Lane Kiffin Clarifies Controversial Ole Miss Comments

On Tuesday morning LSU football coach Lane Kiffin addressed his controversial comments regarding Black parents not wanting their children to move to Mississippi to play football.

He offered half apology to anyone who was offended by his comments, but doubled down on the notion that recruiting Black players to play at Ole Miss is “a narrative that coaches have been fighting forever.”

“I really apologize if anybody at Ole Miss or in Mississippi was offended by that,” Kiffin said. “In a four-hour interview, I was asked a lot of questions on a lot of things, and Ole Miss has been wonderful to me and my family.”

“I was asked questions about the differences in recruiting, and I said a narrative that we battled there from some out-of-state Black parents and grandparents was not warning their kid to move to Mississippi. That’s a narrative that coaches have been fighting forever. It wasn’t calculated by bringing it up.”

More Football: NFC Contender Faces the Toughest NFL Schedule This Season

More NFL: Adam Schefter Makes Final Aaron Rodgers Prediction

His clarification came after he suggested LSU is an easier place to recruit, during an interview with Vanity Fair, given there’s “no segregation.”

"‘Hey, coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren't letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi,'” Kiffin recalled a recruit telling him. “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.'”

It’s the latest slight from Kiffin to his former program after he left the Rebels after accepting a $91 million deal from the LSU Tigers.

More Golf: Brooks Koepka Admits Harsh Reality of Return to PGA Tour

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 9:35 AM.