Paul Finebaum discusses Hugh Freeze, how hot his seat is at Auburn

The 2024 season has been a disappointing one for Auburn and Hugh Freeze. The Tigers are 3-6 (1-5) in Year 2 under Freeze and are coming off of a double-digit home loss to Vanderbilt.

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum joined McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Monday to discuss where the Auburn program is currently at under Freeze.

“Yea, I’m completely underwhelmed by Hugh Freeze as Auburn’s head football coach,” Paul Finebaum said. “Now what does that mean? It doesn’t really mean very much in terms of this year. I think this year is essentially over and now it’s a matter of what he can do in the offseason, really immediately after the season, to shore this program up.

“A lot of people are optimistic. They talk to me and you and everyone else about how well he’s done in recruiting. But ultimately I’d like to see it on the field.”

To Freeze’s credit, he is doing a solid job in recruiting. Auburn signed the No. 8 class in the country in 2024, per the On3 Team Industry Rankings and currently has the No. 5 class in 2025.

However, the results on the field simply haven’t been good enough.

“I’m still trying to figure out what Hugh Freeze has done other than try to blame everything on Bryan Harsin,” Finebaum said. “I’d like to see in-game decisions. I’d like to see things that make me feel confident about Hugh Freeze and I’m just not seeing it. I’m not suggesting anything other than answering a question here. I think he has to be given some time, but how much time I think is really an open question.

“And at the rate this season’s going, he’ll begin next season on one of the hottest hot seats I have seen at Auburn or anywhere in a long time. And that can’t be scraped away because he has thrown away every opportunity this year to turn this thing around.”

While Finebaum believes Freeze will have one of the hottest seats in the country entering 2025, he doesn’t expect a change to happen after this year.

He shared that he believes Freeze will at least make it through the 2025 season, as things stand.

“I don’t, and I say that because I don’t sense it from the people that matter,” Finebaum said of a potential change following 2024. “This decision will not be made by a caller to your show or by somebody at the end of the bar. This decision will be made by people in high positions at Auburn, from the president, the athletic director and most importantly the three or four boosters who run that program.

“Based on everything that I can ascertain, Hugh Freeze is not in trouble. So the answer is no, I don’t think so, no matter how bad it gets. And listen, it’s very likely to get worse the rest of the way.”