Hugh Freeze reveals top priority for him, his staff at Auburn

New Auburn coach Hugh Freeze‘s top priority is to hit the ground running. For him that means establishing the program’s culture right off the bat by ensuring his staff is 100% bought in from Day 1.

No ifs, ands or buts about it.

“Staff, staff has to drive the culture,” Freeze said in his introductory press conference. “I’m not near as concerned about Xs and Os with most of the staff. The defensive coordinator has got to be masterful at that. But the rest of the staff, obviously, if I were to show you the number of texts I’ve received of big-time college coaches wanting to come to this place, it’s going to be very difficult, very difficult to decide.

“But what will be the deciding factor is putting a staff together that I think compliments each other and drives the culture consistently. There is none of this, ‘Well, you know, eh, that’s a suggestion.’ No, it’s not a suggestion. This is how we do it, and it’s proven to turn programs and work everywhere we’ve been very, very fast.”

Freeze has certainly done that.

In his first head coaching gig at Lambuth, he took a three-win team the year before his arrival and went 12-1 in his second season. He took over a four-win Arkansas State squad and won 10 games in his first season.

It has even translated at the higher FBS levels. He took over a two-win Ole Miss program and promptly won seven games in his first year and eight in his second.

“So I think getting the culture, the buy-in from the staff, to drive the culture, is the biggest priority,” Freeze said.

Freeze’s staff culture must empower the players

In stressing the need for an aligned vision on his staff from top to bottom culture-wise, Freeze noted the goal is to empower his players.

That’s what it’s all about.

“Obviously the first priority will always be our players,” he said. “So I’ve got to jump in as soon as I can and try to handle both of these at the same time, in getting to know our players, watching tape, finding out where we need to plug into the roster and get into the portal or where our high school recruiting is at. And we’re short on time. We’ve got to get going and get going fast.”

And while Freeze himself will have a million things to juggle as he tries to hire a staff and organize as the college football transfer portal hums and the early signing period fast approaches, he wanted to underscore they can’t lose focus on the top priority.

That is the young men coming into and already in the program.

“Our players are the priority always. I have an open-door policy for our players,” Freeze said. “They can come to my assistant and say, ‘I’d love to see coach,’ and I may be in the offensive film room, she knows come get me because players have the priority. And my relationship with them is paramount to me. I want to win their heart. And I’m going to be dead truthful with them about where they are. They’ll never have to wonder.

“But at the end of the day I should be preparing them to create value for themselves for the time that they’re with us. Because football’s going to end. And if we wasted all of that time worrying about just the scoreboard and just how many touchdowns he threw or ran and not creating value for them for life after football, well we’ve missed the boat. So I’ve got to have a staff that drives that, because our players are the priority.”