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Auburn football has fired its third coach in five years after letting go of Hugh Freeze on Sunday after three years on the Plains. Freeze recruited at the highest level possible and tried to transform a struggling program when he took over. However, his 15-19 overall record at Auburn was not enough for him to continue his attempted rebuild. Prior to Freeze’s firing, Auburn had college football playoff expectations after securing the No. 1 transfer portal haul in the offseason. Despite the offensive additions of players like Eric Singleton Jr. and Jackson Arnold, Auburn’s offense performed statistically worse than it did in 2024, as they ranked nearly last in every offensive category in the SEC. Now that Auburn has cleaned house with the Freeze era, which direction will the program go in for its next coach? Here are the Pros and Cons for accepting the Auburn coaching vacancy Pros Loving community When looking at the Auburn job you first have to acknowledge the community and the passionate fans who show up to games faithfully. Saturday’s game against Kentucky marked the 20th consecutive sellout at Jordan-Hare Stadium dating back to the beginning of the 2023 season. Most programs wish they had a home-field advantage like Auburn has, making it one of the most hostile environments to play in as an opposing team. Despite how bad things have been in this season, Auburn fans continued to support. So, imagine how Auburn fans backing a winning program. Financial Support The money here at Auburn in the NIL space allows the Tigers to compete amongst some of the elite programs in the country. In April, Auburn athletics extended its multimedia rights partnership with Playfly Sports, increasing Auburn’s anticipated annual revenue from corporate partnerships to over $34M. Auburn also launched the WarEagle+ Subscription Service, providing expanded membership benefits and student-athlete support. This came after the House v. NCAA settlement, as Auburn is investing more than $25 million into expanded scholarships and revenue sharing. Competitive schedule With the overall support of the community and financial backing, Auburn could be a dream job to several coaching candidates. But it’s also worth noting the gauntlet of a schedule they’ll compete in every year in the SEC. Now that teams will play nine conference games next season, Auburn’s conference schedule will remain highly competitive against some of the best teams and talented players around the country. Cons Pressures of winning early As Auburn now claims nine national championships, the pressure of winning immediately will quickly be placed on whoever accepts the head coaching job next. To go through three coaches in five years proved that Auburn’s administration is a ticking time bomb that is not afraid to blow up a situation. But could you blame them? In this coaching cycle alone there are 13 openings, including four coming in the SEC alone. So, with the last five years being some of the darkest years of football for Auburn, winning will be a given when it comes to its next coach. Some coaches live for high-stakes expectations and embrace the pressure of reviving a program. However, when the results don’t come as fast as expected, will the program continue its cycle of recycling coaches? And how long will Auburn wait for the coach to show results, as Freeze’s tenure came to an end before he could finish out his third year. No matter the circumstance, the main con for the Auburn job is embracing the need to win early or the hot seat bug will burn the next victim in the process. Sharing the state with Crimson Tide It’s not easy being considered the ‘little brother’ of your bitter rival. Alabama already leads the Iron Bowl record 51-37-1 over Auburn and during Freeze’s tenure he finished 0-2 against the Crimson Tide. Auburn hasn’t won an Iron Bowl since 2019. One thing that was noted when Hugh Freeze took the Auburn role was his two wins vs. Alabama, he went 0-2 in his two shots at the Tide as Auburn head coach. From 2000-2007, Alabama defeated Auburn just once, as Auburn dominated the Iron Bowl in the early parts of the 21st century. Then Nick Saban was hired. Since 2008, Auburn has only won four Iron Bowls, making one of college football’s historic rivalries one-sided in the last 17 years. Taking over the Auburn jobs comes with the most important words in the entire state: Beat Alabama. History is unkind to Auburn head coaches Every Tigers head coach in the last 50 years has either been fired or forced out. Doug Barfield, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden and Tommy Tuberville all resigned, as Gene Chizik, Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin and Freeze were all fired. Half of Auburn’s previous coaches either led the Tigers to either a conference or national title. However, the window for success is not friendly for any coach. But at Auburn the invisible clock is always ticking when things begin to veer south. When all is said and done, Auburn will pay its last three fired coaches approximately $52.6 million. So, nothing will come easy or be fully guaranteed no matter who gets the nod as the Tigers next coach.
