Oops! Guess who is stocking up on some salt? It’s none other than Ole Miss Rebels HC Lane Kiffin. The head coach has now tapped into a full-on flex mode. No, not for landing any coaching staff or hunting down a big recruit. But for something else. Now for whom is the flex intended? The Auburn Tigers HC Hugh Freeze. Sounds confusing, right? After all, both Kiffin and Freeze are SEC head coaches. Looks like the fishing rod has been the main character in the Kiffin-Freeze rivalry. 

Well, the Rebels had a tough 2024 season indeed. After all, they had a close race to the playoffs, ending the season with 10-3. Maybe that’s why, Kiffin was in desperate need of some break. And as we all know, besides the gridiron, he shares another big hobby. And that’s fishing. Now that the season is over, the 49-year-old wanted to take a break from his head coaching duties. This time, he went for an amazing deep-sea fishing adventure in the Bahamas. And it’s pretty evident from the social media pictures that Kiffin has been having the best of his times.

On February 5, the Ole Miss HC posted a photo from his yacht on his IG story. He looked dapper in his beachwear with a cap, sunnies, and shorts. But what attracted the most attention was his trophy, a giant Scamp Grouper fish. Kiffin’s expression said it all. His face had the perfect ‘Look what I’ve got’ look. If the expression is not enough, the caption says it all. The Ole Miss HC threw an open challenge tagging the Auburn HC Freeze, “What ya got @coachhughfreeze.” But what’s the hoopla all about?

Well, it all started back in January 2022. Back then Freeze coached for the Liberty Flames football and did not have the SEC coach tag. He showed off his fishing acumen with a tweet holding a big Mahi-Mahi also known as the dolphin fish with the caption, “Yahtzee.” Two days later Kiffin responded to Freeze’s tweet by posting a picture of him holding the same fish and wrote  “@SEC IT JUST MEANS MORE.” That’s where the social media tussle began.  Freeze did not keep shut instead retweeted his photo of winning the 2016 Sugar Bowl at Ole Miss. Sadly, in 2022, the Rebels lost the 2022 Sugar Bowl to Baylor Bears under Kiffin. Do you know that the Kiffin vs. Freeze tussle even went beyond fishing? 

The famous Lane Kiffin and Hugh Freeze drama  

All this happened last year in September. Kiffin got lucky to land a compliment from his fellow fishing competitor and also the former Rebels HC Freeze. The Ole Miss NIL setup and especially The Grove Collective seemed to have touched Freeze. So, the Tigers HC said, “I think in the new world, that’s become harder and harder to do and you’re constantly searching ways with this new way of transferring and NIL to figure out exactly how to do it. I think there’s some who are doing it well, if you look at like Ole Miss and Missouri.” 

At the same press conference, Kiffin was also there. When he was asked to comment on Freeze’s compliment, the Ole Miss HC could not keep shut. He blasted at the Tigers’ HC for his moves. Kiffin started with, “That is nice of Coach Freeze to complement our management of our collective.” 

Things then took an ugly turn when he said, “I’m sure he’ll [Freeze] try to steal Walker Jones like he’s tried all of our coaches also.” Walker Jones happened to be the executive director of Rebels’ The Grove Collective. But what made Lane Kiffin say so about Hugh Freeze? Well, Freeze had hired former longtime Ole Miss staffer Derrick Nix to be Auburn’s new offensive coordinator. Maybe Kiffin still carries the betrayal from Freeze in his heart. But this time, no grudges, just good fishing—he takes on Freeze with a rod instead of rivalry.