If SEC punishes Lane Kiffin, Stephen A. Smith promises to 'raise holy hell'

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"First Take's" Stephen A. Smith had a pointed, if ultimately meaningless, message for those coming for Lane Kiffin.

The pundit said – as the SEC gets ready to meet to discuss expelling LSU from the conference and other punishments for the school for trying to roster former NFL players Dae'quan Wright and Zxavian Harris – that if it tries to do anything to punish Kiffin, he is going to "raise holy hell."

Smith said that Kiffin was working within the confines of the system, and to punish him would go against the nature of the NCAA's own rules.

HAYES: LSU must take its SEC punishment. Or take a hike | Opinion

"I'm gonna raise holy hell they try that on Lane Kiffin," Smith said. "I'm gonna raise holy hell. Who the hell do they think they are? You had a loophole that he tried to exploit. Plain and simple. You've got the athletic director that's quiet. You've got the president of the university who abstains from voting. And then you're gonna look at the coach? Come on now."

Smith's implication appears to be, of course, that Kiffin is acting as a fall guy for a universal failing that allowed LSU to even try to bring Wright and Harris into the fold.

"The coach is trying to win football games," he added. "The governor, who usurped the president and the athletic director and basically handpicked this coach got you there … LSU hasn't been this relevant in eight years."

The Tigers, of course, did go 15-0 and won the national championship in the 2019-20 season behind a team largely considered to be one of the best in NCAA history.

"This man, in one game, in a matter of two weeks, has made LSU the top story in all of college football. And then what does he do? He goes on the football and stomps … an epic beatdown, of Clemson."

Smith did concede that the Wright/Harris situation was untenable, with his main argument being centered around Kiffin not being the one who should be punished.

"Now, you don't let pros come back and play college football. I understand that. But the point is, in the age of NIL, with two players believing they still had eligibility, he pushed the envelope and a court allowed the preliminary injunction to protect the players, and to protect the university. It's one thing for the SEC to step up and say 'listen, we're our conference, we're the conference, we're the ones who should have the authority to govern our own conference and make these decisions,' that's one thing.

"But to retroactively go about the business of planning on suspending Lane Kiffin because you didn't like that he was pushing the envelope to win games. I bet you whatever money LSU generates, which last time I checked there's revenue sharing in the SEC, I bet you they ain't gonna be interested in giving that back."

What is lack of institutional control?

While Smith makes a valid point that everything around LSU is a circus, the SEC doesn't need to make its own rules to punish Kiffin. The longstanding and oft-cited "lack of institutional control" casts a very wide net that centers any college coach, not just Kiffin, as the ringmaster of his own domain.

The argument the SEC would put forward is that LSU's recruitment of professional athletes back to its ranks makes a mockery of the bumpers the NCAA has for its players, and that would give the conference basis to punish Kiffin. By definition, the lack of institutional controls is "found when the Committee on Infractions determines that major violations occurred and the institution failed to display:

  • Adequate compliance measures.
  • Appropriate education on those compliance measures.
  • Sufficient monitoring to ensure the compliance measures are followed.
  • Swift action upon learning of a violation."

That is fairly easy to prove for an infractions committee. Furthermore, the court did not protect LSU in the case of these players. In point of fact, the court protected the players from LSU. The injunction stated the players could not face repercussions from the NCAA or SEC, and LSU was later enjoined in that, not that LSU couldn't face repercussions from the NCAA or SEC.

In essence, the Kiffin situation is one where the SEC feels it is being undermined by a school that thought it had found a loophole, and fought tooth and nail to keep it open. Regardless of the short-term gains LSU is bringing both the conference and the college football landscape, it's evident both the NCAA and SEC don't want the Tigers going around trying to pry open every Pandora's Box they find lying around.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If SEC punishes Lane Kiffin, Stephen A. Smith promises to 'raise holy hell'

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