Hugh Freeze's transparency, full inventory of his life impressed AD John Cohen
AUBURN — Auburn new athletics director John Cohen opened the Hugh Freeze press conference on Tuesday, speaking about the Auburn Creed, speaking of Freeze being the best “fit” for Auburn, speaking about the search process and more
Here’s Cohen’s entire statement:
“We appreciate all of you joining us here on a Tuesday morning. First of all, before I get started, I want to recognize coach Carnell Williams, who did an incredible job as our interim coach and a tremendous job as a leader, not only for our football program but for our university as well. I know Coach Williams had a great meeting with Coach Freeze last night, and I’m just thrilled to say I think we’re going to have two great leaders leading this football program, and I’m so excited about that.
“I’d love to thank our football team. It’s never easy with what our football team has been through the season. We know they’ve been through a difficult time. For, my goodness, the last four weeks, they have played very, very hard football. We have to really recognize the effort that they have given. I want to recognize Dr. Chris Roberts, who’s been incredibly supportive throughout this process as well, and I want to get into the search just a little bit and I’m going to get the star of the show up here very quickly, I promise, but because we wanted to do a thoughtful and thorough search, we spoke in person and electronically. The industry experts, teachers, professional college coaches, law enforcement officials, student-athletes, parents of student-athletes and many others.
RELATED: HIGHLIGHTS FROM COHEN AND FREEZE
“We used a search firm and analytics firms, law firms. We spoke to many administrators at each institution that represented a part of all of our candidates’ past. We were in search of opinion, for sure, but more importantly, we were in search of the truth, and we found it. Hugh Freeze was at the top of our list in the beginning, and we never wavered from that. The combination of on-field success, student-athlete development, recruiting at a high level along with coach Freeze’s personal inventory of his life. His transparency and his family support were of the utmost importance to us in this process.
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“In a short time, I have become highly influenced by the Auburn Creed, and I refer to it often. As the Auburn family knows, the creed states that we believe in hard work. Hugh Freeze was raised on a dairy farm. He knows what hard work is. He also worked his way up from the high school level to the very highest level of college football, the Southeastern Conference. Coach Freeze was completely transparent with his past transgressions. He showed remorse and had an accountability plan that he’s used for the last five-plus years. Everything he disclosed to us turned out to be accurate after speaking with credible industry sources. In this way, coach Freeze was honest and truthful. Another Auburn Creed characteristic. Coach Freeze presented to us a detailed, written plan that he has for each of his student-athletes and directly involves their future. A preparation for a career after football.
“In this manner, he displayed a belief in education, another mainstay of the Auburn Creed. Perhaps, coach Freeze’s greatest accomplishment is his relationship with his wife, Jill, with whom he has been married for the last 30 years. We also want to recognize and are really thankful that they were here today Ragan and her husband Ryan, Jordan and her husband Mark and Madison. Welcome to Auburn. And then, with that, I would like to introduce to you Auburn’s 31st head football coach, coach Hugh Freeze.”
