Ole Miss News: Football adds familiar face, men’s basketball drops another

Catching you up on the latest Ole Miss news: Kevin Smith returns to the Ole Miss football coaching staff as the running backs coach.

After a bevy of coaching staff additions on the defensive side of the ball this offseason, Lane Kiffin’s coaching staff has now added an offensive coach, but it’s not his first time in Oxford.

The Rebels have added running backs coach Kevin Smith back to the staff after Smith spent one season with the Miami Hurricanes in 2022.

Smith was the Rebels’ running backs coach for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Before coming to Oxford, he was also on Kiffin’s staff at Florida Atlantic.

“Coach Smith helped lay the foundation for the championship program that we are building here at Ole Miss, and we look forward to welcoming him back to our staff,” coach Kiffin said of Smith.

Other Ole Miss news: After falling to lowly South Carolina, Rebels men’s basketball gets trounced by Florida

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team has been having one of its worst seasons in recent memory. This is probably the worst multi-season stretch since 2003-2006 when they won 13, 14,  and 14 games respectively in consecutive years.

The Rebels won only 13 games a year ago and they currently sit at 10 wins on the year with five games left. The games aren’t getting any easier and reaching 13 wins again would be a stretch.

Last night the Rebels took another big loss on the road in Gainesville to the Florida Gators. Entering the game as 10-point favorites, the Gators ended up winning by 15 points with a final score of 79-64.

The Rebels’ shooting has been abysmal over the last few games and this game was no different. They shot just 25 percent from three-point range and 39.7 overall from the field. Matthew Murrell led the Rebels in scoring with 15 points.

With the loss Ole Miss falls to 10-16 overall on the year. They play at home next against rival Mississippi State on Saturday, January 18.