‘They’ll Be Just Fine’ — Stephen A. Smith Offers Harsh Reality Check to SEC Amid Expulsion Warnings to Lane Kiffin’s LSU
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The SEC filed an amended federal lawsuit this week against Louisiana State University, head coach Lane Kiffin and school officials seeking the authority to expel LSU from the conference. The main dispute is over LSU’s recruitment of former NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, who a Louisiana court had cleared to return to college football under the NCAA’s new five-for-five eligibility rule.
The SEC scheduled a vote for Thursday, Sept. 10, requiring a two-thirds majority of conference presidents to remove LSU.
ESPN’s “First Take” host Stephen A. Smith was among the loudest voices to push back on the SEC’s position, arguing the conference would be hurting itself more than LSU.
Stephen A. Smith Believes Expelling LSU Would Be Worse for the SEC
Smith opened his argument by drawing a line between players who entered the NFL draft and those who actually signed contracts and competed in training camps. He said the two situations are different and should not be treated the same way.
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“Just because you enter a draft, if you haven’t signed a contract with an NFL team, you are not an NFL player. If you haven’t been on a practice field, if you haven’t competed against NFL players, you are not an NFL player. You should be able to go back to college,” Smith said on First Take.
Smith pointed to the fans who paid to attend the LSU-Clemson opener as evidence that the university was delivering what its conference expected of it.
“It’s not a crime. You brought them there to try to win. 102,000 people showed up there Saturday night. They didn’t get in for free. The university got paid for that. Clemson got paid for that. The SEC got paid for that. What are you talking about?” Smith added.
The ESPN host then turned to what expulsion would actually mean for LSU in practice. He compared the school’s position to Notre Dame, which operates as a football independent and continues to generate significant revenue without a conference home.
Smith said, “You want to throw them out the SEC, go ahead and do it. Watch. They ain’t gonna lose. They’ll be just fine, especially in the age of Lane Kiffin. Could you imagine Lane Kiffin as an independent? Out there on the open market with the LSU brand? Please… the SEC, sit your [expletive] down.”
While Smith and others debated the politics of expulsion, the SEC’s amended complaint pointed out that LSU’s own president Wade Rousse voted in favor of the conference’s policy banning pro players on Aug. 25, then stayed silent as Kiffin publicly defied it.
The filing said that silence, combined with Kiffin’s repeated public statements, proved the university had lost control of its football program. The SEC also sought a temporary restraining order to stop LSU officials and the Louisiana attorney general from interfering with the Sept. 10 vote.
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LSU ultimately kept Wright and Harris off the roster for the Clemson opener and won 51-10. At halftime, with LSU leading 31-3, Kiffin finished a sideline interview and turned back to the microphone to say: “Imagine if we had pro players.”
The SEC’s Sept. 8 court filing also cited that halftime comment directly as evidence of a lack of institutional control at LSU, using Kiffin’s own words as part of its legal argument for the right to hold Thursday’s expulsion vote.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
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