Kermit Davis rips Lane Kiffin for Ole Miss diversity comments: 'A pitiful day'

Following Lane Kiffin’s comments in Vanity Fair about diversity and recruiting at Ole Miss, former Rebels men’s basketball coach Kermit Davis joined the chorus of reaction this week. He criticized Kiffin for the remarks.

Kiffin, ahead of his first year as head coach at LSU, said during the interview that concerns about diversity in the city of Oxford came up during the recruiting process. He also said that’s not necessarily the case at LSU. The comments then sparked a wave of backlash and Kiffin addressed the remarks in an exclusive interview with On3’s Wilson Alexander.

Speaking with Chris Childers this week, Davis – a Mississippi native – expressed his disappointment in Kiffin’s comments. He also praised the community at Ole Miss as a place that “welcomes everyone.”

Kermit Davis didn’t mince words.

The former Ole Miss coach was in Oxford when Lane Kiffin arrived, and he says Kiffin was embraced by the community from day one.

His reaction to Kiffin’s recent comments to Vanity Fair? “Pitiful.”

Davis also speaks passionately about his pride… pic.twitter.com/FDEcuIbZsj

— Chris Childers (@ChildersRadio) May 15, 2026

“It’s kind of a pitiful day, in my opinion,” said Davis, who was let go in 2023. “When he said all these things – and I watched Oxford, from a firsthand experience, embrace him in such an unbelievable way. He even said it, ‘I needed Oxford more than Oxford needed me,’ and all the different things. For him to kind of throw shade on the historical past of Mississippi and not talk about where Ole Miss is now, and Ole Miss is one of the most inviting campuses of any place in America. It welcomes everyone.

“If anybody has any doubts, then they should go interview all the African American players that have played there – basketball, football – Black assistants that are there, Black students that attend Ole Miss from all around the country. It shocked a lot of people, a lot of close friends of mine. Like I said, as a person who still lives in Oxford and a guy who was raised in the state of Mississippi, I think there’s a lot, a lot of people that were really, really disappointed.”

The reaction to Kiffin’s comments was swift as figures from across college football and the sports world shared their thoughts. ESPN’s Rece Davis called them “completely unnecessary,” while SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum said it seemed like they stemmed from Ole Miss’ decision not to coach in the College Football Playoff after leaving for LSU.

“First of all, the idea that an SEC coach at LSU is breaking big news in Vanity Fair has to be shaking up Fifth Avenue right now,” Finebaum said. “But, it’s Lane Kiffin. The most important thing to factor in here was that this was not a slip of the tongue.

“I talked to the writer who did the Vanity Fair piece the other day, Chris Smith. He said he didn’t even ask Kiffin about the racism aspect of it. Kiffin just started riffing. This is Kiffin trying to wipe Ole Miss off the face of the earth. He is still very bitter at them, even though they’re the jolted lover. He’s bitter at them because they wouldn’t let him coach in the Playoff. He has to recruit against them, and he also has to play against them on Sept. 19. That’s a game that will gain a bit of attention.”