The Josh Innes Show - Random Thoughts: Kiffin Should Avoid Auburn

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

Hi All! Lane Kiffin is being mentioned as the #1 candidate for the Auburn job. He has a perfect situation at Ole Miss. Why blow that up for a cancerous situation like Auburn? Sit back and wait for som...ething great. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Oh, and one more thing while we're talking about SEC stuff. I totally forgot to mention this in that SEC conversation. So one of the big talking points is whether or not Lane Kiffin should go to Auburn. Obviously, he's currently at Ole Miss. They're currently, I think, number 12 in the college football playoff rankings. They've had a good year. Yeah, they lost to Bama. Yeah, they lost to LSU.
Starting point is 00:00:20 If we're being real about what Ole Miss is, that's who Ole Miss should be at this point in their existence. A team that on some years upsets the big dogs, but for the most part should be a nine-win team that's better than a Mississippi State, better than the Kentuckys, better than the Vandies, better than South Carolina. If you're looking at a hierarchy in the SEC, obviously right now it'd be Bama, Georgia, and those are the two big dogs. And after you get to that, you'd have your LSUs. You say Florida, but Florida's, for the most part, been mediocre for the last good number of years. So that's why they've had, what, three or four different coaches now since Erb. So that's a factor that you take into it as well.
Starting point is 00:01:04 But I'd put LSU in that next tier behind Georgia and Alabama, especially with Brian Kelly there now. And then you look around the rest of the SEC and you kind of go, I mean, is Auburn worth a damn? No, they keep firing coaches. Mississippi State, they're about an eight-win team every year. That's kind of who they are. They might surprise you and win 10 some years. Kentucky is what it is. Vandy is what it is. South Carolina is what it is. Mizzou is what it is. Arkansas is fine.
Starting point is 00:01:31 They might surprise you with a 10-win year, but they're an 8-win type of program. I think that's kind of who they are, 8-9 wins max type of school. That's who you're dealing with, right? And Ole Miss is one of those type of schools that, with a good coach, should win eight, nine games every year. You know, you probably lose to Alabama, probably lose to Georgia, probably lose to LSU, but you should, with a good coach and the type of recruiting they're doing, be able to go and win eight or nine games every year. And I think the people there would be content with winning eight or nine games every year. They should be content with winning eight or nine games every year.
Starting point is 00:02:06 Because, I mean, for the most part, it's a throwaway program that's never really been a huge contender in the modern era, right? So there's little pressure there, right? What does Kiffin make? I think he makes six, seven million dollars a year. Pretty good change for a guy working at a place where, honestly, eight, nine wins. Really, nine. Like, nine wins, really nine. Like, let's put nine there. If you can consistently win nine games, which means you're winning your out-of-conference games,
Starting point is 00:02:31 which means you're beating the teams you should beat and maybe occasionally stealing upset over somebody you shouldn't, then you're set there. They love you there. They love your attitude. They love your personality. There's no need to go anywhere. Like, I've lived in those situations before too. love you there. They love your attitude. They love your personality. There's no need to go anywhere.
Starting point is 00:02:49 Like, I've lived in those situations before, too. Like, you get offered jobs, and there might be more money at these jobs, but there's also something to be said about comfort, stability, expectations, right? The expectations at Ole Miss, while they're maybe higher than they were at one point, like, this year will be considered a successful year for Ole Miss. Sucks they lost on the road to LSU. Sucks they lost at home to Alabama. But outside of that, let's say they're a 10-win team. It's a hell of a year for Ole Miss. They're going to win the Egg Bowl, and they're going to have a hell of a year and go to a good bowl game. And by the way, it gets easier to keep these coaches around when there's the college football playoff expansion coming up. And right now, they'd be right there on the cusp. There'd be an argument for Ole Miss to be a borderline bubble team,
Starting point is 00:03:29 if you wanted to call it that, for the college football playoff expanded playoff. So he's set there. So why, if you're Lane Kiffin, when you've got a bird in a hand, let me give you an example. So my dad had a job for a long time, worked at a radio station for like 14 years in Baton Rouge. And there was always this other radio station that tried to hire him. And he'd always say no. And they'd offer him more money and they'd give him all this stuff. And he'd say, no, I don't want to do it. And I'd always ask him why.
Starting point is 00:03:58 I'd say, Dad, why don't you just go take that job? They're paying you more money. You hate your job. You have anyway. He goes, well, you know, Josh, if I take that job, then that job is gone. That option is no longer there. So why would I leave what I have now where I'm pretty comfortable and go somewhere that's completely new that could totally bomb out?
Starting point is 00:04:15 Then both places are off for me and I'm done. Now, of course, dad eventually got fired at the job he was at and then they never hired him at this other place. But anyway, they stopped wanting him once he didn't have a job. But the point still kind of remains and it makes sense in this. Why go somewhere unless it is a 100% slam dunk improvement over what you had in terms of improvement over helping you win, improvement over job security, improvement when it comes to money, stability, all that, recruiting. All right, well, let's look at recruiting. Well, you can recruit well at Auburn, but you're competing against Nick Saban,
Starting point is 00:04:50 who's still going to be around a while. That's a killer. That's a dud. That's your immediate rival, and that guy's got the advantage over you. So mark that one off. Money. You make pretty damn good money to be the coach at Ole Miss. You make like $7 million a year.
Starting point is 00:05:05 Well, what if they give him $10 million to coach at Auburn? Is it worth it knowing that there's a better possibility that you're getting whacked faster over there? You could probably have the Ole Miss job as long as you want it. They're glad to have you. They're thrilled to have you. Auburn is looking to fire coaches because they've got wacko boosters, and they're paying out millions of dollars in buyouts for everybody because they fire people every three or four years. They fire people who win national championships. They fire people who compete for national championships. And I get
Starting point is 00:05:31 that the SEC is a tough world. I get that that's going to be everywhere. I mean, LSU fired a national championship coach. Totally get it. I get it. But you go to Auburn, you're competing against Saban and that's your direct rival. You have to recruit against him, the money's not going to be exponentially better. Now if someone says, hey, we'll give you 15 mil a year versus 7, okay. But if we're talking 8 mil versus 7 mil, when you could have the one job making 7 mil forever and can hit your bonuses and make more money, then I think the job you currently have is better. Then you look at the pressure. The pressure when they're going to bring you in and pay you super-duper bucks at Auburn
Starting point is 00:06:06 is going to be for you to win fucking fast and win big and start beating Bama and everybody else. You don't do that, see you later. Auburn's not a good job. Auburn seems good. It's got a good name, and hey, it's Auburn, and a 100,000-seat stadium, and Jordan Hare. It all sounds good, but it is a terrible job. You've made Ole Miss a very good job. Hugh Freeze was there before you.
Starting point is 00:06:30 It was a good job when you inherited it. Pretty good. It's a very good job. Now you've done a hell of a job. What you do is you sit back and you go, all right, well, what can I do? Well, you wait for Nick Saban to go away, and then that changes everything. When Saban's gone, it changes the entire landscape of the SEC. Maybe Alabama's picking up the phone calling you to replace Nick Saban.
Starting point is 00:06:54 But you don't want to go to Auburn and fail. And right now, Auburn feels like a place that you are guaranteed to go to fail. Any coach would be guaranteed to fail there because the expectations will be ridiculous. You will not be able to meet those expectations. And they have a history of whacking people very quickly when that happens. and the boosters are very much meddlers. So stay the hell out of that. Get out of that game. Stay at Ole Miss. Now, if a really amazing job opens up, go. But you're in the SEC, you're at a school where they don't expect you to win 12 every
Starting point is 00:07:18 year, you're making a shit ton of money, and you're always going to be coveted by people. Every time there's a big opening, your name's mentioned. You're in a perfect spot. There is no need to go to Auburn.

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