Lane Kiffin fires back at reporter, denies that he's leaving Ole Miss for Auburn

Lane Kiffin is apparently staying put at Ole Miss.

Or so he says. The Mississippi football coach responded to a report from local north Mississippi TV reporter Jon Sokoloff on Monday that he's planning to leave the university on Friday to take the head coaching job at Auburn. The report also stated that Auburn hasn't offered the job to anybody.

Per Kiffin: "That's news to me Jon."

Not long after, he tweeted his own "report" on Sokoloff.

Before his direct retorts, Kiffin cryptically tweeted about the Egg Bowl, Mississippi's annual rivalry game against Mississippi State. That game is slated for Thursday, a day before Sokoloff reported that Kiffin was leaving Oxford.

What Kiffin meant with the Egg Bowl tweet is unclear. Likewise is his use of emojis in his denial tweet. But one thing is clear. Kiffin wasn't pleased with Sokoloff's report. Whether he's upset because it's untrue or upset because the news broke early will have to wait.

Kiffin being linked to Auburn is no surprise. A career coaching nomad, Kiffin's worked six jobs since taking his first head-coaching gig with the Oakland Raiders in 2007. He's since worked as the head coach at Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic and now Ole Miss. He spent three seasons on Nick Saban's staff at Alabama after being unceremoniously dumped by USC in 2013.

A fourth season at Ole Miss would tie his stint at USC as the longest of his career. Meanwhile, his name's been mentioned since Auburn fired Bryan Harsin on Halloween after a 3-5 start. He addressed questioning about the job earlier Monday.

Of course, if Kiffin were to confirm his departure for a rival program a week ahead of time with a game remaining on the schedule, he'd be the first coach to do so. Until his departure or decision to stay is actually confirmed, it's best to take all the SEC noise with a grain of salt.