Hugh Freeze fully convinced that Auburn can be an elite program

Auburn finished the regular season 6-6 in their first season under head coach Hugh Freeze, securing bowl eligibility as the Tigers are set to face Maryland in the Music City Bowl at the end of the month.

The season was filled with highs and lows for Freeze and the Tigers, but making a bowl game is a promising sign for the program after missing the cut for the first time in nine straight seasons a year ago. But moving forward, Freeze wants to build on the foundation he’s laid this season and take the program to championship heights.

“I’m absolutely, positively, totally convinced this place can be an elite program,” Freeze said.

Auburn hasn’t been elite in recent history, with their last double-digit win season coming in 2017. But Freeze is confident that given the state and stature of the program, the Tigers can re-establish themselves as a national power.

“Now being an elite program in this conference, there’s some others too in it. Does that mean you’re gonna win every single game? Probably not, I don’t know if many teams are going to do that anymore truthfully,” Freeze explained. “But we should be in every game and this place and the support it has, the energy, the fan base, the culture, the family feel, the administration alignment, the facilities.”

“Everything is here for us to build and I say build, these things don’t happen over night, to build a championship team and it’s here and we can do it.”

The SEC will only get more competitive next season, with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference and divisions going to the wayside.

With those changes and others across the college football landscape, an even greater premium has been placed on recruiting, which Freeze also addressed in relation to the growth of the future program.

“I do think it’s important that we recruit young men that understand they’re gonna be blessed by being at Auburn, we have the resources to bless them,” Freeze said. “But entitlement doesn’t come with that and they need to fit the culture and the standard that should be for everybody irregardless of how blessed you feel you are. We should continue to try to earn those every single day because people are investing in us, but I’m totally convinced.”

Auburn currently has the No. 6 ranked high school recruiting class in the SEC for 2024 according to On3’s Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. And with plenty of work still to be done this offseason, it will surely be interesting to see if Freeze can set his team up for greater success in year two with the program.