{"id":671543,"date":"2026-05-29T05:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T05:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/671543\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T05:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T05:34:11","slug":"verge-ausberry-calls-for-unity-in-sec-after-lane-kiffin-comments-we-have-to-be-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/671543\/","title":{"rendered":"Verge Ausberry calls for unity in SEC after Lane Kiffin comments: ‘We have to be one’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following comments made by LSU<\/a> head coach Lane Kiffin<\/a>, Tigers athletics director Verge Ausberry called for unity in the SEC. He said the conference needs to come together in the best interest of the conference.<\/p>\n

Kiffin made waves after comments made in a Vanity Fair interview about the differences in recruiting<\/a> at LSU and his previous stop at Ole Miss<\/a>. He cited concerns about diversity in Oxford, which he doesn\u2019t necessarily hear in Baton Rouge, and the remarks sparked a wave of backlash. Kiffin later addressed the remarks in\u00a0an exclusive interview<\/a>\u00a0with On3\u2019s\u00a0Wilson Alexander<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ]<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking with ESPN\u2019s Heather Dinich<\/a> at the SEC\u2019s spring meetings, Ausberry said he has a simple message at LSU. He wants the focus to be solely on the Tigers and while SEC teams square off on the field, they need to work together away from the gridiron.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about the other place you were at before, the other schools in this conference,\u201d Ausberry told ESPN. \u201cIn the SEC we have to be one. Every other organization from NASCAR, to the NFL, NBA, they\u2019re one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fight each other on the fields: Saturday nights, basketball games, baseball weekends, track and field, that\u2019s when we compete. After that, this is one. When you start breaking up and doing our own things, that hurts our conference.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the SEC\u2019s meetings in Destin this week, the expectation was that Kiffin\u2019s comments would come up<\/a> as conference officials got together. However, commissioner Greg Sankey did not say whether the league would issue a fine or anything other form of reprimand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll find out when everyone else finds out,\u201d Sankey said<\/a>, via On3\u2019s Brett McMurphy<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t make those announcements at podiums.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Ole Miss coach Pete Golding<\/a> also received a question about Lane Kiffin\u2019s remarks. He told reporters he didn\u2019t have much to say about the comments<\/a>, but also noted his personal relationship with his former boss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t have a response to it,\u201d\u00a0Golding said<\/a>. \u201cI mean, obviously, there\u2019s a Lane side for us that we\u2019re buddies and our friends, and then there\u2019s professional side that I have to get on his ass, you know? But I think, you know, every time he gets in front of a camera, they\u2019re bringing up Ole Miss and all that. I think, you know, the breakup wasn\u2019t perfect. I don\u2019t think any of them ever will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut \u2026 for some of the last \u2026 comments that he made, I think anybody that\u2019s been to Oxford, you know, knows that\u2019s not where we\u2019re at right now. I\u2019ve lived all over the southeast, we all got our own issues, you know, but I think the biggest thing is make sure people come to Oxford and see for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following comments made by LSU head coach Lane Kiffin, Tigers athletics director Verge Ausberry called for unity in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,96466,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-671543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-lane-kiffin-94-jefferson","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}