The Aubies are grumbling, which is always a joy for Alabama football fans. Hugh Freeze has set a lofty goal for the Auburn Tigers' 2025 season. Freeze recently said the Tigers must achieve bowl eligibility. With Auburn's cushy schedule, anything less than seven wins should not only be grounds for his firing, but also for 'The Reverend' to repay Auburn for his 2025 salary.
When asked what Auburn must achieve in the 2025 season, Freeze answered, “I’m not a fool. I think we’ve got to go to a bowl game." Until the stunning response, Auburn fans were confident that 2025 would not be a hot seat situation for Freeze. Fly War Eagle wrote, "Freeze was once deemed a shoo-in to return for the 2026 season. His recruiting chops were undeniable, and the team was showing enough each season, particularly from the defense last year ... to inspire optimism."
Writing for Fly War Eagle, Andrew Hughes is now suggesting Freeze's own words may have accelerated a hot seat into the 2025 season.
Alabama Football and no Freeze Hot Seat
None of this is good news for Alabama Football. Freeze, like Malzahn before him is an impediment to sustained success for the Auburn Tigers. Freeze can recruit and the 2025 roster is an upgrade for the Tigers. But like Malzahn, Freeze no longer holds any cred as an offensive genius. Worse than Malzahn, in Hugh's mind, no failing by Auburn is ever his fault.
Recently explaining why Auburn has lagged during his tenure, Freeze claimed he inherited a program without a single top 25 class in the four years that preceded him. Maybe those classes were not top 25 in Hugh's mind. They were by established recruiting sources: No. 16 nationally in 2022; No. 19 in 2021; No. 7 in 2020; and No. 12 in 2019.
In the Portal era, roster rebuilds are two or at most three year cycles. Those old Auburn recruiting classes are irrelevant. In his third season at Auburn, Freeze should have all the player resources needed to compete with the SEC's top teams. Instead, he appears to be low-balling Auburn's 2025 chances to protect his job security for the 2026 season.
Teams manifest the best and worst character traits of their head coaches. That reality does not bode well for Auburn. Alabama football fans can hope Freeze remains at Auburn for many more seasons. Take away Freeze's four head coaching seasons at Arkansas State and Liberty, and Hugh's SEC teams have won only 56.1% of their games.