Andy Burcham addresses the distraction factor for Auburn ahead of the Iron Bowl

Andy Burcham is aware that distractions could be at play this week for Auburn in the Iron Bowl as rumors swirl about Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss to take the Auburn job.

Burcham, Auburn’s radio voice, outlined the possibility on WJOX and “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning.”

“I can’t say in this day and age of social media and everybody has an opinion and message boards and everything that I’m surprised that there are rumors out there,” Burcham said. “But you noticed that none of those are coming, really from the Auburn side of things.”

Burcham said he believes new athletics director John Cohen has kept the coaching search “pretty buttoned down” and added, “I don’t know if it affects the team or not, quite frankly. They played hard for Carnell and this will be the fourth week that they’ll play for Carnell as Auburn’s head coach. They’ve responded to Carnell, and I know this is nothing new, but Auburn’s family has responded and rallied around Carnell.”

The players see the rumors, Burcham said, and a new coach is not a surprise.

“I don’t think it’s as much a distraction for the team as it is everybody else that has an opinion about who it should be, or who they want it to be, or when it’s going to happen, that type of thing,” he said.

The voice of the @AuburnTigers, Andy Burcham (@aburcham04), stopped by @MacandCube to discuss why he doesn’t think the Auburn coaching search will be a distraction for the team heading into the Iron Bowl.

Whole interview: https://t.co/M7nj5WMVO9 pic.twitter.com/5uuInq0tGd

— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) November 23, 2022

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.