Hugh Freeze’s future at Auburn hinges on taking advantage of Alabama’s transition, says CFB writer
As with every new season, a handful of college football head coaches find themselves clinging to their jobs. Entering just his third season with the Auburn Tigers, Hugh Freeze is starting to feel the heat.
Freeze was expected to be the long-awaited answer for Auburn, which is now on its third coach since 2020. Yet, after two seasons, Freeze holds an underwhelming 11-14 record.
The Tigers even regressed last year, dropping from 6-7 in Freeze’s first season to 5-7 in 2024, marking the second time in three years that Auburn missed a bowl game after nine straight appearances.
That simply isn’t good enough at Auburn—or at any high-profile SEC program. That makes Year 3 a pivotal one for Freeze.
In a way, the timing couldn’t be better for him. For the first time in nearly two decades, SEC coaches don’t have to worry about a Nick Saban-led Alabama team. In fact, CBS Sports argues that Freeze must capitalize on this transition at Alabama—or risk being booted from The Plains.
Auburn is legitimately approaching an inflection point that could define how its athletics department approaches the next decade. The Iron Bowl is ripe for a power shift for the first time since Nick Saban arrived at Alabama in 2007 and Tommy Tuberville left Auburn a year later. The GOAT is gone, and the power vacuum is apparent, but Freeze has not yet found a way to wrestle control from newbie Kalen DeBoer.
The time to strike is now. Alabama is coming off a disappointing debut under DeBoer, and with Auburn winning in-state recruiting battles and signing back-to-back top-10 classes, the Tigers need to win big in Freeze’s third season to capitalize. Everything is more difficult for Auburn in the Iron Bowl rivalry, but it’s that escalation in competitiveness provided by the rivalry that makes it possible every decade or so to unseat the Tide atop the state’s leaderboard. One more false move (another six- or seven-win season) by the Tigers opens the window for DeBoer to wrap his hands around Auburn’s throat. If that happens, the mighty men and women on The Plains will have no choice but to fire Freeze in December.
– Brandon Marcello, CBS Sports
Marcello is right—the time to strike is now before Alabama figures things out under DeBoer. Not since the early 2000s has the Crimson Tide felt as vulnerable as they do heading into Year 2 post-Saban.
As for the Iron Bowl, Freeze and the Tigers nearly pulled off an all-time upset in 2023. Yet, Auburn found itself on the wrong side of heartbreak after Jalen Milroe connected with Isaiah Bond on a fourth-and-31 with 32 seconds remaining, sealing a 27-24 win for Alabama.
Last year’s Iron Bowl was far less competitive, with the Crimson Tide winning 28-14 in Tuscaloosa.
Freeze, meanwhile, is just 1-7 against AP-ranked opponents. His lone victory came against a No. 15 Texas A&M team late last season.
The real question is whether Freeze will even last until the Iron Bowl. If Auburn stumbles early in the season, he may not survive to coach in the rivalry game. The Tigers face a brutal mid-September stretch in their schedule, with back-to-back road trips to Oklahoma and Texas A&M before hosting Georgia. If the season spirals out of control, Auburn’s brass may make a change before the final regular-season game.
