Auburn, Alabama—Derrick Nix has been named offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Auburn, head coach Hugh Freeze announced Wednesday. A native of Attalla, Alabama, Nix has spent the previous 16 years at Ole Miss, 12 as running backs coach and the last four as the Rebels’ wide receivers coach. For the last two seasons, the veteran coach was assistant head coach.
Kent Austin, who served as a special assistant to the head coach/quality control for the past year at Auburn, has been moved to an on-field position as quarterbacks coach. Austin, who has two decades as a coach at the collegiate and professional level, was offensive coordinator for Coach Freeze at Liberty from 2019-22.
“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’ve known Kent for a long time and worked with him at multiple schools. He is a great teacher and developer of quarterbacks and has been a valuable resource to our program this past year. I have full trust in Kent and Derrick as coaches and men to help develop our offensive unit to the standard we expect.”
Derrick Nix
This past season, Nix helped Ole Miss achieve an 11-2 record while the offense was in the top 20 nationally in scoring offense, total offense and passing offense. Three Rebel receivers ranked in the top 12 in the Southeastern Conference in receiving yards, including wide receiver Tre Harris who had a career-best season as he was fifth in the league in receiving yards (985) and fourth in receiving touchdowns (8).
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. Jonathan Mingo returned for his senior campaign and had 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.
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.
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.
Nix, regarded as one of the top recruiters in the SEC, 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.
In 2019, Nix coached a rushing attack that ranked second in the SEC and ninth nationally with 251.3 yards per game. The trio of Jerrion Ealy (722 yards), Phillips (542 yards) and Snoop Conner (512 yards) combined for 1,776 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.
During the 2017 campaign, Wilkins thrived under Nix’s guidance. The senior running back rushed for 1,011 yards to become just the fifth Rebel in school history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in a single season.
With a variety of running backs with different styles and strengths at his disposal, Nix helped the 2015 Ole Miss squad lead the SEC and rank top 10 nationally in scoring (40.8) and total offense (517.8 ypg). The Rebels eclipsed 600 yards of total offense in three games, a school record, and more than 200 yards rushing in six contests.
In 2013, Nix helped the Ole Miss offense rank top five in the SEC and top 25 nationally in total offense (473.3 ypg), which also broke the school record at the time. Led by a bevy of talented rushers, the Ole Miss ground game was a headache for many opposing defenses to try and stop.
The Nix backfield stable helped Ole Miss register the third-best ground game in the SEC in 2010 (207.58 ypg), while Bolden ranked No. 5 in the league in rushing (976 yards). A Nix pupil for the duration of his career, Bolden finished second in school history in both total touchdowns (33) and rushing TDs (27), third in all-purpose yards (3,681) and fourth in rushing yards (2,604).
In 2009, McCluster became the first player in SEC history with 1,000 rushing yards (1,169) and 500 receiving yards (520) in the same season.
Nix, one of the best-known players to ever wear a Southern Miss uniform, began his four-year stint on the Golden Eagles sidelines as a defensive graduate assistant in 2003. The following year, Nix was promoted to tight ends coach before being appointed to the running backs coaching position, where he spent two years.
A three-time all-conference selection, Nix was a record-setting running back throughout his Southern Miss playing days and was named to the USM “Team of the Century.”
Nix was the first Golden Eagle ever to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his freshman and sophomore campaigns and the only Southern Miss and C-USA player ever to rush for 1,000 yards or more in three seasons.
Nix is a 2002 Southern Miss graduate with a bachelor’s degree in sports administration. He and his wife Allison have one daughter, Ava.
“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.”
Kent Austin
Kent Austin has over 30 years of playing and coaching success at the collegiate and professional level. Prior to joining the Auburn staff, Austin served as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Liberty for four seasons where he helped develop former Auburn quarterback Malik Willis who as a two-year starter for the Flames passed for over 5,000 yards, rushed for over 1,800 and accounted for 74 touchdowns in 2020 and 2021 combined.
Prior to joining the Flames’ coaching staff for the 2019 season, Austin spent the previous six seasons in the Canadian Football League, working as the head coach (2013-17), general manager (2013-15), and vice president of football operations (2013-18) for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He led the team to back-to-back Grey Cup finals in 2013 and 2014.
Austin has also served as a head coach at Cornell (2010-12) and for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders (2007), while working as an offensive coordinator at Ole Miss (2008-09) and for the Toronto Argonauts (2004-06). Saskatchewan finished the 2007 season with a 12-6 record, and Austin led the Roughriders to winning the Grey Cup.
As offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, the Rebels averaged 405 yards and 30.8 points per game under Austin’s tutelage, scoring the most points in a two-year span in school history. In 2008, he helped Ole Miss engineer its biggest turnaround since 1947, finishing with a 9-4 record one year after a 3-8 campaign.
Following a successful 11-year professional playing career, including 10 seasons in the CFL where he threw for 26,626 career passing yards and 134 career touchdowns, Austin started his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach for the Ottawa Renegades in 2003.
Austin played four years at Ole Miss and remains one of the school’s most celebrated quarterbacks. He finished his collegiate career with 6,184 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns and ranks among the top 10 in nearly every passing category at Ole Miss. During his playing days as a Rebel, he was a three-time SEC Player of the Week and was named to the Academic All-SEC team from 1982-85. He was honored with the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete award in 1985 and was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate scholarship in 1986.
In 2000, he was elected to the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame. Austin graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1985. Austin is married to the former Lesley Stewart. He has four children: Kendall, Kassidy, Wesley and Jack.
“I feel very honored and blessed to be given this new position and am thankful for the trust Coach Freeze has placed with me to develop our quarterbacks at Auburn,” Austin said.
