AUBURN — Auburn football has its next offensive coordinator, and he's coming over from an SEC rival.

After coach Hugh Freeze announced the firing of former OC Philip Montgomery on Jan. 5, the Tigers have landed on Ole Miss assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Derrick Nix as his replacement, the program announced Wednesday. Nix, an Attalla native who graduated from Southern Miss in 2002, has spent the last 16 seasons in various roles with the Rebels.

"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 in a statement. "Fundamentally, we want to be a fast, physical and fearless offensive scoring unit. I'm also looking forward to rejoining coach (Kent) Austin after working with him at Ole Miss for two years."

Nix, who will also coach running backs at Auburn to replace Cadillac Williams, began as a RBs coach under former Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt in 2008 and held that position until 2020, when he transitioned to coach WRs under Lane Kiffin. Kiffin also gave Nix the assistant head coach title in 2022, which came with a fairly substantial raise.

"Growing up in the state of Alabama, I understand what Auburn is about," Nix said. "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."

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It'll be the seventh straight season Auburn has had a new offensive coordinator. The Tigers had Chip Lindsey in 2018, Kenny Dillingham in 2019, Chad Morris in 2020, Mike Bobo in 2021, Eric Kiesau and Will Friend in 2022, Montgomery in 2023 and now Nix in 2024.

Nix was the RBs coach under Freeze during the latter's five-year tenure with the Rebels. The leading rusher on those Ole Miss teams averaged 710.2 rushing yards per season.

"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."

The Rebels have produced two 1,000-yard receivers with Nix coaching the position: Elijah Moore in 2020 (1,193) and Dontario Drummond in 2021 (1,028). Malik Heath hauled in 60 passes for 971 yards in 2022, and Tre Harris posted 985 yards on 54 receptions in 2023.

Auburn finished the 2023 season averaging 351.2 yards and 26.2 points a game. The Tigers' main issues came through the air; they averaged 162.2 passing yards. That's the lowest mark since they threw for 156.6 yards per game during former coach Gene Chizik's final year with the program in 2012.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football hires Ole Miss WRs coach Derrick Nix to be new OC