Lane Kiffin Admitted Troubling Habit Helped 'Destroy' His Marriage

For the second time this week, LSU football coach Lane Kiffin has managed to make headlines.

Kiffin, who is gearing up for his first year in Baton Rouge, sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss his polarizing career. While discussing his move from Ole Miss to LSU, he revealed that some recruits weren't interested in moving to Oxford.

"[They would say], 'Hey, Coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren't letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi,'" Kiffin said. "That doesn't come up when you say Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Parents were sitting here this weekend saying the campus' diversity feels so great: 'It feels like there's no segregation. And we want that for our kid because that's the real world.'"

Kiffin later issued an apology for that remark.

"I was asked questions about the differences in recruiting, and I said a narrative that we battled there from some out-of-state Black parents and grandparents was not wanting their kid to move to Mississippi. That's a narrative that coaches have been fighting forever. It wasn't calculated by bringing it up."

Lane Kiffin gets candid about his personal life.

In addition to talking about LSU's recruiting advantages, Kiffin was honest about his struggles with drinking. He admit that it damaged his marriage with his wife, Layla.

"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? As I've gotten older, I've tried to work on that, making decisions that are more delayed gratification," Kiffin told Vanity Fair. "I got tired of digging out of hangovers, tired of digging out of situations or things I said."

The good news is that Kiffin has been sober since January 2021. He celebrated five years of sobriety earlier this year on social media.

"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," Kiffin wrote on social media.

Kiffin's fans are certainly proud of the progress he's made on and off the field over the years.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 2:27 PM.