Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze has managed to survive back-to-back disappointing seasons — particularly the tough 2024 campaign — without facing major repercussions. Prior to a late-season surge that featured an impressive upset win over ranked Texas A&M, many believed Freeze was all but assured a return for 2026, no matter what unfolded in 2025.
NFL insider confirms Auburn’s notorious impatience with underperforming coaches could soon resurface. “Freeze’s place in our rankings was not frozen. In fact, it thawed quite a bit, as he fell 14 spots after going 5-7 at Auburn last year,” Fornelli wrote. “Through two seasons, he’s only 5-11 in SEC play, and if we go back to his final year at Ole Miss, Freeze is 7-17 in the SEC. Given how quick Auburn has been to pull the trigger before, you wonder what could happen if the Tigers don’t make a push in the SEC this season.”
Freeze may have added fuel to the fire with recent comments about his expectations for the 2025 season. “I’m not a fool. I think we’ve got to go to a bowl game,” he said during an appearance on The Next Round Live. While that may sound reasonable, it didn’t exactly stir confidence among Auburn supporters hungry for a return to national relevance.
The only reason Freeze is entering year three is because his predecessor, Bryan Harsin, didn’t last that long. Auburn’s leadership is also wary of burning through donor money with another round of coaching buyouts—especially now that Gus Malzahn’s payout is off the books and Harsin’s is ending in July. But that financial breathing room could also remove barriers to a change if Freeze stumbles out of the gate in 2025.
At the end of the day, there’s little patience left among the Auburn faithful. Fornelli sees the writing on the wall, and it appears many within the Auburn community do too. Freeze’s bowl-game bar may not be high enough to secure his job if things start to unravel early in the season.