Two Reasons Auburn Tigers AD Remains Confident In Hugh Freeze

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is heading into year three on the Plains, looking to take that awaited step forward. In his first two seasons, he had a combined 11-14 record with a loss in his lone bowl appearance. 

In this upcoming season, he has his best team yet and a new quarterback, Jackson Arnold, who transferred from Oklahoma. Freeze acquired one of the best wide receivers in the transfer portal, Eric Singleton Jr., from Georgia Tech. Auburn Tigers athletic director John Cohen believes that Freeze is doing everything to succeed. He thinks everyone trusts the process and there is plenty of young talent coming in.

"What you can control is if our locker room has buy-in with Hugh Freeze and our coaching staff — the answer is unequivocally yes," Cohen said. "The second issue: Are we recruiting at a high level? The answer to that is yes. Hugh Freeze has come in and had back-to-back, top-10 recruiting classes, and he has held our locker room together.” 

He’s got the talent he has to prove he can utilize that talent to reach new heights at his tenure. Another five- or six-win season isn’t going to cut it. Coming in with his best roster yet in 2025, Freeze should finally get over the hump. 

Auburn seeks a few milestones that we haven’t seen this decade. The Tigers haven’t won more than six games since 2019, the most recent year they finished the season ranked as well. They haven’t reached the SEC championship game or played in a major bowl game since 2017 when they played in the Peach Bowl. 

Freeze has shown that he can take struggling programs and bring them back to relevancy, including SEC programs. During his controversial tenure at Ole Miss, he led the Rebels to two New Year's Six bowls, including a year they won the Sugar Bowl and finished top 10 in the AP Poll. 

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