New favorite emerges in the Auburn coaching search

It’s becoming increasingly likely that Lane Kiffin won’t be the next head coach at Auburn. Instead, Hugh Freeze has emerged the favorite and the Tigers are expected to offer him a contract in the days following the Iron Bowl, per report.

“Auburn has been in discussion with Hugh Freeze for weeks about him becoming Auburn’s next coach. They won’t make a formal offer until after the Iron Bowl, but they’ve informally discussed contract and numbers with him for more than week,” Thamel tweeted Saturday morning.

Freeze, the current head coach of Liberty, has had major success in the SEC during his coaching career. Formerly the head coach at Ole Miss from 2012-2016, Freeze led the Rebels to back-to-back wins over Alabama during his tenure. In 2016 he led the Rebels to its first top-10 finish (No. 9) to a season since 1969.

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Despite his successful career in Oxford, Freeze was forced to resign following the successful 2016 season. The NCAA would hand out numerous recruiting violations to the Rebels alleging program employees and boosters arranged numerous “impermissible benefits” for players, such as car loans and cash, and in one case even helping a student-athlete on an exam.

Because of the infractions, Ole Miss was forced to vacate more than a handful of wins over his tenure, stripping 27 total wins off Freeze’s record. Officially, his record at Ole Miss is 12-25, despite winning 39 games on the field during his time as headman.

Since, Freeze has excelled at Liberty after taking a short break from coaching and has been with the team since Dec. 2018. He’s won at least eight games every season with the Flames, including a 10-1 record in 2020 and a 34-14 overall record to boot.