Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Spoofs Nick Saban When Asked About Auburn HC Rumors

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin channeled his inner Nick Saban when asked Monday whether he was in contact with Auburn about its head coaching vacancy.

Kiffin, who served as offensive coordinator under Saban at Alabama from 2014 through 2016, jokingly mimicked his former boss.

"I wanted to say what I learned from my mentor: That if you guys are going to keep asking this, I'm going to have to tell you, 'I'm not going to be the head coach at Alabama,' OK? So stop asking me,'" Kiffin told reporters.

He added: "I wasn't supposed to say that, but I just had to."

It was seemingly a combination of two famed Saban quotes, one in 2006 saying he wasn't going to take over at Alabama two weeks before he accepted the job and another in 2018 when he told a reporter to "quit asking" questions about quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts.

Kiffin added that coaching rumors are a "product of your players' playing well" and said he hasn't engaged in direct conversations with Auburn.

There have been nearly a dozen coaches linked to the Tigers since they fired Gus Malzahn on Sunday, including current Bama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

Kiffin has posted a 66-38 record across nine years as a collegiate head coach at Tennessee (2009), USC (2010-13), Florida Atlantic (2017-19) and Ole Miss, where he's 4-4 so far in his first season.

The 45-year-old Nebraska native also coached at the NFL level with the then-Oakland Raiders.