Alabama Football: Aubies like Nick Saban comments at SEC Media Days

SEC Media Days are not over, but so far some opposing fans of Alabama Football most liked a Nick Saban comment. Saban, as he has numerous times before, heaped praise on the coaching ability of Hugh Freeze.

When Freeze heard one SEC coach had defined him as making the best halftime adjustments, Freeze asked, was that coach Nick Saban. Freeze is quick to refer to Saban as college football’s King.

It could be one reason Freeze is so complimentary of Nick Saban is he is one of the small number of head coaches to have beaten Saban more than once. Freeze was the Ole Miss head coach when the Rebels beat Alabama in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015. The second loss was the Crimson Tide’s only loss in what became the 2015 National Championship season.

Matt Stahl writing for al.com commented on Freeze’s history with Alabama Football and Nick Saban.

"Hugh Freeze earned a reputation as a Crimson Tide killer at Ole Miss before leaving in disgrace, but that was a different era of college football."

Others have pointed out that “different era of college football” when there were rules against cheating, gave the most blatant cheaters an advantage. One of them was Hugh Freeze. Even Auburn site, Fly War Eagle recently reminded everyone that what Freeze did in Oxford led to him being,

"black-balled from the SEC for six seasons."

Now Freeze is back and possibly even redeemed. Auburn fans are excited and have no problem blocking Freeze’s history from their minds.

Auburn fans are probably giddy over what Nick Saban recently said about Hugh Freeze.  Speaking at SEC Media Days, Nick Saban complimented Freeze.

"I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for Hugh Freeze, he’s a good friend. I’m sure he’ll do a very good job at Auburn."

In recent years, insiders have claimed that on multiple occasions, Saban would have hired Freeze had it not been for resistance from the SEC.

Based on comments by Freeze during Media Days, he does not seem confident in Auburn doing very well in the coming season. Answering a question about Auburn’s roster on Tuesday, Freeze said,

"I don’t want to be negative. Just- it was far from what I believe an Auburn roster should look like."

Speaking of looking the other way, Auburn fans have a lot of practice. Before Freeze, the most recent example was Bruce Pearl. Twice punished by the NCAA for cheating, Auburn hired Pearl while he was under a show cause order. As the Auburn head coach, the NCAA punished Pearl again.