Lane Kiffin addresses NCAA gambling issues, whether injury reports would solve anything

The SEC spring meetings are underway in Destin, FL this week as coaches from around the conference gather oceanside to discuss the various current issues in college football. Of course, the new scheduling model garnered most of the buzz, but there was also a fair bit of chatter about the growing world of sports gambling, especially now that it’s legal in many of the southeastern states.

One day following the meetings, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was asked if sports gambling was addressed during their discussions. He answered:

“Yeah, that was discussed in there. I think we just got to re-emphasize, obviously, how kids need to stay away from that and just make sure that they’re educated on the rules around us.”

Another problem that’s arising from gambling at the college level is the lack of injury awareness. In the NFL, teams are prohibited from lying about injuries and have to report which guys will play by a certain time before the game. Meanwhile, at the college level, some coaches openly flaunt that they lie to media about player injuries and off-field situations. So, one media member asked Coach Kiffin if the idea of brining a standardized injury report to the college level was discussed.

“Again, like what we talked about earlier, you’re going to solve a few problems and create a lot more with that,” answered Kiffin. And he wasn’t the only one who spoke on gambling. Reporters also got Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel’s thoughts on the matter.

“Yeah, we constantly educate the players. It’s part of our team rules,” says Heupel. “You try to bring that up every week when you’re with them in your team meetings. You try to educate them, understand that the people you come into contact (with) maybe are trying to draw information out from you.”

“But obviously gambling has spread in a completely different way, sports gambling, where you’re able to do it on your phones. So educating these guys on what they can and can’t do, how they need to conduct themselves. For us, bringing in people that can inform them on the right things to do, and at the end of the day trying to find a way to protect the players and our program.”

For these coaches, it’s about keeping the players from doing something they’ll regret — like breaking NCAA rules or doing something illegal. In order to do so, it’s up to the coaches to properly educate their own players.

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