One college football expert predicts that many head coaches will lose their jobs by the season’s end, including the one at the helm of the Auburn Tigers.
Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports included Freeze on his list of college head coaches who are on the hot seat entering 2025. Freeze joins fellow SEC head coaches Sam Pittman at Arkansas and Brent Venables at Oklahoma on the list, which also includes UAB’s Trent Dilfer, Louisiana Tech’s Sonny Cumbie, and Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry.
Myerberg called Auburn’s hiring of Freeze “can’t miss,” but the move has yet to produce the success that Auburn expects through two seasons.
The results simply haven’t been there through two seasons, ratcheting up the pressure on Freeze to justify the hype and applause that greeted his return to the SEC after a successful run at Liberty. This can’t-miss hire has, uh, missed: After going 5-7 last year, Freeze is in danger of becoming the first Auburn coach to post three losing records in a row since Earl Brown from 1948-50. The heavy focus paid this offseason to Freeze’s terrific golf game and the Tigers’ woeful recruiting class is the canary in the coal mine for a tenure that could be circling the drain.
How likely is it that Freeze saves his job in 2025? The Tigers play a manageable schedule that features five SEC games against teams that won eight or fewer games in 2024. Last season, against a similar slate, Auburn lost four of its six SEC games by 10 points or fewer and held leads late in most of those games. It also helps Freeze that his stellar recruiting classes are starting to occupy the field, and his work in the transfer portal is filling holes left behind by outgoing players.
ESPN’s Football Power Index predicts Auburn to win seven games this season, which would erase Auburn’s streak of losing seven games in a season and could save Freeze’s job. Does Freeze exceed ESPN’s projection and keep his job for the 2026 season?
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Hugh Freeze included on USA TODAY’s hot seat list
