Hugh Freeze reacts to praise of second-half adjustments, credits Matt Luke wardrobe change

New Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is looking to execute a turnaround on The Plains, and one of the quickest ways to engineer that turnaround will be fixing the offense. It’s been bad lately, with ineffective second-half adjustments aplenty.

If the Tigers were just a bit more lethal offensively, they might have had the finishing power to close out a few more wins in the last two years.

That’s where another real Freeze strength could kick in. He’s quite good at drawing up second-half adjustments that get his team rolling.

“I do think we’ve been very good at that through the years,” Freeze said at SEC Media Days. “We typically have been able to come out and have good adjustments.”

He revealed an interesting factoid about why that’s the case, too.

“Truthfully, I always hold a few things until the second half — I don’t know if that’s wise — that I think are going to be good,” Freeze said. “But I’ve instructed our staff, let’s kind of hold on that until the second half.”

Doing so has allowed Freeze to catch opponents off guard, often flipping the script in the game and creating some serious momentum change with second-half adjustments.

That said, it’s not just a Freeze thing. He makes it a point to involve his entire staff in potential halftime changes. Any input is welcome, particularly if it can make a difference.

“I lean on our coaches a lot. It’s not just me,” Freeze said. “It’s us getting in and everybody saying this is exactly what we’re getting on second down, this is exactly what we’re getting on first down, and then you being wise enough to use the analytics that you have to say — coaches are creatures of habits, and if this is what they’ve done on every 2nd and long, then what is our best call. That should be the first call we make the next 2nd and long we get.

“That’s not some mystery or — I’m sure other coaches do the same thing. I don’t know.”

Then there’s the more superstitious change Freeze goes to if he’s worried about the second-half adjustments as a whole.

“I make my O-line coach change his clothes at halftime if we’re not doing well,” Freeze said with a laugh. “I don’t know if that helps, but I do. Matt Luke started that for me truthfully.

“We were losing our first game at Ole Miss to a I-AA opponent and it wasn’t going well. He changed all of his clothes and we rolled up a bunch of numbers the second half, and from that point on, our entire five years together, Matt knew he had to change clothes at halftime if things weren’t going well.”

Clothing changes or halftime adjustments, whatever gets the job done at Auburn will be just fine with Tigers fans.