Auburn won the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes by swinging and missing on HC
Ole Miss looks like a better team than Auburn football through two weeks of the 2023 season. Between Quinshon Judkins’ continued dominance in finding the end zone and Jaxson Dart responding well to increased competition, mainly Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders, in the Rebels QB room, Ole Miss looks like a potential SEC West dark horse.
And after September 14’s groundbreaking revelation of Kiffin being “malicious, intentional, willful, wanton, grossly reckless, and indifferent” to DL DeSanto Rollins’ mental health in a federal lawsuit that seeks $40 million in damages (h/t Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez), none of that matters. It should be noted that the school did grant Rollins time off, but the lawsuit alleges that Kiffin intentionally took adverse action against Rollins “on account of race for requesting and taking a mental health break, but not taking adverse action against white student-athletes” for the same request; as well as alleging sexual discrimination on the basis that Ole Miss has not taken “adverse action against female student-athletes for requesting and taking a mental health break.”
“I don’t give a f–k what your mom says or what you think,” Kiffin allegedly screamed at Rollins. “In the real f—ing world, you show up to work. Then you say, ‘Hey, I have mental issues. I can’t do anything for two weeks,’” Kiffin purportedly told Rollins at the meeting. “… What f—ing world do you live in? It’s called being a p—-y, it’s called hiding behind st-t, and not showing up to work, you show up when your boss [asks].”
That’s a PR death sentence in the modern age, and while we don’t know all the details about what happened behind closed doors, the court of public opinion has already condemned Kiffin to the highest extent. Which means…
Auburn football won the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes by swinging and missing on HC
Hugh Freeze was the coach most crucified heading into the 2023 season by the media, local and national, but it is now Kiffin who has been rocked by a scandal. Freeze’s Tigers have looked out of sorts offensively through two games, but the head coach’s biggest “scandal” since being on the Plains was baptizing AU safety Sylvester Smith in Auburn’s Ag Heritage Park pond; something that’s profoundly beautiful to half the population.
Kiffin’s off-field behavior could severely undermine Ole Miss in a season in which they could’ve struck in a seemingly wide-open SEC West in the last year of divisions. It wouldn’t be the first time his behavior’s been destructive to his team’s results — not after the Auburn football coaching rumors arguably led the Rebels to a four-game losing streak, including the team’s bowl game, to close out the 2022 campaign.
Freeze has been all business, and in truth, all class since being in Auburn. As far as we know at least. Because of that, and Ole Miss’s impending lawsuit, AU won the Kiffin sweepstakes by swinging and missing on hiring him.