Hugh Freeze's contract with Auburn for 6 years, $6.5 million annually

The details on new Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze’s contract are in, and at a pretty modest figure given the going price for an upper-echelon coach these days. The former Liberty head coach is getting a six-year deal that pays $6.5 million annually, according to AuburnLive’s Justin Hokanson — that’s $39 million in base salary.

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. A buyout would cover 75% of the remaining cost of the contract.

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.

Freeze discussed the timeline for filling out his Auburn coaching staff

In his first press conference Tuesday, Freeze was asked about his next task at hand, filling out the remainder of Auburn’s coaching staff moving into the offseason.

“I’ve got a list of every position and a lot of great candidates, there’s some here, there’s some where I just came from, and they’re all around the country, I’m constantly getting texts. My agent who I have forgotten to thank Jimmy Sexton, he’s not only been a great agent but he has been a dear friend to me through a lot of tough times and he’s been strong and faithful and I thank him,” Freeze said getting emotional. “But he’s got a little whole list too that he presents to me this morning.”

Freeze has 10 years of head coaching experience across three different programs, likely having a vast and network of coaching options to build out his staff. Despite this, Freeze did show some hesitancy on building his staff, which he attributed to the uncertainty of knowing if he’d secure the Auburn job.

“I just hadn’t had a chance yet, I was so hesitant during the process to respond to media or to respond to ‘this guy’ that would text me and I’m like, ‘oh my god that’d be a great hire’. But I was just so guarded because I wasn’t real sure exactly what John (Cohen) was thinking or Rich (McGlynn). I knew I was in it, but you really couldn’t tell exactly where you were and you felt kind of good every time I talk to him and loved visiting with him,” Freeze said.