Auburn announces Hugh Freeze prostate cancer diagnosis, reveals next steps

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze was recently diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer, the program announced Friday.

On3’s AuburnLive reported Freeze met with the team earlier Friday morning to deliver the news of his diagnosis.

“Recently, Coach Freeze was diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer. Thankfully, it was detected early and his doctors have adviised that it is very treatable and curable,” the Auburn statement read. “He will continue his normal coaching duties and responsibilities, and with forthcoming proper treatment, is expected to make a full recovery. Coach Freeze is incredibly appreciative of our medical professionals and has asked that we use his experience as a reminder of the importance of prioritizing and scheduling annual health screenings.”

The Auburn Family is with you, Coach Freeze 🧡 pic.twitter.com/sYKWT4eJeV

— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) February 28, 2025

Freeze is entering his third season on the Plains having gone 11-14 overall and 5-11 in SEC play over his first two seasons at Auburn.

This isn’t Freeze’s first brush with health issues as a head coach after the 55-year-old was hospitalized in 2019 just prior to the start of his first season at Liberty after undergoing emergency surgery to address a potentially life-threatening staph infection. Freeze would famously coach the Flames’ 2019 season-opener against Syracuse from an empty pressbox suite that was converted into a make-shift hospital room while still recovering from his surgery.

Of course, with six months to go before Auburn’s 2025 season-opener agaisnt Baylor, Freeze has plenty of time to dedicate to beating prostate cancer. It’s unclear how his recent diagnosis will impact Freeze’s availability for the Tigers’ upcoming Spring practices, which are set to begin March 25.

Should Freeze need to miss significant time, Auburn has plenty of experienced assistant coaches that could fill in on an interim basis to get them through Spring and Summer, if necessary. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin is a former head coach at Maryland from 2016-17, while quarterbacks coach Kent Austin has head coaching experience in the Canadian Football League (2013-17) and at Cornell (2010-12) before that.

Report: Ohio State offer led to DJ Durkin extension at Auburn

Auburn locked up DJ Durkin for the forseeable future when the second-year Tigers defensive coordinator signed a contract extension earlier this month that will pay him $2.5 million annually, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

That extension made Durkin the second-highest-paid assistant in college football, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger, behind only new Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

Rivals’ Brian Stultz revealed the reason for new extension was an attempt by  Ohio State to hire Durkin away from Auburn. The Buckeyes had just lost Knowles following the 2024 national championship to Penn State. Based on this report, Durkin was a top priority but Hugh Freeze was able to keep the move from happening.

“Reason for DJ Durkin’s raise and extension? Per sources, it was because Ohio State came in with an offer trying to pry him away from Auburn. Hugh Freeze wasn’t going to let that happen,” Stultz said via X.

Instead, Durkin has opted to stay with Auburn moving forward. It will be his second year with the program and after a solid first season, the hope is for even better results.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.