Philip Montgomery explains his offensive philosophy

After eight seasons as the head coach at Tulsa, Philip Montgomery is now the offensive coordinator at Auburn under new head coach Hugh Freeze. There, he is looking to turn around a unit that struggled in 2022.

Montgomery emphasized that his offensive philosophy calls for spreading the ball around the field and being balanced.

“We want to be an efficient scoring machine and we want to be able to create excitement,” Philip Montgomery said. “We want to be able to push the ball down the field, we want to get involved in the run game, we want to get involved in the screen game, but keeping people off balance a little bit from a defensive standpoint.”

Philip Montgomery’s approach shouldn’t be surprising given that he comes from the Art Briles coaching tree. The pair worked together going back to their days as Texas high school coaches. Montgomery later followed Briles to Houston and then Baylor. He was then named the head coach at Tulsa in December of 2014.

“But, we’re going to stretch the ball vertically as well as horizontally and try to make you play out in space,” Montgomery explained. “So, I think we’re going to give them something to stand up and cheer about.”

While at Tulsa, Montgomery compiled a 43-53 record in eight seasons with a 2-2 bowl record at one of the hardest jobs in the AAC. Last season, Tulsa was 50th in scoring offense, averaging 30.6 points per game. For comparison, Auburn was 87th with just 24.8 points per game.

Former Ole Miss and current Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby came off the Art Briles coaching tree too. Kendal Briles, his son, did too. When you consider the types of offenses that they run, it makes sense what Montgomery is going to want out of the Tigers.

Hugh Freeze on buzz around the program

Even though it’s early in his tenure as head coach, Hugh Freeze is still excited about the future at Auburn.

“I was visiting with [Heather Dinich] today that covers all of college football, the playoffs. And, truthfully, I think every place that our staff has gone has been able to create a buzz and an excitement fairly quick. I certainly didn’t expect Auburn to be any less than that,” Freeze said.

“I don’t know that I have a good pulse for really what you’re referring to. Because I really have learned through my years that I might just want to keep myself focused on the task and on the people that are in the building with me. I’m not sure of the level of excitement…[But] I’m excited people are excited.”