Former Alabama player reveals truth behind Kiffin’s statement about recruiting black athletes at Ole Miss

George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

Lane Kiffin stirred up a lot of conversation after he revealed he felt he had to deal with the history associated with Oxford, Mississippi, while recruiting black athletes as the head football coach at Ole Miss.

Kiffin told Vanity Fair there were black college football prospects who would tell him, “Hey, coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren’t letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi.”

Former Alabama wide receiver, Mike McCoy, who won a National Championship with the Crimson Tide in 2009, is well aware of the history associated with his home state. While he grew up in Brandon, Mississippi, McCoy chose to take his talents to Alabama, and Ole Miss’ association with the Confederate flag played a role in his decision.

Ole Miss removed the Mississippi state flag with the Confederate battle emblem in its top-left corner from campus in 2015.

“I didn’t go to Ole Miss because of that reason,” McCoy told Touchdown Alabama. “I wasn’t going to go anywhere with the Confederate flag or had any association.”

McCoy considers himself to be more informed about the history of black people in the Southern United States today than he was as a college football prospect. This knowledge comes with awareness of the history associated with several SEC programs, including Alabama.

“If you read 40 Years a Slave, and I didn’t read that until after I graduated, you learn the history of Alabama, every school in the SEC,” said McCoy. “That was just the South. That’s why guys like Eddie Robinson, the coach at Grambling, get overlooked. I mean, it’s history behind all of this. So honestly, if the parents— it’s not just Ole Miss, but if parents really want to get into the meat of things, go study your school history.”

Kiffin is now the head football coach at LSU.