Auburn fired coach Hugh Freeze on Sunday, moving on after the Tigers lost for the 12th time in their last 15 Southeastern Conference (SEC) games.
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues during his three years on the Plains, with the team scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong side of too many close matchups, including twice this season, partly due to questionable calls.
Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin will serve as interim coach for the team’s remaining four games.
“Coach Freeze is a man of integrity, and we are appreciative of his investment in Auburn and his relentless work over the last three years in bolstering our roster,” athletic director John Cohen said in a statement. “Our expectations for Auburn football are to annually compete for championships, and the search for the next leader of Auburn football begins immediately.”
Freeze became the eighth Power Four coach fired this season, following moves at Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma State, Penn State, UCLA, and Virginia Tech. Stanford also has a vacancy after firing Troy Taylor in March.
Freeze’s final game was a 10-3 home loss to unranked Kentucky on Saturday night, during which quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels were sacked a combined seven times. It marked the third consecutive loss for Auburn (4-5, 1-5 SEC) at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Despite being diagnosed with prostate cancer in February, Freeze received much of the blame for the team’s skid. He missed on hand-picked portal quarterbacks Payton Thorne (Michigan State), Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma), and possibly even Ashton Daniels (Stanford).
Under Freeze, Auburn went 1-12 against ranked teams. The Tigers owe him $15.8 million, with no mitigation, from a six-year, $39 million deal he signed to replace Bryan Harsin in 2022. Harsin himself was fired eight games into his second season, finishing with a 9-12 overall record and 4-9 in league play.
Freeze ended with a 15-19 overall record and 6-16 in conference play.
The last five losses under Freeze included continued offensive struggles, with the Tigers scoring 17, 10, 10, 17, and 3 points in defeats to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia, Missouri, and Kentucky, respectively.
Now, the “Auburn Family” is searching for its fourth football coach in seven seasons. The Tigers previously fired Gus Malzahn in 2020, Harsin in 2022, and now Freeze in 2025. Combined, the school will pay $52.5 million in buyout fees.
Freeze and Auburn showed promise early in the season by winning at Baylor to open 2025. The Tigers started 3-0 and were tied with Oklahoma before the season began to unravel.
The SEC acknowledged that officials missed what should have been a penalty flag before John Mateer connected with wide receiver Isaiah Sategna for a 24-yard touchdown in the second quarter against Oklahoma. Sategna appeared to run off the field before stopping outside the numbers and running a pattern for the score, which violated league rules prohibiting simulated substitutions to confuse opponents. Auburn ultimately lost 24-17.
The following week at Texas A&M, Auburn managed just nine first downs, 177 yards of total offense, and went 0-for-13 on third down in another one-possession loss.
It was more of the same against Georgia, which controlled the game after forcing a questionable fumble at the goal line late in the first half. A touchdown on that play would have given Auburn a 17-0 lead. Instead, the turnover sparked the Bulldogs, who allowed just 40 yards of offense in the second half and won 20-10. Auburn trailed 13-10 until Georgia scored in the waning minutes.
These close losses became a pattern under Freeze, who ended his tenure with a 2-10 record in one-possession games.
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/11/02/auburn-fires-hugh-freeze/