Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin. Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin throws shade at Auburn HC Hugh Freeze

By Victor Haltom | Last updated Sep 28, 2024 9:04 AM ET

In the past two years, the Auburn Tigers poached two key assistant coaches from Ole Miss.

First, in December 2022, the Tigers hired Jake Thornton as their offensive line coach after he served two years in the same capacity for Ole Miss.

Then, in January 2024, Auburn's coach, Hugh Freeze, coaxed Derrick Nix from Oxford, Miss., to the Plains after Nix spent 16 years with the Rebels — 12 as running backs coach and four as wide receivers coach.

On Wednesday, after Freeze made remarks during an SEC coaches teleconference, Ole Miss coach Lan Kiffin spoke his peace.

First, during the teleconference, Freeze said (via on3):

"I think in the new world ... you're constantly searching ways with this new way of transferring and NIL to figure out exactly how to do it. I think there's some who are doing it well, if you look at like Ole Miss and Missouri, I think they've done some really good things it looks like and trying to use NIL to their advantage, and they've been able to maintain a winning edge."

Kiffin treated Freeze's comments as a back-handed compliment. Seemingly irked by Auburn's incursions on his coaching staff, Kiffin retorted (via On3):

"That's nice of coach Freeze to compliment [the] management of our collective. I'm sure he'll try to steal Walker Jones like he's tried [with] all of our coaches."

Jones, an Ole Miss alumnus, is the executive manager of the Groves Collective, which manages Ole Miss NIL affairs.

Led by Heisman contender Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss is 4-0 and ranked No. 6 in the AP Top 25 poll. Auburn is 2-2 and unranked.

Victor Haltom

Victor Haltom began his undergraduate studies at SMU, then transferred to Penn State, graduating with BA in philosophy. He has extensive writing and editing experience, with over 250 sports-related articles having been published.

More must-reads: