Unlike Jimbo Fisher, Hugh Freeze isn't ashamed to explain why he's giving up play-calling duties in Year 1 at Auburn

NASHVILLE — Hugh Freeze hasn’t always been a beacon of self-awareness or excellence, but color me impressed with the way Auburn’s head coach humbly explained why he’s punting on play-calling duties for the first time in nearly three decades of coaching. 

“I think once upon a time I was probably one of the better play callers in college football. Obviously, better players make you a better play caller,” Freeze said with a bit of truthful hubris on Day 2 of SEC Media Days. 

“I don’t know that I was the greatest play-caller or one of the best play-callers the last few years at Liberty. I managed the game really well and gave our kids a chance to obviously win some huge games, and we were really good on defense, and I kind of played to that.”

Imagine if Jimbo Fisher had said those words Monday. Imagine if Jimbo Fisher had the gall to admit — like Freeze did Tuesday — “I needed help.” 

Perhaps Texas A&M’s head coach has come to the same conclusion. Probably not, at least if all the squirming and hawing are any clues. 

And yet, as Freeze looks to “flip the script” of the Tigers’ program, the well-respected offensive mind is handing over the primary responsibilities to former Tulsa head coach and Baylor OC Philip Montgomery because he recognized that’s what best for Auburn to succeed in 2023.  

“I hired him to call plays,” Freeze told Auburn’s local media. 

Freeze’s reasoning is two-fold, and both make sense. 

First, to flip that script requires what he believes is an “all-encompassing” approach. He can’t be in the weeds on a Wednesday scripting his first quarter play-calls if he isn’t focused on everything happening everywhere else on the Plains. The Tigers’ passing game — one that ranked last in the SEC and had just nine touchdowns all season — needs fixing. But yesterday I used the word “resuscitate” for the Aggies’ toothless offense. Freeze used the very word Tuesday in regard to the Tigers’ entire program — not just their offense. 

While Auburn isn’t facing a rebuild akin to Colorado or Arizona State, with Alabama and Georgia on the schedule annually, to return the Tigers to national relevancy is going to require a dogged focus on recruiting and coaching. 

Calling the perfect play on a random 3rd down isn’t going to do it. Freeze understands it’s about changing the program’s mindset and improving Auburn’s overall roster talent. 

That’s the backbone of Freeze’s “tunnel vision” to fix a program he dubbed “a work in progress.”

Why Hugh Freeze is giving up play-calling duties  

The other reason Freeze is backing away from play-calling is he is self-aware enough to admit some of his secrets are out. Freeze wasn’t sure he’d ever coach in the SEC again, and in recent years, he hinted that he’s spent time with the staffs at Alabama and Georgia trading ideas and talking ‘ball.

“I need a new terminology because there are too many people in this league that I’ve went and talked ball with and probably told too much to — particularly up the road from us on both sides,” Freeze said. 

So enter Phillip Montgomery, who like Freeze, runs a varied version of the former Art Briles offense at Baylor. Freeze is now the third SEC head coach to operate such a system, joining Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, who has his own ’Veer ’N Shoot, and Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin. 

Like Freeze, Kiffin yielded primary play-calling duties when he got to Ole Miss to focus more on the big-picture. 

“We’re running the same system that I’ve always run. I wasn’t going to get away from that. It’s worked for me everywhere I’ve been,” Freeze said. 

“Obviously I have the right to step in and say, you know what, let me have — I need to see something. He’s been — the great thing is Philip has been in the head coach’s seat and he’s been in the coordinator’s seat, and he gets that. 

“But I have great trust in him, have been very impressed, and obviously it’s the same system that we’ve just melded into his terminology, and I needed that truthfully. I’ve done my terminology truthfully since high school, and I think I’ve had too many people get out from under me and I kind of felt some of that last year at Liberty.”

Somewhere, Texas A&M fans are screaming. Freeze proved it’s ok to admit when something has grown a bit stale. It doesn’t make you any less of coach.