SEC Considering Punishment Against Lane Kiffin For Comments About Ole Miss

The Lane Kiffin vs. Ole Miss saga continues to be the talk of the SEC in recent weeks.

Earlier this month during an interview with Vanity Fair, Lane Kiffin made comments directed at Ole Miss, insinuating that there were challenges around leading the program due to its historical racial issues from the past.

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

Obviously, the reactions to those words did not go over well with anyone in Oxford, prompting Kiffin to issue an apology.

However, according to reports from USA TODAY Sports, it appears that Kiffin could still face some form of discipline from the SEC.

Lane Kiffin Could Be Punished by SEC

LSU Tigers coach Lane Kiffi — LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

As for what those sanctions or punishments, if any, could be? That remains unclear.

The SEC discourages its member institutions from disparaging other programs in the conference openly, but does not have any official rules or regulations in place for enforcing any such actions.

This was confirmed by attorney Tom Mars, who has ties to the SEC and has even represented Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss during his eligibility waiver cases with the NCAA. He also represented former Ohio State QB Justin Fields, former Ole Miss QB Shea Patterson, and multiple former college football head coaches.

Still, that doesn't necessarily mean that the SEC won't try to set some kind of precedent with Kiffin either.

Then again, Kiffin isn't the only SEC coach who has mained pointed remarks at another member school this offseason.

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian also made comments that were seemingly directed at the Rebels in his now infamous 'basket weaving' comments earlier this month.

Regardless, Kiffin insisted during his interview with USA Today that his comments were taken out of context, and that the words were not his but those that the parents of former recruits had told him.

“People don’t read the actual words I used in the article,” Kiffin said in his interview with USA TODAY. “I said, ‘A parent said.’ That’s not me saying it as my opinion.”

Whether or not he should have even made the comments to begin with, regardless of the context, is another conversation.

But now, it appears he still must wait to see if the SEC will take action because of them either way.

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