Analyst: Auburn football won 2022 coaching carousel by not hiring Lane Kiffin
Auburn football was shockingly complimented on AL.com — even being deemed the winner of the 2022 coaching carousel by guest-columnist Kevin Scarbinsky despite hiring a man (Hugh Freeze) who has been reviled by several AL.com staff writers.
It wasn’t Freeze’s hiring that had Scarbinsky complimenting new Auburn University Athletics Director John Cohen, though. Instead, it was the lack of hiring a man who was heavily rumored to replace Bryan Harsin after his October 31 firing.
That’d be one of the Plains’ public enemies, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin was given $9 million per season over the next seven after his Rebels lost four of their last five regular-season games before getting blown out in the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech. Scarbinsky certainly showed no mercy in his piece titled ‘Jury’s still out on Freeze, but Auburn’s lucky it didn’t get Kiffin’:
"“Given the way Kiffin’s comet has crashed to earth at lightning speed, this is one old acquaintance that should be forgot and never brought to mind.”“Two months ago, on the day Auburn finally pulled the plug on Bryan Harsin, a lot of signs pointed to Kiffin as the solution to the problem on the Plains. Two months and one Ole Miss embarrassment after another later, Auburn should feel fortunate that Kiffin is Mississippi’s $9 million-a-year problem.”“Imagine getting a raise of about $2 million a year, as Kiffin did thanks to his Auburn flirtation, while falling on your face. The last two months have been the story of Kiffin’s career taken to the extreme.”“(The Texas Bowl) defeat made Kiffin look less like the boy genius he once was considered to be and more like a teenage boy playing a video game without a care in the world.”"
*Chef’s kiss.* Tell ’em how you really feel sir.
Ole Miss and Auburn football set to become a heated SEC West rivalry
When Ole Miss visits Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 21, there will be hostility at a visiting stadium Lane Kiffin hasn’t seen since his Rebels marched into Knoxville and knocked off the Volunteers 31-26 on October 16, 2021. Minus the thrown golf balls and mustard bottles, of course.
Ole Miss and Auburn football is now a hated rivalry with Kiffin flirting with AU before ultimately re-upping in the ‘Sip’ and rubbing it in afterwards. That former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze — who got caught up in quite a bit of controversy during his time in Oxford — is on the opposing sidelines makes this game a can’t miss Week 8 matchup on the 2023 schedule.