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The firing of Hugh Freeze wasn't a surprise after Auburn fell to 4-5 with a 10-3 loss to Kentucky on Saturday. Freeze was squarely on the hot seat before the Tigers defeated Arkansas in Week 9 to snap a four-game losing streak. More News: College Football Coach Linked to LSU Suffers Major Upset on Thursday Night The win over the Razorbacks bought Freeze a week, but Saturday's defeat dropped the embattled head coach to 15-19 overall and 6-16 in SEC play during his three seasons with Auburn. In a statement regarding Freeze's firing, Tigers athletic director John Cohen explained the program has aspirations of competing for championships. "Our expectations for Auburn football are to annually compete for championships and the search for the next leader of Auburn football begins immediately," Cohen wrote via ESPN. More News: Colorado’s Deion Sanders Accuses Big 12 Teams of ‘Lying’ on Injury Report Those ambitions aren't unwarranted. Auburn has won eight SEC championships. The Tigers have earned two national titles since 2004. However, Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports has a warning for the program, suggesting that the Tigers will have a hard time competing in a saturated market for head coaches who value a relatively easy path to the College Football Playoff. Wolken understands why Auburn decided to part ways with Freeze, but also questioned if the program can find someone guaranteed to be better. It's a conundrum that many athletic departments are working through this season. "As we sit here in the first week of November, Auburn is the third-best job available in the SEC alone, pretty clearly behind LSU and Florida despite their various administrative issues," Wolken wrote. "When you widen the lens, prime candidates will also have to measure where it stacks up against Penn State, Virginia Tech and even UCLA. "If the question is who has the friendliest path to the playoff — which is going to matter for some coaches — you could argue Auburn is at the bottom of that list." It'll be interesting to see who the Tigers go after early in the coaching search. Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall has been a popular target in the national media. Wolken even threw out former Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher as a possible candidate. Whoever Auburn hires will have an uphill battle to take a struggling SEC program and return it to a CFP contender.
