By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
NEW ORLEANS – One of the hottest stories to come out of coach Lane Kiffin’s fiery exit from Ole Miss to LSU on Nov. 30 was his edict to his coaching staff with the Rebels.
“You get on the plane now to LSU, or you don’t have a job there” was his play call.
Well, not exactly.
Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith was not on that plane as Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and others were. And Smith was not announced as a new LSU assistant coach during the first week of December as Weis, co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Joe Cox, pass game coordinator/receivers coach George McDonald, inside receivers coach Sawyer Jordan and quarterbacks assistant Dane Stevens were.
But Smith is part of Kiffin’s staff now after taking the job weeks later. Asked if there ever was such an edict from Kiffin, Smith said, “Doesn’t appear so,” and laughed during Sugar Bowl Media Day in New Orleans on Tuesday.
“Doesn’t appear so, if I’m here now,” he said. “No, Lane was never like that. You know I think some guys just made decisions, and I don’t think it had anything to do with them coaching or continuing to coach throughout the playoffs. I just think they made a decision to get on the plane that day and go. I didn’t, but I’m there (at LSU) and I want to be there, and I look forward to the challenge.”
For the time being, though, Smith is here in New Orleans coaching Ole Miss running backs in preparation for the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between the No. 6 Rebels (12-1) and No. 3 Georgia (12-1) in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN) in the Superdome.
Smith, 39, did not want to make a hasty decision, even though Kiffin gave him his first full time coaching job in football in 2017 as Kiffin’s running backs coach at Florida Atlantic. Smith, a Miami native, was a consensus All-American at Central Florida in 2007 when he led the nation in rushing with 2,567 yards and 29 touchdowns. A third round pick of the Detroit Lions, he played there from 2008-12, gaining 2,346 yards in his career, before getting into coaching.
After coaching at FAU through 2019, Smith followed Kiffin to Ole Miss in 2020 as running backs coach and stayed through 2022. He then became the Miami Hurricanes’ running backs coach, but came back to Kiffin after one season and coached Rebel running backs again from 2023 through 2025.
“Yeah, I was just taking my time,” Smith said of his decision to follow Kiffin again. “That was a little bit of a shocker (when Kiffin left Ole Miss after six seasons). My focus at that time was just my players and my family first. We all anticipated there was going to be this press conference or this decision that had to be made, so I wasn’t shocked by that. But when a decision was made, me personally I wasn’t ready to up and just get on a plane.”
And Smith was adamant about continuing to coach the Rebels in the playoffs after taking the LSU job, and he coached during Ole Miss’ playoff opening win over Tulane on Dec. 20 in Oxford. Kiffin also wanted to continue coaching the Rebels, but was not allowed to by Ole Miss.
“For me, myself, I was never not going to coach this group,” Smith, who has been a top recruiter for Ole Miss, said. “And so, when I decided to take that job (at LSU), I still had a job to do at Ole Miss. So at the end of the day, I’m 39 years old, and I’m going to figure out a way how to do it. That’s just the bottom line.”
Since he decided to join Kiffin’s staff at LSU, he has heard it from upset Ole Miss fans, who seem to be everywhere and in the media. LSU fans and media were almost as bad when coach Nick Saban left LSU one season after winning the national championship to become the Miami Dolphins head coach following the 2004 season and then the Alabama coach after the 2006 season.
“How could you be mad? But I get it,” Smith said. “That’s just a part of football. That’s the passion that people have. But to me, my personal opinion, my personal journey, this is about impacting young men. This is about impacting communities, so I’m going to continue to do that.”
And Smith wonders why everybody just can’t get along the way the Ole Miss coaching staff is now with some assistants LSU bound and others remaining at Ole Miss.
“We’ve been here all season together,” he said. “So, I never understand that how when you make a decision to stay or leave, all of a sudden, you’re not friends anymore? Not neighbors? It kind of is what it is. I think we’re all adults, grown men, and that’s how we should act – like grown men, leaders of men.”
It is a first in college football history, though, that so many assistant coaches from a school have taken new jobs with a new school, yet will continue to coach the old school in the postseason.
“It’s not really strange,” Smith said. “I think we’re in different times. I like to call it my generation of coaches. I don’t even think we think twice about it. We just go with it. It’s not weird. You just do what you’ve got to do. We’re adults. We’re grown men.”
Fans and many media members need to realize that coaches have rarely been as emotionally tied to a school as fans and some media members are. That school tends to be the only thing they know or want to know. And such fans, media members and schools do not own coaches.
“I’ll never understand that about a lot of people around football,” Smith said. “I get it in a way because they’re fans of their team. But I always ask the question, ‘If you weren’t coaching football, and you had a regular job, how many people work at the same job for their entire life?’ Not many can say yest to that. So, for me, my goal in coaching was always to impact communities, impact players. And this is what I’m supposed to do. This is part of my journey.”
And Oxford will always be special to Smith, regardless of what he may hear when LSU plays at Ole Miss on Saturday, Sept. 19.
“I came to Oxford,” he said. “I came back to Oxford. I’ve been there for five years. It would be awesome to be in a place forever, but that’s not the reality of the business. Nor is that what I want. I want to connect. I want to network. I want to go from place to place, and impact as many people as I can. So, going to LSU is about a challenge. It was about being a part of something that I thought could really help me continue to grow in my career. And at the end of the day, to me that’s what this career is about.”
Smith echoed what Kiffin said to ESPN’s Marty Smith on Nov. 30 before getting on the plane for LSU.
“I know that there’s a lot of feelings and emotions right now around. I hope when they settle down, there’s an appreciation about what we were able to do here in having the best run that’s ever been done in the history of the school and brought some exciting times,” Kiffin said.
“People don’t really get it when you win and you leave,” Smith said. “And it’s unfortunate, because they forget to say thank you for all the things that you helped them be a part of.”
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