa, leaving Kiffin to go off the rails, frequenting 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,” 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.”
Apparently Kiffin’s behavior concerned Saban, who told coaches to make sure Kiffin didn’t hook up with any college girls.
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.”
Kiffin would eventually leave Alabama without causing any major scandals, which surprised locals.
“The fact he made it out of Tuscaloosa without anything becoming super public is wild,” said Trevor Hewett, who worked at a local Alabama bar at the time.
Unfortunately, Kiffin’s off-the-field behavior prevented him from becoming Alabama’s head coach.
Multiple Alabama sources insisted that Kiffin’s behavior during his time in Tuscaloosa precluded him from ever succeeding Nick Saban and becoming the Crimson Tide’s head coach. He had upset too many important people, and the stories were too well-known for it to be palatable for those in power.
Talty’s book Lane Being Lane: The Story of Lane Kiffin, College Football’s Agent of Chaos releases on September 15th.