The thing to remember about Neal is he burned a ton of bridges he had within the AD and had to rely on others that still had access/sources. Now, that may have changed over the years and Neal may have mended some fences. 

I do think the silence from Lane is worrisome. I'm sure he'll get another extension and raise after this season. The question is does Auburn want to throw a Jimbo type of contract at him, and does Lane want to have to deal with Auburn's boosters after seeing how they went after Harsin on a personal level?