DJ Durkin Names Auburn Tigers Offensive Playcaller

The decision-making behind the Auburn Tigers interim head coach is aimed toward maintaining a certain continuity

The Auburn Tigers' interim head coach has made his decision | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers named defensive coordinator DJ Durkin interim head coach following the firing of Hugh Freeze, and today, Durkin gave an outlook on the future of the offense moving forward. Durkin stated that offensive coordinator Derrick Nix will take over playcalling duties for the remainder of the season.

“Derrick Nix will be the play caller, he’ll be the play caller every down,” Durkin said. “He’s the sole playcaller, and I have extreme confidence in Derrick. Derrick and I have worked together at previous stops as well. Again, another great person, great coach. I think the players really responded to him, and they understand where he’s coming from. I think Derrick’s going to do a great job, and we will be aggressive in everything we do.”

Nix is currently serving in his second season as the offensive coordinator at Auburn. Before coming to Auburn, Nix worked at Ole Miss for 16 years, 12 as the running backs coach and four as the wide receivers coach. 

Durkin also emphasized that he wants to keep the staff stable, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. With all of the recent turmoil surrounding the program, Durkin wants to remain focused on letting the assistant coaches do their jobs effectively.

“There have been no changes to on the field coaches, some off the field staff changes that have taken place beyond the field,” Durkin said. “The thing is, it doesn’t take as much importance anymore with the new rules of you’re allowed to have 10 guys coaching on the field. The important thing to me was with, in my comments to the staff on any of them, was I don’t want to be changing a bunch of things and uprooting guys and start changing jobs. I think it’s important we’re able to focus on the jobs.”

It’s no secret that the offense has been the main issue for Auburn this season. The Tigers are averaging just 15 points per game in SEC play this season. Including non-conference games, the Tigers are still averaging a measly 22.3 points per game. The mark is a lowly No. 102 in the nation and third-worst in the SEC, ahead of just Florida and South Carolina.

Auburn athletic director John Cohen also spoke on the state of the offense, maligning the struggles of the offense and emphasizing the importance of trying to get the group kick-started.

“There’s no telling what our record would be if we had a competent offense,” Cohen said. “...It’s really easy to get into a blame and start pointing your finger at a quarterback or the offensive line, what we know is it’s just not working. And those student athletes we’re responsible for, because our staff brought them to campus.”

The talent pool that the Tigers have can’t be denied, as the offense features five-star talents such as Cam Coleman and dynamic playmakers in the form of Eric Singleton Jr and Jeremiah Cobb. However, talent alone doesn’t make an offense hum, and eventually Cohen had to acknowledge that a change was necessary.

“It was the general inefficiency of our offense, especially in fourth quarters,” Cohen said. “I think you find out a lot about your team when you watch a fourth-quarter offense with it. If they’ve gotta attack the game and say, ‘We’re down a score, we’re going to get this done.’ For whatever reason, that was not happening offensively during the course of the season, and that was something that was noticeable.”

Nix will take over the offense with three games remaining to try to find a spark. The first will be on Saturday against a Vanderbilt team that is No. 31 in total defense, the second will be against the No. 10 FCS team in Mercer, and the final test will be the Iron Bowl at home against currently No. 4 Alabama.

Despite a myriad of struggles for most of the last three seasons, there’s always a chance that a change of coach and playcaller could spark something in the Auburn offense. However, with the same personnel at quarterback as the first nine games of 2025, the Auburn faithful shouldn’t be holding their breath in anticipation of a sudden breakout.