Auburn OC Derrick Nix inducted into Mississippi Sports HOF: 'a tremendous honor'

AUBURN, Ala. – Visitors to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame will see Auburn offensive coordinator Derrick Nix’s picture alongside Magnolia State legends like Walter Payton, Jerry Rice and Archie Manning.

“I’m truly excited to be included with all of these great coaches and tremendous college players who have gone on to do great things professionally,” said Nix, a standout running back at Southern Miss from 1998-2002. “It reminds me that what you did was right, from training to trying to be disciplined, making the right choices, having success on the field, then carrying that over to becoming a coach and mentoring, and trying to be the best version of myself each day.”

Nix attended Saturday’s induction banquet in Jackson, Mississippi, with his middle school and high school football coaches, his mother, his wife Allison – a fellow former Southern Miss student-athlete – and their three children. His father, Pastor Preston Nix, passed away May 30, two months before Derrick’s induction.  

 “It’s something that was unexpected,” Nix said of his hall of fame selection. “When I was a player, I never dreamed about being included. As you get older, it symbolizes that I think I mattered, especially to my coaches and my teammates. It’s a tremendous honor.”

Nix and Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze, a fellow Southern Miss graduate, go way back.

“We’ve been together for a long time,” Freeze said. “He was a legend, a great running back. The thing about Derrick Nix is he’s a better human being. He was a great football player, great coach, but man he’s a great human being.

“That is a huge deal in that state, that hall of fame is a big deal. You’re going in there with some legends. We’re so proud of him. I’m glad his family can be there with him.”

The Mississippi Hall of Fame Class of 2026 includes former NFL running back Dexter McCluster, who Nix coached at Ole Miss.

“Not only do I get a chance to go in but I get a chance to go in with a guy I coached, the first guy in SEC history to rush for a thousand yards and catch for 500, and I had a little bit to do with that to help him,” said Nix, who refuses to take much credit for McCluster’s success.

“My most important job was getting him to the bus,” Nix joked. “It’s an awesome feeling to go in with him.”

Reflecting on his own playing career, Nix wonders what NFL success he might have enjoyed were it not for kidney disease.

“I was down to 5 percent kidney function when I played my last game,” he said.

A week after his final game at Southern Miss, Nix began six months of dialysis before receiving a kidney transplant from his brother Marcus.

“What could have been if I were healthy the whole time,” he said. “I had two really successful years without any problems. The third year, I had the kidney issue and sat out a year. Then when I do come back, I’m not 100 percent.

“I play my last game, rush for over 130 yards, score a touchdown and a week later, I’m doing dialysis. My life changed forever after that point. God didn’t make any mistakes. It’s all worked out in the end. For a 19, 20 and 21-year-old, it was taxing at the time.”

Meetings with pro scouts, 40-yard dash times, measurements and invitations to the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine soon gave way to a position as a graduate assistant, beginning a coaching career that brought Nix to the Plains in 2024 as offensive coordinator and running backs coach.

“To see it all go away, it was difficult at the time,” Nix said, “but it was best for me.”

Saturday night in the state where Derrick Nix became a college football star and esteemed coach, he added a new title: hall of famer.  

“This honor signifies that it truly takes a village to raise a child and a man,” Nix said. “When you have all the people pouring into you, with a mom and dad showing you value and work ethic, and you have older siblings who have been where you are trying to go, and you have coaches and teammates all pouring into you, you can’t help but hopefully end up in a position like this one day.

“When you are intentional about each day, about who I want to be and what I want my future to look like, it’s by no mistake to be at this point.”