Analyst on Hugh Freeze to Auburn football rumors: ‘I don’t have time for this right now’
The impending Auburn football head coach search the world is expecting may not include controversial former Ole Miss HC Hugh Freeze, but his name has been frequently linked to the role anyway.
Freeze is currently leading a Liberty Flames program that has become a recurring bowl season entry under his watch, but a jump back to the big leagues is likely the end game for the former Ole Miss coaching great.
Of course, his tenure in Oxford is what led him to be banished to coaching an independent that needed him to become a brand name at the FBS level. Recruitment and severely questionable conduct policy violations got him dismissed as Rebels head coach — along with a 5-7 record in 2016.
Still, CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee believes that, if untethered from the burden of the Auburn football boosters, Freeze would be the perfect replacement for Bryan Harsin at the Tigers head coaching position:
Here's the thing with Auburn and Hugh Freeze ... if Auburn's admin gives him control, he will kill it there. That's possible. The reason Harsin isn't working is because he wasn't "their guy." If the powers-that-be get "their guy," they are much more likely to step back a bit.
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) October 11, 2022
That led to Split Zone Duo host Steven Godfrey dismissing this possibility without hesitation:
Auburn football is not a serious contender for Lane Kiffin
An Ole Miss coach that never got fired for swiping the ol’ company credit card on illegal services, Lane Kiffin, has also been frequently spoken of in relation to the Auburn football head coaching job.
Kiffin is potentially even less of a realistic possibility given the current momentum the Rebels have generated with his presence in North Central Mississippi. He may have made Ole Miss a preferable job at this moment in time, but the NFL — specifically the Carolina Panthers, New York Jets, and Dallas Cowboys — represents a greater threat than the Plains of pulling Kiffin out of Oxford.