Auburn football coaching hot board: Is it Lane Kiffin or bust?

All eyes are on Lane Kiffin this week.

Lance Dawe | Nov 22, 2022

Auburn football coaching hot board: Is it Lane Kiffin or bust? /

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Auburn Tigers

Right now, it's all about Lane Kiffin for Auburn.

Last night, Jon Sokoloff reported that Lane Kiffin would be stepping down as head coach of Ole Miss following the Egg Bowl and would be making the move to Auburn shortly after.

In Sokoloff's tweet, he noted that his sources said there has been no official offer made by Auburn to Kiffin.

He caught a hard ratio by the Lane Train himself on Twitter.

Despite the trolling on social media, it still feels like John Cohen and the Tigers are still in full pursuit of Kiffin - and if they do not get him?

Nobody is really sure where the Auburn search will go.

Here's a look at our updated hot board, with Kiffin at the top and the rumored names underneath him.

Lane Kiffin - Ole Miss

Record at Ole Miss: 23-10

Overall Record: 84-43

Head coaching experience: Oakland Raiders, Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss

Other experience: Fresno State (assistant), Colorado State (GA), Jacksonville Jaguars (DQC), USC (TE, WR, PGC, OC), Alabama (OC/QB)

Kiffin has recently been having some fun online trolling a report that he was quitting Ole Miss and leaving for Auburn after the Egg Bowl. However, there has yet to be a public announcement on whether or not he signed the extension that the Rebels offered him a week ago... on top of that, he's not been emphatic about not leaving Mississippi in his responses to media questions about the Tigers' job opening.

If the Tigers do not get Kiffin, here are some other names that could be floating around:

Hugh Freeze - Liberty

Record at Liberty: 34-13

Overall Record: 75-45

Head coaching experience: Lambuth, Arkansas State, Ole Miss, Liberty

Other experience: Ole Miss (TE), Arkansas State (OC)

After losing his last two games to inferior opponents, the hype around Freeze as a second option has died down.

Dabo Swinney - Clemson

Record at Clemson: 159-37

Overall Record: 159-37

Head coaching experience: Clemson

Other experience: Alabama (GA, WR, TE), Clemson (WR, AHC, OC)

There's little to no chance Swinney makes a move away from Clemson, but there will likely be rumors spread about conversations with Auburn.

James Franklin - Penn State

Record at Penn State: 75-36

Overall Record: 99-51

Head coaching experience: Vanderbilt, Penn State

Other experience: Kutztown (WR), East Stroudsburg (DB), Rosklide Kings (OC), James Madison (WR), Washington State (TE), Idaho State (WR), Maryland (WR), Green Bay Packers (WR), Kansas State (OC, QB), Maryland (AHC, OC, QB)

Franklin's name has recently surfaced in the coaching search rumor mill.

Luke Fickell - Cincinnati

Record at Cincinnati: 56-17

Overall Record: 62-24

Head coaching experience: Ohio State (Interim), Cincinnati

Other experience: Ohio State (GA, ST, LB, DC, Interim HC), Akron (DL)

Fickell would be a big name hire, but nobody knows if there would even be interest from his camp.

Pros: Fickell brought a Group of Five team to the College Football Playoff for the first time since the playoff's inception.

Cons: Has never coached in the south, no experience in the SEC, recruiting and NIL prowess is somewhat questionable.

Matt Rhule, Carolina Panthers

Record at Carolina: 11-27

Overall Record: 47-43 (NCAA), 11-27 (NFL)

Head coaching experience: Temple, Baylor, Carolina Panthers

Other experience: Penn State (Assistant), Albright (LB), Buffalo (DL), UCLA (DL), Western Carolina (ST, LB, AHC), Temple (DL, QB, RC, TE, OC), New York Giants (AOL)

Rhule is similar to Fickell in the fact that he has proven he can coach and win but has yet to make his way into the SEC landscape.

Curious to see the fanbase reaction from Auburn, as well.