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Lane Kiffin further explains viral postgame interaction with Oklahoma DL David Stone

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater3 hours agosamdg_33
Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin
(ESPN)

Lane Kiffin was on camera about to start a postgame interview with ESPN’s Molly McGrath when he joked back after a game’s worth of interaction with Oklahoma DL David Stone. He has since said the banter was all fun and games, and did so again this afternoon while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Monday.

Asked to explain the postgame jabbing at Stone, Kiffin said that happens more than we think it would between he and opposing players. But, in this case, he was just getting back at the Sooners’ defensive lineman after they’d gone back and forth all game in the 34-26 win for Ole Miss over OU on Saturday afternoon, with him not intending for that to then end up on the broadcast for ESPN.

“Well, that happens a lot, I think, with me and players, and interaction during the game, especially defensive players, you know. A lot of times, they’ll say things to me in warmups,” said Kiffin. “I don’t know. Maybe they view me as different than other coaches. They kind of talk to me like they do a player. So, I embrace it, probably because I give it to them sometimes too.”

“And so, he said a lot during the game. You know, when he was on the sideline. He’d look at me, like, ‘You ain’t going to score all day!’, you know,” Kiffin said. “So, I really wasn’t trying to do it on camera.”

As the camera feed cut to him, Kiffin said to Stone that he was “a little bit quieter now than before”, and further explained the interaction with McGrath as he dapped up Stone. Kiffin then explained it again in the postgame press conference.

“Is that #0? Okay, just making sure. I was like, who’s David Stone, but then I knew,” Kiffin said. “That’s just me. I mean, he was talking the whole game to me and I did a good job, I felt, of not talking back. He just kept telling me, ‘You ain’t going to score!’ and all this. So, I didn’t go try to find him. He was just walking by. So, you know, I just saw him. So, that’s just kind of me.”

This seemingly rubbed some the wrong way with a head coach talking back at one of the players. Again, though, Kiffin says this isn’t uncommon, and is actually something other players, including ones that have since gone on to transfer and play for him, have liked about him. And, like he said before, that’s just him being himself, as only Lane Kiffin can.

“Interesting enough, I’ve had a number of players transfer over the years that said, hey, one of the reasons was we loved the way that you interacted with us on the other side during the game and we wanted to play for a coach like that,” added Kiffin. “So, I think our players actually love it.”