Southern Miss fired head football coach Will Hall this week, and an Auburn assistant coach could be considered to fill the vacancy.
On3’s Pete Nakos dropped his list of targets to become Southern Miss’ next head coach and included Auburn offensive coordinator [autotag]Derrick Nix[/autotag] in the mix.
Nakos ties Nix to the job due to his time as a player within the program from 1998-2002. He was also involved in the Southern Miss coaching staff in various roles from 2003-07. He also spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Ole Miss before moving into the offensive coordinator role at Auburn ahead of the 2024 season.
Nix has plenty of upsides and should receive interest from Southern Miss writes Nakos.
A three-time all-conference selection at Southern Miss, Derrick Nix was a record-setting running back for the Golden Eagles and was named to the USM “Team of the Century.” He was the first player to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his freshman and sophomore in program history. After spending 16 seasons at Ole Miss, he jumped to Auburn last offseason. The 44-year-old offensive coordinator and running backs coach has a proven track record as a recruiter with the Rebels. Nix does not have head coaching experience but is expected to receive interest for the Southern Miss job.
Nakos’ candidate list features several notable names in addition to Nix. Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, former UAB head coach Bill Clark, current ULM head coach Bryant Vincent, and Georgia tight ends coach Todd Hartley are also candidates that Nakos considered valuable candidates for the open spot.
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