Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Lane Kiffin revealed some issues he ran into while recruiting players when he was previously at Ole Miss.

According to Kiffin, some of the recruits he was pursuing said their families didn't want them to move to Oxford:
quote:

Kiffin also seems willing to indirectly invoke Ole Miss's struggle to distance itself from symbols like the Confederate flag, Colonel Rebel, and the nickname "Ole Miss" itself. When he was coaching there, Kiffin says, top recruits would tell him, “‘Hey, coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren’t letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi.’ 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.’” (The next day Kiffin added, “I just hope [my comment] comes across respectful to Ole Miss…. There are some things that I’m saying that are factual, they’re not shots.” The population of Baton Rouge is about 51% Black and 36% white; Oxford is about 66% white, 26% Black. )
The comments from Kiffin will surely add more fuel to the fire for the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry.

September 19 in Oxford can’t get here soon enough.

Filed Under: LSU Football
9 Comments
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CatfishJohn1 hour
To be fair, he's not saying Ole Miss or the people in Oxford are racist. It's just a perception that older black people have because of the history, etc. Shouldn't be controversial, but of course people will have a come apart.
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Orndorf21 hour
He's right. I have friends that were recruited to D1 football. The history of Oxford doesn't make black americans feel warm and fuzzy. Especially when the confederate symbols of oppression are still present. Duh.
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Spelt it rong38 min
Lived in Oxford. Loved it. Will retire there.
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I hate Ole Miss and i have been saying for years. "How do black families allow there children to attend that University". I get why part of my close Mississippi family are Ole Miss fans. But they aren't changing the past and I dont blame them. But I also see it from the people who came from grand or great grandparents of slavery.

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BeepBopBoop30 min
I’ve said same. Schools should be using the past to negative recruit Ole Miss.
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sharkfhin1 hour
Reb Fandom on X have melted again over this article.
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JackaReaux1 hour
Don’t let them read the OT
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Yeti_Chaser8 min
Maybe I should've gone to OM
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jasonbr19751 hour
Money is green, not blue and red! That's mostly what all college players care about anyways.
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