Another week, another firing. According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Sunday afternoon, Auburn has officially fired head coach Hugh Freeze after a 10-3 loss at home against Kentucky on Saturday evening.
Auburn now joins an offseason coaching carousel that includes the likes of Florida, LSU, Penn State, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, and UCLA, among others.
Freeze was fired nine games into his third season with the Tigers. The 13-year head coach went 6-7 in his first season, 5-7 in his second season, and is 4-5 through the first nine games of the 2025 campaign. With growing expectations in a more competitively balanced SEC landscape, Freeze’s production just wasn’t enough to hold patience with the Auburn brass and fans.
Auburn began the season with three straight wins over Baylor, Ball State, and South Alabama before a disastrous slide took place. The Tigers lost their next four games to No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 10 Georgia, and No. 16 Missouri. Auburn then returned to the win column with a win at Arkansas, but Saturday’s 10-3 loss to Kentucky looks to be the final nail in the coffin.
Auburn’s recruiting landscape has also been criticized recently. After back-to-back Top 8 classes in 2024 and 2025, Auburn’s recruiting class has dropped all the way down to No. 32 in the 2026 cycle.
Breaking: Auburn has fired coach Hugh Freeze, sources tell @PeteThamel.
He’s gone 6-16 in the SEC over his three seasons and 15-19 overall. pic.twitter.com/xJUba31qLz
— ESPN (@espn) November 2, 2025
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For what it’s worth, Freeze also found himself in hot water this past offseason due to his golfing habits. The former Auburn coach was asked about it during SEC Media Days, and his comments about his golf schedule didn’t do much to extinguish the fire heading into the season.
“And I do love golf,” Freeze said on David Pollack’s podcast back in July. “I enjoy playing, but what people don’t realize is, you know, I assure you that I never missed a camp day or a recruiting day but if camp got over at three o’clock one day, and Jill (Freeze) and I go out at 4:30, we absolutely might do that. And I’m not apologizing for that part of it. But my focus is 100% on getting Auburn in that win column this fall.”
It’s been a tough world out there for coaches, which has only raised the temperature for the red-hot coaching carousel that will begin this offseason. Florida fired head coach Billy Napier two weeks ago after a win against Mississippi State. It’s just been one of those kinds of years.
Freeze began his head coaching career with a one-year stint at Arkansas State before being hired by Ole Miss in 2012. He spent five years with the Rebels, going 39-25 in 64 games in Oxford. Freeze returned to the head coaching world in 2019, leading the Liberty Flames to a 34-15 record in 49 games over a four-year stretch. That performance is what got him hired by Auburn, but his 15-19 record with the Tigers is what got him fired.
