Lane Kiffin Opens Up About His Sobriety, Credits His Children For Making Him 'Best Version' Of Himself

The Lane Kiffin that was hired by Ole Miss in December 2019 wouldn't recognize the Lane Kiffin currently preparing for his sixth season in Oxford, Mississippi. The soon-to-be 50-year-old has made some serious life changes since taking charge of the Rebels, resulting in both physical and mental alterations, but none may have affected him more over the years than his decision to get sober.

Kiffin has been sober since 2020, which marked his first season on the Ole Miss sideline, after coming to the realization that he simply wasn't the best version of himself. Over the last four years and counting, not only has he not touched alcohol, but he's become a bit of a health and fitness nut who begins his days by doing hot yoga. He recently told comedian Theo Von on his podcast that he's even the one in control of the thermostat during the hot yoga sessions in the mornings.

The changed man recently joined ‘The Pivot’ podcast and opened up about his sobriety journey with an honest sentiment about his personal situation, and how his kids deserve so much credit.

"To me it's not just getting sober not just physically, but emotionally, having emotional sobriety," Kiffin explained. "It's one thing to not drink, it's another thing to get yourself figured out, really calm, and having emotional sobriety. I can deal with these things, can let them go, and figure out how to deal with them.

I just got to the point that I am not the best version of myself, I am not. You know we'd lose a game, or win a game, and I'm going to go have drinks, eat bad, not workout and I started gaining weight and figured out this wasn't the full me. I really didn't start as ‘I’m never going to drink' thing, I started by saying I'm going on a cleanse diet and it was like no red meat, no bread, no alcohol and I did it for so long, felt amazing, and was like ‘why would I go back?’"

"I'm the best version of myself, and I owe that to my children. I was great at work, but wasn't fully present when I got home," Kiffin continued. "You know I've gotta go home and have a couple drinks, I've been working all week, and not really paying attention to their games or something like that, and it was like wait, I'm giving my best version at work, but not at home for my kids."

The Ole Miss coach also delivered a great line explaining that he never hit "rock bottom," but just got real tired of digging.

As Kiffin explained, his daughter, Landry, ended up moving across the country to come live with him in Oxford while still in high school before ultimately sticking around and attending Ole Miss herself. His son, Knox, has followed in his sister's footsteps and has also made the move to Oxford full time and is expected to be a quarterback at Oxford High School, right around the corner from Ole Miss' campus.