Derrick Nix will be the next offensive coordinator at Auburn

This story was updated on Wednesday afternoon following Auburn’s official release of Nix’s hire.

AUBURN — Derrick Nix is expected to leave the Ole Miss coaching staff and accept the offensive coordinator position under Hugh Freeze at Auburn.

Sources have told Auburn Live that Nix has been the top target for the position all along. Ole Miss football released a statement on Tuesday acknowledging Nix’s plans to depart the football program and join Auburn’s staff.

Nix will also coach the running backs while at Auburn. He coached under Freeze from 2012-2016 while Freeze was leading the Rebels’ program.

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The Nix hire was made official on Wednesday afternoon. Here are quotes from Freeze and Nix:

“I’m really excited to reunite with Derrick here at Auburn,” Freeze said. “He is an outstanding recruiter and coach who has nearly two decades of experience in the Southeastern Conference. Derrick knows the level of excellence required to be successful in this league and I know he’s looking forward to the opportunity to help develop a winning program at Auburn.

“I’m very excited for this opportunity at Auburn and to get back on staff with Coach Freeze. Having worked with him before, I have a strong understanding of what he wants offensively as well as culture wise,” Nix said. “Fundamentally, we want to be a fast, physical and fearless offensive scoring unit. I’m also looking forward to rejoining Coach Austin after working with him at Ole Miss for two years. Growing up in the state of Alabama, I understand what Auburn is about. I have vivid memories as a kid following the likes of Bo Jackson, Stan White and the undefeated team in 1993. I’m excited to be a part of the rich tradition of Auburn football and can’t wait to get started.”

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Nix has never called plays, but his background on the offensive side combined with an impressive reputation as a recruiter made him a prime target. Sources tell Auburn Live that Nix was a target when Freeze first arrived at Auburn last winter, but a deal wasn’t reached.

Nix is currently the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach with the Rebels, a place he’s been for 16 years. That’s a nearly unheard of run of longevity in the current age of college football that spaned four different head coaches. Nix’s only other stop in college was a GA at his alma mater Southern Miss in 2003, then transitioning into the running backs coach in 2004-06.

Nix was a quality control assistant with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 before joining the Ole Miss staff in 2008. He coached running backs from 2008-2019 before moving to coaching wide receivers in 2020 and becoming assistant head coach.

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Understanding Nix’s importance to the program, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin promoted Nix to assistant head coach in 2022. Kiffin even let Nix take over the program for a 24-hour period and during prior to Ole Miss’ first fall scrimmage before the season. Nix led the program and was the temporary head coach leading up to and during the scrimmage.

“We’ve been fortunate to keep him here, he’s had a lot of opportunities to leave,” Kiffin said in August. “I’ve enjoyed working with him, he’s done a great job. But then today, you saw a whole other level out of him of his intensity in meetings last night, the pregame meal with the players, handling depth charts, doing everything. I was inspired listening to him this morning talk to the team. It was really cool to step back and be able to see that.”

Nix said of the temporary, but invaluable experience, “the biggest thing is to be a clear communicator. That is what I felt out there in the scrimmage, making sure you go back through the plan with a fine-tooth comb, making sure that all the coaches are on the same page. I learned not to just be a wide receiver coach, to look at the other side of the ball, the other positions. You’ve got to be there for everybody.”

It’s the second assistant coach Freeze has poached from Ole Miss, hiring offensive line coach Jake Thornton away from the Rebels last winter.

More on Nix’s background

In 2022, Nix mentored a talented crew of Rebel receivers that paired with the SEC’s top rushing offense. Senior transfer Malik Heath led the way with 971 yards on 60 catches and five touchdowns, the eighth-best season in Ole Miss history in terms of yards. Jonathan Mingo returned for his senior campaign and did not disappoint with 861 yards and five scores on 51 catches, including the FBS’ top receiving game of the season: an Ole Miss record 247 yard outing at Vanderbilt that ranked as the 13th-best in SEC history. Mingo went on to be drafted in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.

In 2021, Dontario Drummond became just the sixth Rebel to ever eclipse 1,000 yards receiving in a single season, notching 1,028 yards and eight touchdowns on 76 total catches. Drummond was a key target for quarterback Matt Corral, who was on the top quarterbacks nationally in 2021 and led an explosive Rebel offense to the Sugar Bowl.

Nix’s first season as wide receivers coach was a memorable one as he guided Elijah Moore to an All-America campaign. Being coached by Nix for the first time, Moore led the nation in receiving yards per game (149.1) and receptions per game (10.8) on his way to being named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award as one of the best wide receivers in college football. Following his spectacular season, Moore was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the New York Jets.

Nix has tutored some of the most productive backs in Ole Miss history in Dexter McCluster, Brandon Bolden, Jaylen Walton, Jordan Wilkins and Scottie Phillips, while the Rebels have ranked top-three in the SEC in rushing three times.