Lane Kiffin Slams Hugh Freeze Following Compliment of Ole Miss' NIL Initiative

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin took a shot at Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze on Wednesday.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze and Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin shake hands after the game as Auburn Tigers take on Mississippi Rebels at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. Mississippi Rebels defeated Auburn Tigers 28-21. / Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK

Hugh Freeze has a history with the Ole Miss Rebels, and Lane Kiffin is well aware.

Not only did Freeze lead the Rebels' program as head coach from 2012-16, but he has also brought a couple of Ole Miss assistant coaches to his new home with the Auburn Tigers in recent seasons. Kiffin, Ole Miss' current head coach, has not forgotten those developments, even as the calendar turns to Week 5 of the college football season.

On Wednesday's SEC Media Teleconference, Freeze was discussing NIL initiatives, and he complemented Ole Miss' efforts on that front in the form of The Grove Collective.

“I think in the new world, that’s become harder and harder to do and you’re constantly searching ways with this new way of transferring and NIL to figure out exactly how to do it,” Freeze said, according to On3. “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 was in the next time slot on the teleconference after Freeze, and he was informed of the compliment that his NIL collective had received. That's when he seized a chance to take a not-so-subtle shot at Freeze over the hiring of Kiffin's former assistant coaches.

“That is nice of Coach Freeze to compliment our management of our collective,” Kiffin said. “I’m sure he’ll try to steal Walker Jones like he’s tried all of our coaches also.”

Walker Jones is the head of The Grove Collective, and this likely comes in reference to Auburn hiring away Derrick Nix last offseason. Nix had served on Freeze's staff at Ole Miss, but even once Freeze was fired prior to the 2017 season, Nix remained a Rebel through last year.

Nix was given the opportunity to be Auburn's offensive coordinator, an upgraded position from his title of running backs coach and wide receivers coach that he held in Oxford.

It's clear that Kiffin doesn't quickly forget moments like these, and even if he is joking, it still shows how quick he is on his feet when it comes to taking jabs at his fellow coaches.