New favorite emerges to replace Hugh Freeze at Auburn amid latest Jon Sumrall rumors

The SEC coaching derby may come down to an elaborate game of dominoes, and Friday shows a shift in the domines for Auburn. Before Friday, Lane Kiffin was still rumored to be choosing between Ole Miss, LSU, and Florida. Early on Friday, rumors said that the Gators thought they were out on the Kiffin race and would shift their attention elsewhere. It's apparently LSU or Ole Miss now for the most popular coach on the market.

(Former Auburn favorite) Sumrall now rumored to Florida

But with Florida out on Kiffin, the immediate rumors circled to the Gators making a move on Tulane boss Jon Sumrall. That said, Auburn was one of the schools where Sumrall had been considered a viable candidate, even a favorite. So by Friday evening, Sumrall's odds of taking the Auburn job via prediction market Kalshi crashed from just over 60% to about 27% (and corresponding odds for the Florida job leaped). Which leaves Auburn watching a new-- if familiar-- front-runner.

The new Auburn favorite

Defensive coordinator and interim head coach DJ Durkin has surged to a 31% chance of taking the Auburn job via Kalshi's odds by Friday evening. Of course, Auburn athletic director John Cohen has previously indicated that Durkin would be a candidate for the head coaching position. His role in shaking up a lifeless squad would definitely be highlighted if Auburn can pull an upset win over Alabama in tomorrow's Iron Bowl. As AL.com columnist Kevin Scarbinsky noted, it might be hard NOT to hire Durkin if Auburn can win on Saturday.

A shift in Auburn's approach?

A move to Durkin would reflect not only the tumbling dominoes of the SEC hunt, but also a move in Auburn's priorities. The Tigers have gone with offensive-minded head coaches since Gene Chizik's firing in 2012. Of course, all Chizik did was lead Auburn to the 2010 national title before being fired two years later off a 3-9 season.

But since then, Auburn has cast its lot with offensive gurus and the results have been underwhelming. Auburn has only two 10+ win seasons since 2010, and the last of those came in 2017 under Gus Malzahn.

Durkin's resume

Durkin was a head coach at Maryland in 2016 and 2017, going 10-15 overall. He has since run the defense at Ole Miss (in a co-coordinator role), Texas A&M, and now Auburn. The 47-year old Durkin has also run defenses at Florida and Michigan. In two seasons running the defense at Auburn, Durkin has held opponents to 21.3 and 20.1 points per game.

In two games as interim head coach, Durkin got big performances out of QBs Ashton Daniels and Deuce Knight. Between Kiffin making his decision, Sumrall potentially making his decision, and a potentially competitive Iron Bowl, there's plenty going on this weekend for new Auburn coaching favorite D.J. Durkin.