Hugh Freeze commits to coaching harder in transfer era: 'I've made up my mind, I've got to be who I am'

In the midst of a tough season, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze has had some difficult decisions to make. Does he keep the pedal to the metal in hopes that his guys eventually get it?

The risk in doing so is unease in the locker room and the potential for departures via the transfer portal.

It’s a tricky balance that Freeze must strike, one he’s been weighing in recent weeks as Auburn’s slide has continued.

“Real. That is real. That’s not something that is just made up, it is something that you have to come to a decision on what is your approach to that,” Hugh Freeze said Wednesday on an SEC teleconference call. “I think we’re all learning, what does that exactly look like? I kind of made up my mind going into that open week and the week leading up to the Missouri game, told our staff this, that, ‘Look, I’ve made up my mind. I’ve got to be who I am and we’ve got to coach them hard.'”

The tough love approach is something that Freeze will stick to as he tries to right the ship. Auburn is just 2-5 so far this season, with a tricky road to navigate still.

The Tigers are without a conference win.

But Hugh Freeze believes there’s only one correct approach to discipline. And it isn’t abandoning it midway through the season.

“And the good players throughout my career and I would think most coaches would agree, they want discipline,” Freeze said. “They want to be coached hard. They want to be developed. If someone chooses to leave me because of that or someone else, we’re probably not going to win long-term with that anyway, because if you can’t coach the mistakes out of them in practice because you’re afraid to coach them or whatever, those mistakes will continue to happen in the game, and we’ve seen that on tape.

“So I just kind of went back to, you know what, we don’t demean kids, but we’re going to coach them hard. And the good ones should want that. And that’s what I told our team, that’s what I told our coaches. That’s kind of the approach I’ve got to take from this point forward.”

Auburn has five games left this year, in Hugh Freeze’s second season as head coach. It’s going to be a difficult path toward bowl eligibility, needing four more wins.

There are three ranked opponents on the schedule still.

Regardless, Freeze isn’t worried about chasing players off at this point with his hard coaching approach. That’s not the goal, but it might simply be a byproduct. He’s aware of that.

“I don’t want to lose players,” Hugh Freeze said. “I don’t care for the new transfer world, because I think people need to learn to stick with something and go through the hard. But you know what, if they don’t want to go through the hard and they don’t want to be developed then you’re probably not going to win with them long-term anyway.”