The University of Mississippi is facing notable scrutiny in the world of college sports, especially from University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, who is calling out Ole Miss for what he sees as inadequate academic standards.
Sarkisian, set to lead the Longhorns in 2021, expressed his concerns during an interview with USA Today, highlighting a practice regarding transfer portal players. “At Texas, we only accept 50 percent of our players’ academic credit hours,” he noted. He continued, “You might be just a semester from graduation, but if you want to be at Texas and get a degree, your grades revert to 50%. At Ole Miss, though, it’s different. There, as long as you take something easy, you can get your degree.”
He voiced that college football could be doing a disservice to players, stating: “It’s like overlooking education. Yet, fewer than 5% of players ever make it to the NFL.” During the same conversation, Sarkisian also accused college sports entities of flouting NCAA regulations, despite the organization’s failure to enforce them effectively.
“We all agreed to be part of the NCAA, and we supposedly created these rules,” he mentioned. “We all know what’s expected, don’t we? Then we go to the attorney general and say we don’t like the rules and want to sue. Right now, there’s no fear of consequences.”
Sarkisian won’t be alone in his criticisms of Mississippi this week. Lane Kiffin, the head coach at Louisiana State, has also voiced his concerns regarding Ole Miss, particularly around the issue of perceived racism.
The 51-year-old coach shared with Vanity Fair that he occasionally finds it difficult to recruit Black athletes, fearing they might face racism at the University of Mississippi. He recounted conversations with recruits who expressed, “Coach, we really like you, but our grandparents are hesitant about us moving to Oxford, Mississippi.”
Kiffin further explained, “When you think of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that’s not the first image that comes to mind.” He also noted that parents who were visiting recently remarked on the campus’s diversity, saying, “It feels like there’s no racism.” That, he suggests, is the reality many people aspire to for their children.
