Auburn contract with Hugh Freeze officially for $6.5 million a year for 6 years, $5 million buyout

Auburn has finally released the full contract with new head football coach Hugh Freeze, according to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini. Per the deal, Freeze is set to be paid the $6.5 million annual figure that had previously been reported.

His buyout figure is $5 million if he leaves for another job. And on top of the annual salary, Freeze is getting $225,000 every February as a retention bonus.

The term of the contract is for six years, meaning Freeze is set to earn more than $40 million in base salary and retention bonuses during that time.

AL.com reporter Tom Green noted that Freeze handing over control of his Twitter account to the Auburn athletic department wasn’t written into the contract.

It was reported when Freeze was hired in December that such a provision was part of him being coach, though it’s possible it was a spoken agreement.

“Multiple sources say Freeze has agreed to relinquish control of his social media accounts when he becomes the Auburn coach,” Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde said. “The background check on Freeze was extensive, and the school hired a P.R. consultant to handle the expected blowback in bringing him aboard. They are jumping through a lot of hoops for Freeze.

“As one source with Auburn ties said Sunday, ‘If he’s contractually obligated to stay off social media and they had to hire an Oh S— firm before he even started, is hiring him really a good idea?’”

Additionally, Freeze could earn up to $10 million in a single season if Auburn won the national championship and he met all the bonus criteria in the contract. Pretty good work if you can get it.

Freeze was hired to be the Auburn head coach after spending four seasons at Liberty, where he posted a 34-15 record as head coach. He was previously the head coach at Ole Miss before being ousted amidst an NCAA investigation. Freeze’s record as the Rebels head coach was a more modest 39-25 in five seasons.

Hugh Freeze explains what drew him to Auburn

“That’s a great question because I had such a great job,” Freeze said in an exclusive one-on-one interview with On3. “I honestly knew that Jill and I and the girls fit very well on the mountain at Liberty and were set up, I think, there to have great success moving into Conference USA. So not just any job would make me jump from there. Very few would, honestly.”

Auburn, though, has some things that other schools can’t exactly offer.

The Tigers compete in the nation’s most competitive conference, the SEC. Traditionally they’ve been a staple near the top of the SEC West, to the point that the program has won eight SEC titles and two national championships.

It’s also in one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the nation, an obviously attractive factor for Freeze.

“We always kind of felt like, ever since Jordan went to school here and my good friend Gus was here and knew so much about it, we’ve always just felt like this was a place that we fit and that the culture of it, the recruiting base, kind of where we might want to retire one day, in an area that’s close to our parents and our children and our grandchildren that we’re getting ready to have one here shortly,” Freeze said.