Where Does Hugh Freeze Stand with Auburn After Recent SEC Coaching Firings?

Coaches in college football have been fired for far better situations than what Auburn is in. For example, Kelly had a record of 34-14 with LSU. In three full seasons, he led the Tigers to at least nine wins and went 3-0 in bowl games in his tenure as head coach in Baton Rouge. 

However, his teams were never able to get past 10 wins, and considering LSU's last three head coaches in Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron each won a national championship within their first four years, Kelly was trending downward within the fanbase.

For Auburn, the standard appears to be a lot lower.

In his tenure at Auburn, he has a 14-17 record overall, 5-14 in conference play, and 1-11 against ranked teams. To give Freeze the benefit of the doubt, he inherited a rather poor program. However, this was the year the Tigers expected to turn things around, and after four-straight SEC losses followed up a 3-0 start, it only seemed like a matter of time that the program moved on from Freeze.

It also did not help that prior to Kelly's firing, two other programs in Arkansas (Sam Pittman) and Florida (Billy Napier) had already fired their coaches, giving the two programs a head start in their search for a head coach.

Freeze understands, though, that pressure is part of the job.

“I love (former UF head coach) Billy Napier and have great respect for Coach Kelly. I didn’t know him as well. You hate to see that. You really hate to see it for the building," he explained. "You get it. Every school has to make those decisions, but I think that’s probably the hardest thing for this position is just the weight that you carry for all of these young families and people. I just don’t focus at all on that.

"I trust in our administration, President (Chris) Roberts, John Cohen and those guys. I’ve been here just short of three years, and is the program better than when I got here on the roster? Yes. Are we close? Yes. I’ve won everywhere I’ve been, and I believe with all of my heart that we’re going to win big here.”

The question lies within the Auburn administration: how long is Hugh Freeze’s leash if he is unable to capitalize on the Tigers' win over Arkansas.

Remaining on the schedule are Kentucky this week, No. 9 Vanderbilt on Nov. 8, Mercer on Nov. 22 and No. 4 Alabama on Nov. 29.

Sitting at 4-4, Auburn needs at least two wins to reach bowl eligibility, which could save Freeze's job, depending on who the Tigers beat. Three would give the program its first winning season since 2020 and its first seven-win season since 2019, likely giving Freeze a fourth season with a short leash.

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