Rex Ryan and Jemele Hill Credit: ESPN, © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

Jemele Hill called out Rex Ryan for defending Lane Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU while simultaneously criticizing college players who use the transfer portal and NIL to chase better opportunities. The hypocrisy was bad enough on its own, but it got worse when you consider that both Ryan and Kiffin are clients of the same super agent, Jimmy Sexton.

Ryan appeared on ESPN’s Get Up on Monday morning and argued Kiffin shouldn’t be vilified for taking the LSU job. Instead, the former New York Jets head coach blamed the state of college football and specifically took a shot at players who transfer for money.

“I don’t blame Lane Kiffin for going after it,” Ryan said. “Look at the landscape of college football, which I think is absolutely abysmal. Not just the calendar, but the fact you let kids bail all the time. ‘You know what? I’m going to make more money if I go to this place.’ What is the difference?”

He went on to defend Kiffin as the one who built Ole Miss into a contender and said anyone criticizing his decision would’ve taken the LSU job themselves.

In response to Ryan’s strawman argument, Hill pointed out the apparent double standard. Kiffin has jumped from program to program multiple times throughout his career. Brian Kelly and other coaches have done the same thing, leaving schools in the lurch long before NIL ever existed. But Ryan was perfectly fine with coaches chasing money while simultaneously bashing players for doing it.

What’s the difference, Rex? There isn’t one. That’s Hill’s entire point. Coaches have been jumping from job to job for decades, leaving programs scrambling and players in the lurch, all in pursuit of bigger paychecks. Kiffin’s done it at Tennessee, FAU, and now Ole Miss. Brian Kelly snuck out of Notre Dame in the middle of the night to take the LSU job. Nick Saban left Michigan State for LSU. This behavior predates NIL by years. But the moment players got similar leverage through NIL and the transfer portal, suddenly, it’s destroying college football.

But coaches who did it were always framed as making smart business decisions. Nobody questioned whether Kelly should be allowed to recruit Notre Dame’s roster while coaching them in a bowl game. Nobody suggested Saban was destroying college football by leaving LSU for a bigger job. It was just how the business worked. Coaches had all the leverage, and they used it.

Then NIL and the transfer portal gave players a fraction of that same leverage, and suddenly, the sport is falling apart. Players can finally chase better opportunities and make money off their name, image, and likeness, and the same people who defended coaches for decades are acting like it’s the end of college football. That’s Hill’s point. The hypocrisy is glaring.

Ryan’s segment on Monday morning was a perfect example. He defended Kiffin for doing precisely what Kiffin has always done — chasing a better job and more money. Fair enough. Coaches do that. But Ryan spent the same breath ripping into players for doing the exact same thing through the portal and NIL. How is a player transferring to make more money any different than Kiffin leaving Ole Miss for LSU? It’s not, but somehow, when players do it, they’re “bailing” and ruining the sport.

Ryan’s defense of Kiffin was problematic enough on its face. But later in the same Get Up segment, the conflict of interest became impossible to ignore. Paul Finebaum brought up who’s actually orchestrating Kiffin’s move, pointing out that the absolute puppet master isn’t Kiffin — it’s Jimmy Sexton, the CAA super agent who represents a massive chunk of college football’s coaching landscape and essentially runs the sport’s hiring carousel.

Mike Greenberg immediately jumped in with a laugh to note that Sexton also happens to be Rex Ryan’s agent.

That conflict of interest adds another layer to the hypocrisy Hill was calling out, but it’s not the main issue. The main problem is the double standard. Players didn’t invent the idea of leveraging opportunities for better situations. Coaches taught them that. Kiffin has done it multiple times throughout his career. Kelly did it. Saban did it. They all did it, and nobody batted an eye. But now that players can finally do the same thing, it’s suddenly a problem.

The double standard is impossible to miss. Coaches have been chasing money and leaving programs in chaos for decades, long before NIL existed. But when players get the ability to do the same thing — to transfer for a better situation, to make money off their name and likeness, to have some control over their careers — suddenly it’s destroying college football. Hill called it out for precisely what it is: hypocrisy. And she’s right.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann