Auburn is debating whether to fire coach Hugh Freeze after three underperforming seasons.
Florida’s decision to retain its coach, Billy Napier, for an extra year serves as a cautionary tale.
Freeze’s record at Auburn is 15-18, and his offense is among the SEC’s worst.
Florida showed Auburn the price for retaining a lame-duck coach.
The next season becomes a waste. Is that a price Auburn’s willing to pay to avoid this crowded coaching carousel?
Florida contemplated firing Billy Napier a year ago, with the writing on the wall after three seasons of tire spinning and some flat-out bad coaching.
Former Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley used to say what must be done eventually should be done immediately. Florida’s administration didn’t heed that old wisdom. It retained Napier for a fourth season, a year that will be remembered for a spitwad and chants of “Fire Billy!”
Now here’s Auburn, debating whether to retain sunken coach Hugh Freeze for a fourth season. Freeze has given them no reason to keep him.
Does Auburn want to hire in same cycle as LSU, Florida, Penn State?
He came to the Plains with a reputation for being a sharp offensive mind and a capable quarterback developer. In three seasons at Auburn, he has failed to develop a quarterback. His latest offense ranks among the SEC’s worst. He’s not recruiting well.
Even after a comeback win against Arkansas, Freeze’s 15-18 record puts him just a smidge ahead of Bryan Harsin in the quest to avoid being Auburn’s worst coach since it fired Earl Brown after the 1950 season.
“Is the program better than when I got here on the roster? Yes,” Freeze said this week.
Technically, he’s right. The program is a touch better than it was under Harsin, but barely clearing Harsin’s bar of incompetence surely isn’t what Auburn had in mind when it hired Freeze.
“Are we close? Yes,” Freeze continued.
Also true. If they awarded medals for close losses, Auburn would capture the gold. Each of its losses this season came by 10 points or fewer.
“I’ve won everywhere I’ve been,” Freeze said, “and I believe with all my heart we’re going to win big here.”
Correction: He won everywhere, until he got to Auburn. The Tigers’ last winning season occurred under Gus Malzahn.
Freeze’s greatest success came while his Mississippi staff trampled the NCAA rule book. Now that everybody’s paying players, Freeze has lost his fastball. Coincidence?
Unless Freeze goes 4-0 in November and wins the Iron Bowl, his resumé would be wholly undeserving of a fourth season.
But, wait!
Maybe, there’s a reason to retain Freeze. Mind you, it has nothing to do with his performance or his 2026 recruiting class and everything to do with Penn State, Florida and LSU firing their coaches before Auburn made a move.
At least Auburn doesn’t need to stress about Lane Kiffin sweepstakes
The carousel has gotten awfully crowded. If Auburn joins the fray, it could need to wait in line while bigger fish made their moves.
Perhaps a candidate like Tulane’s Jon Sumrall would trickle down to Auburn. If Auburn wants Sumrall, by all means fire Freeze and enter the hiring sweepstakes.
But if it wants a chance at the catbird seat in a hiring cycle, then it must wait.
That’s what made the Gators’ decision to retain Napier especially foolish. Florida would have been the top job available in 2024. Lane Kiffin was free for the taking, unburdened from coaching in the playoff after a 9-3 finish.
By waiting, Florida now encounters competition for Kiffin. Plus, his potential exit from Mississippi could be complicated by the Rebels qualifying for the playoff.
Auburn wouldn’t need to fret about missing the Kiffin sweepstakes. We learned in 2022 AU can’t corral the Lane Train. That year, Auburn had the best job on the market, and it wound up with Freeze.
Does Auburn want to join a carousel in which it would be, by my count, the fourth-best job on the market? That’s the question Auburn must weigh these next few weeks as it considers action on a lame-duck coach.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
