Could Auburn’s stash of NIL cash lure lightning rod coach Lane Kiffin to the Plains?
Per Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, Kiffin — the Mississippi head coach — said in the offseason that a major factor in whether a coach would leave a job for another would boil down to how much a program has available in NIL funds.
On Alabama coach Nick Saban’s birthday on Monday, the Tigers canned head coach Bryan Harsin.
Per On3’s Jeremy Crabtree, Auburn has a staggering $13 million in NIL money, thanks mostly to the school’s most prominent NIL group, On To Victory.
Also per Crabtree, an unnamed person involved in another SEC school’s NIL program believes Auburn’s financial strength makes the job the most attractive of all openings in the sport.
There’s probably only a small handful of collectives in the SEC or probably the entire country that is in a better situation than Auburn. They’re a sleeping giant that’s about to flex because of their NIL muscles.
In June 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that student-athletes could retain college eligibility while profiting off of their name, image and likeness, or NIL. That decision has drastically changed the landscape of the sport.
SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic shared updated odds predicting Auburn’s next coach. Oddsmakers give Kiffin the second-best chance of taking the Auburn job, behind ex-Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze and ahead of Jackson State’s Deion Sanders.
The Tigers apparently have the money to persuade Kiffin to switch teams within the SEC West.
Money talks.
Will Kiffin listen?
