Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin on Lack of Minority HCs: 'A System That Needs to Be Fixed'

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin took the time Saturday to speak about one of the most significant issues in college and professional football—the lack of minority head coaches.

Kiffin commented on the situation after Ole Miss wide receivers coach Derrick Nix served as the Rebels' acting head coach for Saturday's scrimmage.

"I just hope coaches like coach Nix in this profession—Black coaches that don't get opportunities—start getting opportunities," Kiffin said while speaking with reporters. "Because it is ridiculous, when we're talking about two major conferences right here in this area, and when whatever it is, 80 percent of our players are minority but we have all white coaches. It's really a system that needs to be fixed."

Kiffin added: "There's more Tony Dungys, there's more Lovie Smiths, there's more Mike Tomlins that never get the opportunity. … We're in 2023, and between SEC and Big 12, we have no minority head coaches. That's really unfortunate, not that I'm going to be able to change that."

Nix, who has been in coaching since 2003, joined Ole Miss in 2008 as a running backs coach and switched to wide receivers coach when Kiffin was hired ahead of the 2020 season. He added the title of assistant head coach last season.

Kiffin said he allowed Nix to serve as the acting head coach for 24 hours "to give him an opportunity to see what it's like."

Kiffin said:

"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, which is like a mock game that way, I think was really good for [Nix]. And again, 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."

"Coach Nix has been here; we've been fortunate to keep him here. He's had a lot of opportunities to leave. Enjoy working with him. He's done a great job. And then today, I saw a whole other level out of him with his intensity in meetings last night, in pregame meal with the players, handling depth charts, doing everything. I was inspired by listening to him this morning … talk to the team. So, it was really cool to step back, be able to see that."

There will be just 14 Black head coaches at 133 Football Bowl Subdivision teams entering the 2023 season, Paul Newberry of the Associated Press reported in December. Colorado's Deion Sanders and Michigan State's Mel Tucker are among them.

Some of the biggest college football programs in the country are led by white head coaches, including Alabama and Nick Saban, Georgia and Kirby Smart, and Ohio State and Ryan Day.

The NFL also has a lack of diversity among its head coaches.

DeMeco Ryans was the lone minority candidate to land one of the league's five vacant head coaching positions following the 2022 season when he agreed to a deal with the Houston Texans.

The NFL has six minority head coaches entering the 2023 season—Ryans, Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins), Todd Bowles (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), Ron Rivera (Washington Commanders) and Robert Saleh (New York Jets).

The league has implemented the Rooney Rule, which mandates that teams give minority candidates an opportunity to interview for vacant positions. However, the policy has largely been ineffective as franchises seemingly hand out courtesy interviews to minority candidates instead of giving them a real chance to secure a job.

With neither college nor professional football programs making progress in terms of diversity in the coaching department, it could be some time before we see any major changes implemented.