Auburn AD John Cohen Wants Lane Kiffin Bad!
Keep up! These things move fast. In case you missed it, Bryan Harsin got fired (but we also knew that dead dog was getting fired a long time ago). Auburn athletic director John Cohen appears to be busy. Minutes after the Harsin official announcement, Cohen appears to be drooling at the mouth in an attempt to swipe Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss.
“The No. 1 candidate will be Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss,” Marcello told CBS Sports HQ on Monday. “He will be the No. 1 guy, and I can tell you this because John Cohen, coming from Mississippi State, is very familiar with what Lane Kiffin has obviously done at Ole Miss. But here’s the No. 1 thing. He has been a killer in the transfer portal. He calls himself the Transfer Portal King. Auburn needs immediate help in that football program. They can fix a lot of their issues with the transfer portal. It won’t be an overnight rebuild. But a man like Lane Kiffin would come in there, fix things, get it back on the right track almost immediately. They need a coach like that to do it.
“John Cohen is very familiar with that. Also, Auburn will offer a much larger NIL base than Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin has complained about that publicly and privately at Ole Miss about their NIL situation. Auburn is in a position right now, based off my sourcing this past weekend reporting the story, they have at least $11 million piled up in NIL money right now ready to go to help that football program, and that is only going to increase over these next coming weeks and these coming months. Whoever they try go after as a coach, you’re gonna want someone who can work that transfer pool, is a killer recruiter, and they’re going to promise them the world when it comes to NIL.”
This is kinda hilarious because somehow it might be in play where Lane Kiffin becomes the Octavio Dotel of the SEC. If you don’t get the reference, it’s an old bullpen pitcher that got traded everywhere. If Auburn does land Kiffin, he will have had major coaching jobs at Alabama (offensive coordinator), Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Auburn. Edwin Jackson is feeling jealous!
It’s also funny because Kiffin hasn’t been at Ole Miss that long. Maybe he stays, maybe he goes, but money talks. Kiffin boasts a record of 23-9 overall and 14-8 in SEC play in roughly three years at the Grove. Ole Miss is also 8-1 on the season with a chance to win the SEC West if they can defeat Alabama, which is something they have not accomplished yet.
If Kiffin does not take the job, does that open the door for someone like Deion Sanders or Hugh Freeze? Time will tell. Regardless, you can’t blame Auburn for the Kiffin interest. The guy has proven to be a hell of an offensive coach and a good recruiter.
