Hugh Freeze shares key to making Auburn fun again

As Auburn embarks on a new era with Hugh Freeze at the helm, players have already seen a difference. For one, they’re saying practice is just outright more fun.

Of course, that’s a natural result of having the black cloud hovering over the program the better part of the last year removed.

“I hope they still say that a week from now,” Hugh Freeze said.

But the new head coach thinks his players should be having fun. After all, if that’s not one of the main goals of playing the game, what are you really doing?

“I believe in whatever you do in life, if you’re truly walking in what you love to do and what you’re gifted to do, there should be some joy and fun in that,” Hugh Freeze quipped.

That said, there are some real stakes at play. Auburn is coming off back-to-back losing seasons and hasn’t topped six wins in a season since 2019. That won’t cut it on the Plains.

Freeze, though, doesn’t necessarily just want to win, though that’s obviously a primary goal.

“Part of being the Auburn experience and being an Auburn man is the fact that I think this place has done a nice job — and I want to continue it — of young men that have gone through our program, that 10 to 15 to 20 years (later) still have this affection for this place because of the experience that we had here,”
Hugh Freeze said. “That experience is much more than just the 12 opportunities you have in a fall, so I hope that they will continue to say, ‘Man, coach is positive. He has a good vibe about him. He’s fun to be around even when it’s stressful and difficult.'”

Freeze has assured his players it will 100% get stressful and difficult. Probably before too long.

“Truthfully I will tear them down some during this camp,” Hugh Freeze said. “Not intentionally and not with some mean-spirited part, but you will break people down because I think after you have failed is when you really can have great success because you learn from those things. But I do think I have the ability to immediately bring them back up, too, once they’ve had a bad day or a bad practice or bad reps. I don’t think they will ever think, ‘Well he’s thrown in the towel on me.’ So hopefully what they’re feeling will continue.”

You know what’s fun? Winning.

Auburn has a long way to go to get there on a consistent basis. Freeze knows it. He’s been blunt about some roster shortcomings that he’s still working to overcome.

For now, though, the fun is back on the Plains. Now it’s just about maintaining it and layering some wins on top.

“I know we live in a world that wants us to win every game,” Hugh Freeze said. “That’s probably not reality, that you’re going to win every game. Very few do, if you look at the culture of our sport. Very few win them all. We want to and we’re certainly going to try.”