Freeze Turning to Other Auburn Coaches for Advice Amidst 'Baffling' Losses

AUBURN, Ala.-- Hugh Freeze finds himself with his back against the wall halfway through his third year with the Auburn Tigers.

After three straight losses to move to 3-3 on the season, all of those being losses to SEC programs, Freeze sits at 14-17 with the Tigers, and discussion about his job security and future at Auburn continues to grow.

It also does not help that all three of Auburn's losses have come in winnable games, including a 10-point lead blown last week against Georgia, and Freeze's "we're close" message has begun to fall on deaf ears as a result of the mounting losses.

"It's frustrating that you feel like that we honestly could be sitting here, you know, 5-1, 4-2, for sure, something like that," Freeze said on Wednesday. "And those games could go either way."

Last week's loss against Georgia may have been the most egregious performance.

Although questionable officiating cost Auburn points in the first half, the Tigers' zero-point offensive performance in the second half ultimately cost the chance for a big win.

"It's baffling, truthfully, and I know that it falls on us as coaches to get them to do that," Freeze said. "It's almost like we're hoping that we can hold on and win instead of, no, let's go win it."

As a result of the "baffling" performances and mounting losses, Freeze is turning to other Auburn coaches, both past and present and those outside of football, for advice on handling close losses, especially those were the Tigers' most crucial mistakes come at the end of games.

"I've never really experienced as many close losses anywhere I've ever been quite like we've experienced here, and some of it is we've gotten some very difficult breaks, and then some of it is obviously us not making plays at critical moments, whether it's offensively or defensively. We've got to change that mentality."

Namely, Freeze turned to baseball coach Butch Thompson, whom he calls a "dear friend," as well as a "few other football guys" who are retired for advice.

"Just say, 'Man, have you ever experienced anything quite like this?'" Freeze explained. "Not many really have, and I haven't either, so this is new for us to not find ways to win games. But I think the common thread from all of them would be just continue to put your guys in as many of those situations you can in practice."

Freeze has begun to implement that in practice, saying they've stopped in the middle of drills to give the team a sudden situation to execute, hoping those reps will carry over to games.

"Hopefully that will give them confidence to do it against a very good Missouri team," Freeze said.

Freeze's future remains uncertain, and with multiple programs already moving on from their head coach and another at Florida seemingly out, he cannot afford any more missteps.

It starts on Saturday at home against Missouri. Kickoff is set for 6:45 p.m. CT with television coverage on SEC Network.

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