Hugh Freeze mastered the microphone with two talking points that always tickle the ears of Auburn fans: War Eagle and Nick Saban.
Freeze was introduced as head coach of the Tigers on Tuesday and spent the majority of his opening monologue praising and thanking interim head coach Cadillac Williams, also a former Auburn running back, for pulling personal pride and competitiveness back on The Plains.
Not long after the press conference, Williams released a statement confirming he was staying at Auburn as associate head coach.
“I accepted the position and am excited about working with him and learning from him,” Williams said, with a not-so-subtle directive for those fans who wanted him to remain head coach. “I ask that the Auburn family join me in supporting Coach Freeze and getting Auburn football back on the winning track.”
Auburn will reportedly pay Freeze $39 million over six years to turn around a program attempting to recover from back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1998 and ’99.
In the immortal words of Jerry Reed, the Tigers have a long way to go and a short time to get there.
Freeze follows Bryan Harsin, who was fired at midseason, and as of Tuesday had a commitment from only one of the top 15 rated seniors in the state. While Freeze said he’s anxious to get out of the blocks, Saban and Alabama are cruising to the lead, destined for yet another top-10 finish and top-5 recruiting class.
“Well, you don’t take this job if you’re not built to want that and I welcome that,” said Freeze, who beat Saban twice while Ole Miss head coach. “I want it, I want to be in that arena. I really, really, really enjoy that type of game. … I hope they’re a little nervous today.”
Auburn finished last in the SEC West the past two seasons.
Freeze arrives not from Ole Miss but Liberty, granted another life in coaching a marquee program despite being cited for 21 NCAA violations which led to 27 wins being vacated. That includes one of the victories over Saban and Alabama (2014).
Freeze, 53, resigned from Ole Miss and was out of the game for two seasons. He became the coach at Liberty in 2019. He won eight or more games in each of the past four seasons, including a 3-0 record in bowl games.
Freeze spent one season at Arkansas State, when the Red Wolves went 10-2, and five coaching Ole Miss. He was dismissed from Ole Miss prior to the 2017 campaign after it was discovered he made inappropriate calls to a female escort service from his school-issued cellphone.
“I don’t believe in deserving something. I believe in earning something,” Freeze said Tuesday. “And I do believe we fought to earn this. It’s been rocky at times. But you can become overcome with emotion because of — truthfully, I feel like, and this is no offense to another school or anything, but I feel like I’ve leapfrogged where I was at that time by being in this family and this culture here. And I loved my time there, but I see this as one of the top 10 football programs in the nation. And I believe that.”
–Field Level Media