Paul Finebaum: Hugh Freeze is 'uncomfortable with where we are in college football'

All college coaches are getting used to working in a much different sport than most of them began in. That includes Auburn’s Hugh Freeze who, according to Paul Finebaum, is having a more difficult time with it than others.

Finebaum spoke about the coaches he was around at the Regions Tradition Golf Tournament in Birmingham last week during ‘McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning’ on Monday. In discussing Freeze, he described him as uneasy about where this new era has brought them all to.

“Hugh Freeze came off, to me, a little bit on edge, a little bit uncomfortable with where we are in college football right now, which is where everybody is but he may have been the most outspoken about it,” said Finebaum.

That’s not just a read of the feel on Freeze by Finebaum, though. Freeze himself said as much in his own conversation on the same radio show while at the tournament last week. In reference to the idea of ‘bidding wars’, he said in his own words that it’s uncomfortable for him. That’s at least in comparison to what he has always done in high school recruiting.

“I just don’t feel comfortable with some of the bidding wars for some of the top guys in the portal,” Freeze admitted. “Not that we’re not very fair. It’s just I want to build the whole roster and try to do it with guys that fit, somewhat, your culture.”

“I think our collective is very fair. But, if that is the only purpose in a kid’s decision, I feel uncomfortable about that, going that route,” said Freeze.

The aspects of college athletics today may not be something that some coaches like Freeze are fully okay with. Still, they’re part of it, which is why acceptance or at least adjustment are necessary.

Take the transfer portal for an example. Auburn has still brought in the No. 11 class per On3’s 2024 Team Transfer Portal Rankings this offseason. It includes 14 additions, after they lost 24 to the portal themselves, with several being highly-rated pickups. Some of those likely required some recruiting regarding name, image, and likeness in order to earn their commitments.

That then puts it on NIL Collectives like On To Victory down on The Plains. It launched in July of 2022 and it has raised over $10 million for athletes at Auburn since they began.

Freeze is obviously tense about things of this nature. That’s both by his own admission and based on the thoughts of others like Finebaum. The question now is how he adjusts to and makes peace with some of it as the leader of a program in the Southeastern Conference.