Auburn fired coach Hugh Freeze on Sunday, moving on after the Tigers lost for the 12th time in their last 15 Southeastern Conference games.
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly 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 finale was a 10-3 home loss to unranked Kentucky on Saturday night in which Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels were sacked a combined seven times. It was the third consecutive loss for Auburn (4-5, 1-5 SEC) at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Freeze, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February, received much of the blame for the skid. He missed on hand-picked portal quarterbacks Payton Thorne (Michigan State), Arnold (Oklahoma) and maybe even Daniels (Stanford). Freeze also went 1-12 against ranked teams.
The Tigers owe Freeze $15.8 million, with no mitigation, from a six-year, $39 million deal he signed to replace Bryan Harsin in 2022. Harsin was fired eight games into his second season. He was 9-12 overall and 4-9 in league play.
Freeze got the boot at 15-19 overall and 6-16 in the conference. The last five losses included more offensive woes. The Tigers scored 17, 10, 10, 17 and 3 in losses to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia and Missouri and Kentucky.
Now, the “Auburn Family” is looking for its fourth football coach in seven seasons. The Tigers fired Gus Malzahn in 2020, Harsin in 2022 and now Freeze in 2025. Together, the school will end up paying $52.5 million in buyout fees.
Freeze and the Tigers showed promise by winning at Baylor to open the season. They were 3-0 and tied with Oklahoma when the season started to unravel.
The SEC acknowledged that officials missed what should have been a flag before John Mateer connected with wide-open receiver Isaiah Sategna for a 24-yard touchdown in second quarter.
Sategna appeared to run off the field before he stopped outside the numbers and ran a pattern for the score. The league said simulated replacements or substitutions cannot be used to confuse opponents. The Tigers ended up losing 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 would have given Auburn a 17-0 lead. Instead, the turnover sparked the Bulldogs, who allowed just 40 yards in the second half and won 20-10.
Nonetheless, Auburn trailed 13-10 until Georgia scored in the waning minutes. So it was another close loss for Freeze, who ended his tenure 2-10 in one-possession games.
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Mark Long, The Associated Press
