Since Auburn made the decision to fire coach Bryan Harsin after just 21 games with the program, several candidates’ names have been floated around the college football landscape in regard to who should become the Tigers’ next coach.
Among the potential candidates include Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin, Liberty’s Hugh Freeze, former Panthers coach Matt Rhule and Jackson State coach Deion Sanders.
However, during this week’s SEC coaches teleconference call, Kiffin said he was not interested in becoming Auburn’s next head coach. The 47-year-old is focused on leading an Ole Miss team that currently sits at 8-1 heading into its bye week.
Johnson: Coaches Who Will Surely Be Among Auburn’s List of Candidates
Although Kiffin said he’s not interested in the job, he did mention Sanders as a potential fit for the Tigers.
“I think he’d [Deion Sanders] do great,” Kiffin said. “I think that’s a great name, and I think they should hire him. Great recruiter, great name. … Now you have the portal. You can change a roster faster than you ever could before, and you can lose a roster faster than ever before. The ability to hire Deion and have that name right away, you can get portal players to come play for him.”
During a segment on ESPN’s College Gameday on Saturday ahead of Jackson State’s game against Southern, Sanders said he would “entertain” Power 5 jobs.
“I’d be a fool and a liar to tell you I’m not going to entertain those things, because I am,” Sanders said. “But I have made no plans to move or go anywhere.”
When the Pro Football Hall of Famer was asked if Auburn had reached out to him about its head coach vacancy during his weekly news conference on Tuesday, he skillfully dodged the question.
“I’ve heard from the Tigers … Jackson State Tigers … I thought you was talking about Jackson State, my bad,” Sanders told reporters. ”Freudian slip.”
On different occasions, Sanders has shown that he is happy where he is at Jackson State and has a mission greater than football to accomplish at the historically black university. Sanders has recorded a 21-5 mark at JSU, which includes a SWAC title in 2021 and an 8-0 start this season, the first in program history.
