Only a few days go by after Hugh Freeze sings a contract extension at Liberty before his name is mentioned as one of the favorites to be the next head coach at a different school.
After months of speculation, Auburn has officially parted ways with head football coach Bryan Harsin. Even before Harsin was officially out at Auburn over the past several months, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze was linked to this job opening. Now that the job is officially open, Freeze is being considered a favorite.
According to gambling.com, Freeze is the candidate to replace Harsin at Auburn with +100 odds. Other top candidates include Mike Stoops and Lane Kiffin (+150), Deion Sanders (+200), and Jeff Grimes and Kevin Steele (+700).
Paul Finebaum has spoken out publicly on several occasions stating that Freeze will likely be one of Auburn’s top candidates.
“Hugh Freeze I think is going to be the coach to watch,” Finebaum said recently. “(Lane Kiffin’s) name comes up, but I do think there’s a lot of interest for Hugh Freeze there.”
Freeze is 33-12 over his four-plus seasons at Liberty. He has led the Flames to a winning season each year at the helm and a 3-0 mark in bowl games, including two wins in the Cure Bowl. Liberty finished the 2020 season ranked inside the top 20 of both major polls after posting a 10-2 record, marking its best season since it moved to the FBS level and its first time winning 10 games in 12 years. The Flames jumped into the Top 25 poll this week at No. 23 following a 7-1 start to the season.
Freeze and Liberty have been linked to Auburn since shortly after he was hired as the Flames’ head coach. In the summer of 2019, the Flames brought in Auburn quarterback Malik Willis as a transfer. He sat out the 2019 season due to transfer rules before developing into a star under Freeze the past two seasons.
No. 23 Liberty and Hugh Freeze will be in SEC country this week as the Flames travel to play at Arkansas (5-3) on Saturday. The Razorbacks opened as 14-point favorites in the game that will be televised on the SEC Network with kickoff at 4 p.m.
Why anyone would want to coach at Auburn is beyond me. The boosters run things and keep their coaches under lock and key. Gus Malzahn had winning record all 8 seasons while he was there and barely lost a nat’l championship and they still fired him.
SEC West is maybe the toughest division in all of CFB, so contending for a title is even harder. Freeze is a smart man. I hope he stays with the Flames for a long, long time.