Stephen A. Smith on Lane Kiffin 'segregation' comments about Ole Miss: He 'wasn't lying'

Stephen A. Smith wasn’t the biggest fan of Lane Kiffin and his take on Ole Miss compared to LSU when it came to recruiting. Kiffin mentioned recruits saying their parents were uncomfortable with Mississippi due to the state’s checkered past when it came to race relations, as if they were still a factor these days when committing to a school for college football.

Kiffin went on to say LSU felt as if there was “no segregation” when taking that factor into account, compared to Ole Miss. Smith didn’t like the way it came out, as Kiffin said in a Vanity Fair piece, but happened to agree with the polarizing head coach.

“You know, it’s unfortunate,” Smith said on First Take. “I don’t want to hear from him when he says, ‘You know, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful in any way.’ You know this is going to be a blemish on Ole Miss in Mississippi. That’s just a fact. But in the same breath, it wasn’t like he was lying. I’ve been on the airwaves, and I told you this. I said it right in front of you. I said it in front of everybody when he departed for LSU, I said it would be easier for him to recruit. I said, if you are a brother and you ain’t from Mississippi, and the word Mississippi comes up whether it’s Mississippi State, whether it’s Ole Miss, it’s going to give you cause to pause. In the aftermath of that, I got calls. 

“People wanted me to come visit. I went down for the women’s college basketball game with Coach McCune, who was absolutely, positively wonderful. The people there were first class, all the way. They were really, really nice. And don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time, and I plan on going back when Lane Kiffin comes to play there, because I promised him I would come back. But understand, this is not new.” 

Kiffin did in fact apologize and clarify those comments in a conversion with On3’s Wilson Alexander. You can read that in full HERE.

“Tommy Tuberville, that once coached there (at Ole Miss), he once told, you know, his bosses at the university, we can’t recruit against that flag, the Confederate flag,” Smith continued. “We got to remember stuff like that … Steve Spurrier, the former coach of South Carolina, once made noise because of the Confederate flag and how it needed to be removed and stuff like that. This is the south. It’s Mississippi. And although times have changed and things have evolved and stuff like that, as we know, throughout this country, in certain parts, there are people that want to hold on to the good ole days, as they say, that is a fact of life that some people still feel that way. 

“And if you are black and you are not from Mississippi, I mean I don’t want to cast aspersions on a lot of wonderful people that I’m sure are there. But from an historical perspective, being black when you hear Mississippi, and that is not where you’re from, it gives you cause to pause.”

Smith echoed the Kiffin comments when it came to parents and grandparents of football recruits. If they have a lot of influence on where the player goes, things like this could pop up.

“Especially if you have parents and grandparents who are still alive and are in your ear and have influence in your life, they’re going to say, wait a minute now, Mississippi, Ole Miss, that’s just what they’re going to do,” Smith said. “And so we have to understand it. It’s a reality. 

“And Lane Kiffin saying what he said, although him being the former coach, being there for six years, winning and stuff like that, doing all the things that he did, if they’re pretty ticked off with him, I wouldn’t blame them. Because you didn’t have to say this to Vanity Fair, but he wasn’t lying in terms of his experiences.”