Jeff Lebby 'satisfied' with SEC response to Kirby Smart shove of Michael Van Buren, 'immediate' call from UGA coach

As far as Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby is concerned, the book is closed on the Kirby Smart–Michael Van Buren sideline shove. He’s heard from Smart directly and is content with how the league office addressed the matter, he said on Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference.

In the immediate aftermath, Smart reached out to both Lebby and Van Buren to apologize for his actions after reviewing the game film and seeing specifically what he did. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also said in the days after that moment should’ve resulted in a penalty.

And in totality, Lebby is content with the response and is ready to move on.

“Yeah I’m satisfied,” Lebby said. “Kirby reached out to me right after the game, reached out to Mike. It was great dialogue, communication there. So absolutely we’re ready for Saturday, Texas A&M at home.”

Lebby also said he wasn’t surprised to hear from Smart after the game. He explained that if the situation was reversed or if he did something similar, he’d also seek out the opposing coach and player to offer his own apologies.

“I think if I was on the other side of it, we’d do something incredibly similar. So, and it was — it was immediate,” Lebby said.

Sankey briefly addressed the moment

Seth Emerson of The Athletic shared the quote by Sankey. In it, Sankey says the officials should have thrown an unsportsmanlike flag for the contact to the opposing quarterback by Smart. However, he expressed that the action wasn’t a deliberate one to him as he hopes to not see it again.

“Coaches cannot make contact with an opposing player. This play should have resulted in enforcement of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty,” Sankey said in a statement. “As Kirby discussed in his press conference today, he has appropriately reached out to Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby and quarterback Michael Van Buren. I am confident the contact was not intentional and the clear expectation is this conduct will not happen again.”

During the second half of the 41-31 win for the Bulldogs on Saturday, Smart came down the sideline and shoved Van Buren as he was trying to say something to an official. Following the game, Smart clarified that it was actually DC Glenn Schumann that he was trying to get to. Beyond that, though, he said that he didn’t recall the moment.

Van Buren also said afterwards that he didn’t really remember it either as he was just trying to play.