FILE - Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is shown before an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. Derrick Nix is headed to Auburn as offensive coordinator, according to his current employer. Auburn has not confirmed the hiring of Nix. Tigers coach Hugh Freeze fired coordinator Philip Montgomery, a former Tulsa head coach, after their first season. (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)
Hugh Freeze is appointed as Auburn’s new head coach.
It’s Hugh Freeze returning to the SEC.
The new head coach of Auburn is the former Ole Miss coach, who has spent the previous four seasons at Liberty, according to a source who was confirmed to AL.com and later revealed by the university in a release. The appointment of Freeze marks the end of a four-week search led by new Auburn athletics director John Cohen. Freeze, 53, is the 28th head coach in program history, despite some acerbic criticism from Auburn supporters and other quarters who expressed concerns about his background and character from both his time at Ole Miss and Liberty.
Freeze takes over for Bryan Harsin, who was sacked on Halloween after spending less than two seasons on the Plains and went 9–12 in his 21 games with the Tigers. This will be Freeze’s third season in the SEC, his second as head coach overall and his first since leaving Ole Miss in the midst of scandal on July 20, 2017. The hiring was disclosed to Auburn’s coaching staff at a late-afternoon meeting with officials on Monday.
Freeze joins Auburn on a reportedly six-year deal for $6.5 million a season on average, citing an ESPN story.
Freeze was not coaching for the 2017 and 2018 seasons after resigning from Ole Miss. He then took over at Liberty, where he finished 34-15 in his four seasons with the Flames. He has revived his career and enjoyed success in Lynchburg, Virginia, but he has not been immune to controversy. When former Liberty student Chelsea Andrews shared a screenshot of an unsolicited direct message Freeze sent her supporting Liberty athletics director Ian McCaw—referring to him as “the most Jesus-like leader” he has ever encountered—questions concerning Freeze’s morality and behavior surfaced earlier this year.
Andrews is a plaintiff in a dispute against Liberty about the university’s treatment of Title IX and sexual assault reports. She is an alleged victim of sexual assault. The Department of Education is currently conducting a federal investigation against Liberty as a result of that lawsuit. Speaking publicly about her time at Liberty and the university’s 2016 hire of McCaw, the former AD at Baylor amid the program’s sexual assault controversy, Andrews has discussed her experience there. Freeze was employed by McCaw at Liberty.
