Auburn football losing for the third straight matchup by at least two touchdowns has pulverized any remaining faint sliver of hope for most fans regarding the 2022 season. AU hasn’t been on the winning side of a game since September — and they didn’t even deserve to win that one as much as Missouri had an unbreakable will to lose.
Talk of hiring a new athletic director is reaching a fever pitch, with Mississippi State’s John Cohen — a former baseball head coach with a pair of College World Series appearances under his belt — looking like the guy. Of course, AU is taking its time and there is some pushback to the potential hiring per On3’s Justin Hokanson, but the first step to removing Bryan Harsin could soon be upon us.
With that in mind, and with the Tigers continuing to lose football games in soul-crushing fashion, the talking heads continue to forecast the directions the Plains is headed in with new direction likely needed by season’s end in the coaching department.
Paul Finebaum weighed in with his own prediction, and it included a former coach and the current play-caller for the Ole Miss Rebels:
"“So Harsin is gone, whenever that is. He just did a miserable job. Hugh Freeze I think is going to be the coach to watch. (Lane Kiffin’s) name comes up, but I do think there’s a lot of interest for Hugh Freeze there.”"
Hugh Freeze’s potential price point for Auburn football recently revealed
If Hugh Freeze is committed to sticking in Lynchburg and leading Liberty forward, it doesn’t matter how big the bag is that Auburn football, or any program for that matter, throws at him. If, however, the Flames are a springboard to something bigger, the Tigers now have an understanding on what his price range will be.
Freeze will earn nearly $5 million per season under the terms of his new deal, which will run for the next eight years until the turn of the decade. That is the price of a coach with some past baggage over at Ole Miss, but a coaching resume that has a far better chance of holding up in the current SEC than the incumbent’s has.