AUBURN — It’s been 679 days since Hugh Freeze was named as the head coach at Auburn, taking over a program that, at the time, was aiming to get past the Bryan Harsin debacle.
Sandwiched in between Auburn’s two biggest rivals in Georgia and Alabama, who are the face of college football as it is, Freeze arrived with a tall task at hand having to build a depleted roster that can compete in the toughest conference of them all.
Bringing in 42 players through the high school and transfer portal ranks, Freeze acknowledged in his first year on the Plains that his team was not talented enough to compete, as the Tigers finished with a 6-7 record and their third straight losing season.
So, what did he do?
He made it a priority to build his program through high school recruiting and brought in a top 10 class of freshmen, hired an offensive coordinator that he is plenty familiar with in Derrick Nix, hired a defensive coordinator regarded as a mastermind among college football coaches in DJ Durkin and got back to a role he is more comfortable in within the offense.
With all of that, success was sure to come.
Wrong.
Six games through the 2024 season, and Auburn football is at an all-time low, staring yet another losing season in the face. Five straight home games to start off seemed to be just what the Tigers needed to start the season off hot. Instead, Freeze dropped three games on his home turf and has dug a hole for himself in year two at the helm.
Freeze has now coached in 19 games at Auburn. He has lost 11 of them, with New Mexico State, Maryland and Cal being among those 11. He had Georgia and Alabama all but beat last year, until he didn’t. The “ugly” losses are starting to pile up on Freeze’s resume, and the harsh reality for the Auburn faithful is that their beloved orange and blue Tigers are a bottom-tier SEC team.
Six wins are needed for an appearance in a bowl game, and that feat is looking slimmer by the week. A daunting task ahead that includes trips to No. 21 Missouri and Kentucky, a scary Vanderbilt team led by Diego Pavia—who presents nightmares for Hugh Freeze-led teams—Louisiana Monroe, No. 15 Texas A&M, and a trip to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 7 Alabama still looms.
Can Auburn come back in the second half of the season and make some noise? Sure. But one thing the Tigers have shown this season is that a bad team is going to find a way to lose a football game, and Auburn, thus far, has been a bad team.
Despite the lackluster results on the field, Freeze and his staff are working relentlessly on the recruiting trail. According to the 247 Sports recruiting rankings, the Tigers are set to reel in a top-five class in 2025, currently ranked at No. 3, and are knocking on the door of finishing with the best class in the country. That’s not to mention the already impressive start to the 2026 class, currently ranked No. 2 in the country.
If the recruiting efforts continue, then, with time the results are sure to come. But until then, buckle up, because it’s not getting any easier on the Plains.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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