Out of time, 2025 sizes up as a must-win year for Hugh Freeze. The Auburn Tigers head football coach, stares at his third year with the desperation of a gambler down to his last dollar in Vegas. The fanbase, uncharacteristically patient, wants results this fall.
After watching their two-main rivals win championships year after year, Auburn fans must be perpetually annoyed. Meanwhile, the administration and donors look at the financial ledgers, and demand a return on investment.
While the recruitment and transfer season netted talent from every direction, the burden of expectation sits heavily upon Freeze’s shoulders.
The Hot Seat
The Athletic’s Seth Emerson listed the SEC coaches in order of most likely to lose their jobs with a disappointing season showing. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Georgia’s Kirby Smart ranks 16th. On the other hand, Freeze is surprisingly only ranks sixth. Afterall, no Auburn head coach since the 70’s has gotten a chance to have three-consecutive losing seasons. Most are gone after one.
The fact that Freeze is getting a third year speaks to the state of the program when he took over from the disastrous tenure of Byran Harsin.
“This is another situation with a high range of possibilities,” wrote Emerson on The Athletic. “The coach who in his two seasons lost at home to New Mexico State, Vanderbilt and Cal (among others) is perfectly capable of having a horrid third year that spells the end.
“But Freeze, 55, has recruited well, and if Jackson Arnold ends up being the answer at quarterback, there’s no reason Auburn can’t contend for the Playoff. If it’s more of an in-between season, that’s probably enough to get Freeze another year. Although ‘probably’ depends a lot on what ‘in between’ looks like.”
Mixed Reactions
Emerson’s thought patterns, while they make sense, miss a few key points. Another subpar season ties an ignominious record for the football program. You have to travel back to the Carl Voyles/Earl Brown era. From 1946-1950, the Tigers went 8-35-4, the lowest point in school history. Five consecutive losing seasons almost wrecked the program.
The following year, Ralph Jordan took over and went .500 with the same players. Jordan enjoyed a thoroughly successful tenure on the Plains. The clock on impatience started on Freeze when Alabama won the 2023 Iron Bowl.
Those voices became louder when the 2024 offense seemed to regularly find the open defender, finding new and creative ways to lose games they should’ve won. Such a strong talent build earned Freeze the third year as a temporary stay.
Yet, with those gifts, arrive a burden that could break his tenure. Next year only exists in that chair for him, if the Tigers win eight or more games. In reality, nine or more would grant another season at Jordan-Hare.
Overview
Huge Freeze is a man out of options at Auburn. No recruiting cycle or successful portal attack will save his job. The school invested millions in the football program, and either Freeze helms a victorious program, or someone will take his place.
Auburn, after too many years as an afterthought in the SEC, spent with sole intention of restoring the football landscape to one that fears the Tigers.