Lane Kiffin Makes Powerful Move to Advocate for More Minority Coaches in College Football

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin criticized the lack of diversity among coaches in the college football ranks following the Rebels’ fall scrimmage on Saturday.

Kiffin’s comments came after he allowed wide receivers coach Derrick Nix the opportunity to serve as the program’s acting coach for the scrimmage to “see what it was like” being in the seat of a head coach. Nix, a Black coach who started his career as a graduate assistant at Southern Miss in 2003, joined the Rebels’ staff in ’08 as the running backs coach.

Nix was retained under Kiffin’s tenure but switched from running backs to coach wide receivers. 

Following the game, Kiffin told reporters that coaches like Nix, who typically “don’t get opportunities” to lead programs, will hopefully “start getting” chances.

“There’s more Tony Dungys, there’s more Lovie Smiths, there’s more Mike Tomlins that never get the opportunity,” Kiffin said “… We’re in 2023, and between SEC and Big 12, we have no minority head coaches. …It is ridiculous, when we’re talking about two major conferences right here in this area, and when whatever it is, 80% of our players are minority but we have all white coaches. It’s really a system that needs to be fixed.”

In addition to leading the wide receivers’ group last season, Nix was also assigned the title of assistant head coach. On Saturday, even in a small capacity, Nix took advantage of the opportunity with the hope of putting him on a path to become head coach in the future.

“ …To give someone the opportunity to speak in front of the team, to handle media, to handle pregame meal, to handle injury reports, to get out there today to manage the kind of scrimmage… I think was really good for [Nix],” Kiffin said.

“…You can’t see how good somebody is until they get a chance to do it. That would be my wish out there to ADs and presidents and universities to understand that, and this is a good example.”