The best-case scenario for the Auburn football head coaching vacancy, according to WJOX 94.5 FM and SEC Network host Cole Cubelic, himself a former Tigers offensive lineman, would be to destroy the infrastructure of an SEC West foe.
Not just any SEC West foe, but one who was rumored for the job in 2020 and whose Ole Miss Rebels just knocked off AU in Oxford back two and a half weeks ago in Bryan Harsin’s second-to-last game as head coach.
The best-case scenario for the next Auburn football head coach to Cubelic would be Lane Kiffin, who currently has the second-best odds of anyone in the running for the Tigers vacancy on the Plains.
Cubelic explained his reasoning during McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning in Birmingham on November 1 (h/t Saturday Down South):
"“What I’ve been told, what I’ve heard, I think Lane Kiffin would be best case scenario. I don’t know how to dance around it, I don’t know how to tiptoe, I think Lane Kiffin right now would be best case scenario for Auburn. Based on the other names that have been proposed to me, discussed with me. If it were 3 years ago, 4 years ago I’d probably tell you that I think that will end poorly, that’s not a great decision. Being around Lane a lot the past year and a half and seeing where he is, what he’s done and seeing how he now is as a person, I actually think it would be a good hire. I think he has a good understanding of where college football is presently.”"
Auburn football hiring Lane Kiffin would destroy Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin lifted Ole Miss out of the SEC West cellar with his hiring, and it took time for that to be the case. His first campaign in charge of the Rebels, which unfortunately coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, was a losing regular season effort.
After two years of hovering around the top of the No. 1 conference in college football’s better half, Ole Miss’ time as an SEC West power appears to be in jeopardy. Losing Kiffin would undoubtedly lead to transfers joining him on Auburn football, and the next coach would have to pick up the pieces.
Auburn’s best-case scenario is Ole Miss’ worst.