Lane Kiffin Accuses Rival Head Coach Of Trying To Steal Assistant Coaches

The Ole Miss Rebels and Auburn Tigers have some history in college football. They played last season, with Ole Miss winning 28-21.

Ole Miss shares a former head coach with Auburn. Hugh Freeze coached at Ole Miss from 2012-16. Freeze had a record of 39-25 with the Rebels and took the team to four bowl games. After Freeze's tenure with Ole Miss, he coached at Liberty from 2019-22 before accepting the Auburn head coaching job in 2023.

Things heated up between Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Freeze on a recent SEC teleconference call. Freeze complimented Kiffin on how Ole Miss' NIL was structured, but Kiffin did not have any of it.

Kiffin claimed that Freeze would just as quickly try to steal Walker Jones, the head of the Grove Collective, similar to how the Auburn coach attempted to steal Ole Miss assistants, per Ben Garrett of On3.

“That’s nice of him," Kiffin said. "I’m sure he’ll try to steal Walker Jones like he did all our coaches.”

Kiffin referred to Auburn's hiring of former Ole Miss assistant Derrick Nix, now the Tigers' offensive coordinator. Nix coached running backs for most of his time in Oxford and was an assistant head coach in 2023.

Auburn currently ranks seventh in the SEC in total offensive yards per game with 462. Ole Miss and Auburn do not get the chance to play each other this season.

Ole Miss faces the Kentucky Wildcats next on Sept. 28. Kickoff is at noon ET on ABC.

Related: Paul Finebaum Names One SEC Program That Has Blown Him Away