Lane Kiffin doesn’t usually give advice to his SEC rivals but the Ole Miss head coach gave some advice to a certain school that’s down on their luck recently.
When asked if he had any interest in taking over the Auburn job, Kiffin declined to comment and deflected by proposing that the Tigers look at Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders.
Kiffin said, “I think [Deion would] do great. I think that’s a great name and they should hire him. Great recruiter. Great name. This is a different world we’re in now because recruiting has always been important. But now we have the portal. You can change a roster faster than you ever could before, and you could lose a roster faster than you ever could before.”
He’s got a point. Sanders has Jackson State at 8-0 and are ranked No. 9 in the Football Championship Subdivision. After coming off an 11-2 record last season, Kiffin is right that Sanders has “something special going.”
The thing is that Kiffin isn’t in the business to make a rival better so was he seriously recommending Deion or was he slyly putting the heat off himself and keeping his options open given he’s a favorite to take the job? If he’s actually considering the job, this is a smart move because he didn’t even have to declare he’s not going there, even if Auburn probably didn’t need to be reminded of what Deion Sanders is doing at Jackson State.
Either way, respect to Lane for his crafty move to avoid answering a question.