Hugh Freeze discusses the Auburn family, how it impacted his decision

In his opening press conference, Auburn‘s new head coach Hugh Freeze pulled back the curtain on why he chose the Tigers as his next head coaching spot through explaining his core values of the program. Freeze used the word family as an acronym, standing for faith, attitude, mental toughness, integrity, love, and you to represent his core values, and explained the last one.

“We need you, we need the fans, we need Auburn family, we need to staff, we need the players, we need everyone in this building that is involved in our program to buy into our core values to drive this train to get it where everyone wants to be. It is all of us that must pull together, the Auburn family,” Freeze said.

Freeze had a five-year tenure with Ole Miss between 2012 and 2016, where he became familiar with Auburn and grew to admire the program from afar.

“You would notice that those acronyms spells family and I believe that is what Auburn is all about. So why Auburn for us?” Freeze asked. “I’ll tell you I had great memories here, won a game here, lost a couple, but I will say from a visiting coaches perspective it is one of the most difficult places to play that I have witnessed and that is due to our great fans, and our great student body, and everyone involved.”

But Auburn has also been special to Freeze because one of his daughters, Jordan, attended Auburn. Freeze said one of his favorite memories was dropping her off at college, claiming to be an emotional mess afterward for an hour.

“And that’s one of my great memories but as I’m going back, I’m still thinking that feeling she had at Auburn, I was family to her, and it has remained that way obviously for them to come back here,” Freeze said.

Freeze capped off his core values with an ode to Auburn, explaining why he chose the program with references to the school’s rich history and the Auburn family.

“So why Auburn? It’s Pat Dye Field, it’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, it’s the Tiger Walk, it’s the eagle flight, it’s rolling Toomer’s Corner, the kick six, Bo over the top, it’s tremendous sense of community, it’s pride and passion that people hold for Auburn, it’s the Auburn creed. Man I believe in work, hard work, which it will take, I believe in the spirit of being unafraid, I don’t fear much in life and I don’t think our team will either. I believe in the people, it’s the Auburn family, this place is special and there’s no other place that I want to be. I believe in Auburn and love it, War Eagle,” Freeze concluded.