Lane Kiffin doesn’t regret how he handled Auburn football coaching rumors
Lane Kiffin thinks he handled the Auburn football coaching rumors he was at the center of this past November perfectly — claiming that if Ole Miss had defeated Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, no one would’ve criticized how he conducted himself.
“I felt that it would have been a distraction to make this big statement 24 hours before the game and making it about me,” Kiffin told ESPN’s Alex Scarborough in a story published on March 24. “So, I thought I was doing the right thing by saying, ‘OK, I’m going to avoid making this about me, you guys go play. But just so you know, you don’t have to sit here and worry that your coach is leaving tomorrow after the game or something. I’m staying, I just haven’t made it known publicly.’ I told them thinking that’s what obviously matters the most, and because we lost it wasn’t done right. If we won, nobody would’ve cared.”
Kiffin did say that he did have a hard time with the internal reaction from Ole Miss fans in the ‘Sip, though. “When you think you’re doing the right thing and then you’re really criticized for it — especially by your own people — I struggled with that because I feel like I went through a decision-making process that you’re supposed to go through,” Kiffin said.
Lane Kiffin takes subtle dig at former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville
Kiffin seemingly took a shot at former Auburn football head coach Tommy Tuberville in his comments, saying that while he ultimately did the right thing by staying at Ole Miss despite AU interest, others (i.e.. Tuberville) didn’t while in the same position.
“Sometimes the right thing to do doesn’t always go right in areas,” Kiffin prefaced before saying, “Which over time a lot of people have not done when they’ve been in similar situations, including that specific job, the Auburn job.”
Tuberville famously and falsely claimed that he’d need to be carried out of Oxford to coach on the Plains. “They’ll have to carry me out of here in a pine box,” the current Alabama senator famously told reporters before going to Auburn on his own volition.