Texas football’s Steve Sarkisian blasted for ‘low’ Ole Miss blow by Stephen A. Smith

With the Texas football program led by head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Arch Manning, the team is looking to grab the attention of the nation and show out next season. However, the program has the attention, but in a different light, as Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian threw a shot at the Ole Miss Rebels, which is a school that has also received negative attention.After head coach Lane Kiffin spoke of the recruiting troubles at Ole Miss in an interview with Variety Fair due to the history of the state and school with its connection to Civil War imagery, Sarkisian joined in on the talk against the university. He would criticize the school for its academics, saying how one could easily get a degree by taking a “basket weaving” class, via an interview with USA Today, released Tuesday.This garnered the attention of Stephen A. Smith on Thursday, who expressed on ESPN's “First Take” how that comment was “low.”“The fact of the matter is, is that I made noise, because I talked about when Lane Kiffin was thinking about leaving…because if you are a Black man and you are not from Mississippi, and you hear…whether it's Ole Miss or Mississippi, it's going to give you cause to pause, because, from an historical perspective, Civil Rights, Jim Crow laws…folks walking around there with the Confederate flag,” Smith continued. "Steve Sarkisian, that was low. There's no reason for that."@stephenasmith reacts to Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian's comments on Ole Miss pic.twitter.com/NZ1UDUH9ad — First Take (@FirstTake) May 14, 2026Stephen A. Smith continues to call out Texas football's Steve SarkisianWhile Smith understands the conversation around Ole Miss and how members of the Black community would be uncomfortable, the sports analyst would say that it's not for Sarkisian to “take a shot” at the school's academics. Smith even expressed how the Rebels made the College Football Playoff (CFP) and even have the better quarterback in Trinidad Chambliss over Manning.Smith would conclude by saying how it's “insulting” to the school to use basket weaving as an example, which diminishes the “quality of education” at Ole Miss, saying how it was “classless” on the part of Sarkisian.It remains to be seen if or when Sarkisian apologizes for his comments.With the Texas football program led by head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Arch Manning, the team is looking to grab the attention of the nation and show out next season. However, the program has the attention, but in a different light, as Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian threw a shot at the Ole Miss Rebels, which is a school that has also received negative attention.