Lane Kiffin has been in Bryan Harsin’s shoes before, so it should come as no surprise that the Ole Miss coach felt for the now-former Auburn coach after the program fired Harsin less than two years into his tenure Monday.

Auburn fired Harsin after just 21 games, with the program 9-12 overall during his time as coach and 3-5 this season, marking the first time since 2012 the Tigers have been two games below .500 in a season. Kiffin, of course, has endured similar tribulations during his coaching career. Back in 2013 he was fired five games into his fourth season at USC, unceremoniously dumped on an airport tarmac after accruing a 28-15 record with the Trojans, including just a 10-8 mark in his final two seasons.

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Kiffin found out about Harsin’s firing during his weekly Monday press conference in Oxford, Miss., when he was informed by a local reporter. Kiffin missed the initial news because Ole Miss was in team meetings at the time it happened, but he expressed compassion for Harsin in the wake of the news.

“When you’ve been through something like that, you obviously have empathy for people,” Kiffin said. “It is what it is in this profession; I’m not complaining because this profession gets paid a lot of money, and that’s part of it. But, you know, when everybody roots for everybody to get fired and, ‘oh, it’s so great,’ and everything, it’s not that person; it’s a ton of people besides his family and, you know, a lot, especially because the staffs have increased now, and kids are uprooted from schools and all those things.

“I understand why fans root for it, and I get it all, but there’s a very personal side to it with a lot of adults, kids that, when something like that happens, they’re going to be affect.”

Auburn’s decision to part ways with Harsin comes less than two seasons into his six-year deal, which ran through the 2026 season. Auburn president Dr. Chris Roberts announced in a release that the university will begin an immediate search for the Tigers’ next head coach, who “will return the Auburn program to a place where it is consistently competing at the highest levels and representing the winning tradition that is Auburn football.”

Kiffin is expected to be among the candidates for that opening. In his third season at Ole Miss, Kiffin is 23-9, with an 18-4 mark over the last two seasons. The Rebels are currently 8-1 on the year and ranked 11th in the AP poll.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.