One day after the Lane Kiffin debacle, Steve Sarkisian lights up Ole Miss in the ‘basketweaving’ classes at Oxford.
The Difference Between Curt Cignetti and Lane Kiffin | Don’t @ Me w/Dan Dakich
After Lane Kiffin took the weekend to fire college football fans on Twitter, Dan offers a reality check about coaching, noting that Curt Cignetti, at least, gives the impression that all he does is watch football and coach. Although Lane Kiffin makes it clear that he is online and spending time not focusing on coaching, it never looks good.
Ole Miss just can’t catch a break from opposing coaches within the SEC, with Texas coach Steve Sarkisian joining the team.
Clearly there must be something in the water in Oxford to entice the coaches to somehow keep the Rebels in the offseason conversation, coming off a two-day trip where Lane Kiffin took heat for his comments about some of Ole Miss’ recruiting struggles.
In what began as another interesting look at Kiffin’s life, which has many layers built into the body of his entire career, the topic drew a lot of attention to what some considered racist images of the struggle to recruit certain players at Oxford based on the country’s history.
LANE KIFFIN SHOTS OLE MISS, SINGS PAIN IN RECRUITING WORLD AND LSU TALKS TYPES.
When explaining some of the problems that have arisen in the past, in different games, Kiffin revealed that getting players to Ole Miss was not only about the amount of money that was offered.
“‘Hey, coach, we really like you. But my grandparents won’t let me move to Oxford, Mississippi.’ That doesn’t come from when you say Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” Kiffin said to Vanity Fair. “Parents were sitting here this weekend saying the diversity of the campus sounds so good: ‘It feels like there’s no separation. And we want that for our child because it’s the real world.’
“I hope he (comments) will respect Ole Miss… There are things I say that are true, they are not a shot.”
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Lane Kiffin speaks during an introductory press conference as the head coach of the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Dec. 1, 2025. (Photos by Gus Stark/LSU/University)
Kiffin has since gone on to say in later interviews that his comments were not meant to be, and he did not mean for it to be seen as disparaging of Mississippi State.
But unfortunately for the LSU coach, the benefit of the doubt is not something he will be given based on past shootings at other schools.
And no, I don’t think Kiffin had any racism in his body when he described Ole Miss recruiting, but sometimes he says these off-the-wall things to get attention.
This time, I don’t think it went according to plan, which is easy to see when Kiffin sends messages to members of the media to clarify his words.
But, he wasn’t the only one with Ole Miss on their minds in the past few weeks, as Steve Sarkisian testified Tuesday morning.
Texas head coach takes big swing at Rebels
When Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney targeted Ole Miss nearly three months ago to recruit quarterback Luke Ferrelli, the college football world took notice, or so it seemed at the time.
Swinney has evidence that Ole Miss intercepted a short-term rental line that spent a few days at Clemson before heading to Oxford. There were claims of text messages, a picture of a $1 million check sent to Ferrelli, and other forms of communication sent to entice him to leave Clemson shortly after arriving.
DABO SWINNEY BRINGS RECEIPTS, GOES NUCLEAR TO OLE MISS THROUGH LB LUKE FERRELLI. The NCAA has responded
And yes, he ended up at Ole Miss. Which brings us to Steve Sarkisian, who was asked about the ongoing circus in college athletics regarding the transfer portal and athletes losing education by transferring multiple times during their careers.
“In Texas, we will only take 50% of a player’s academic hours,” Sarkisian told USA TODAY. “You might be a semester away from graduating, but you’re back 50% if you play here and want a degree. But at Ole Miss, they can take it. All you have to do is weave a basket, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.”
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian stands on the field before the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, Nov. 22, 2025. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Of course, Sarkisian also brought up other schools when he spoke like this, but he also points to the current system we live in right now.
“We all signed up to be a part of the NCAA, and then we were supposed to make the rules,” said Sarkisian. “Everyone knows the laws, right? Then we go to our attorney general and say we don’t like that law, let’s just sue. Right now, no one is afraid of the consequences.”
OK, I don’t know how many people will sympathize with the Texas football program, but to each their own.
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Everyone is getting a shot at Ole Miss right now
The story of the 2025 college football season, outside of Indiana running rivals en route to the national championship, was the Ole Miss Rebels.
A traveling circus would be a better way to describe what I saw from the second half of the season until Lane Kiffin ran through Oxford Airport on a flight to Baton Rouge just two weeks before Ole Miss began its CFP run.
“It’s surprising that our success makes some people uncomfortable,” Ole Miss AD Keith Carter wrote on social media.
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Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and head coach Lane Kiffin talk after winning the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against Penn State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 30, 2023. (John Adams/Icon Sportswire)
Whether it’s Lane Kiffin, Dabo Swinney or Steve Sarkisian, everyone seems to be using Ole Miss as a punching bag right now.
Have people forgotten that Kiffin no longer lives in Oxford? Who knows.
But, it’s been an interesting few months for the Rebels athletic department, and we haven’t even hit the start of summer yet.
All I know is that the SEC spring meetings are likely in two weeks, and we’ll be there to cover the potential madness from the beaches of Destin, Florida.
