Auburn football is on the precipice of making what many feel would be a consequential mistake by hiring Hugh Freeze for the head coaching position instead of interim Tigers head coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams.
Count Yardbarker’s Eric Smithling among those that feel the move would be disrespectful on many levels — including, most importantly in his opinion, to Cadillac Williams after reviving Auburn football in 2022.
Freeze is reportedly in deep talks to become the next Tigers head coach, and Smithling shared his belief that doing so would be a slap in the face to the running backs coach-turned-historic head coach hiring:
"The decision to pursue Freeze as the team’s next head coach is a slap in the face to current interim coach Cadillac Williams, the beloved former running back for Auburn and a member of the undefeated 2004 team.For a program that moved on from Harsin in part because he didn’t fit in at Auburn, the idea that it would balk at the chance to make a former Tigers star its next head coach doesn’t compute.The team passing on Williams for a coach with a checkered background is even more insulting.Programs will contort themselves in the most uncomfortable positions to find reasons to pass on Black coaches while giving opportunities to white coaches who have proven who they are."
A possible reason Hugh Freeze is likely the next Auburn football instead of Lane Kiffin
Up until this morning, it seemed as though Lane Kiffin was a shoe-in to become the next Auburn football head coach — even if the Ole Miss HC was telling everyone that would listen that he wouldn’t be. Now, with the pivot to Hugh Freeze, one must wonder what has caused such a dramatic narrative shift in the past few days.
One potential option is the insistence on AD John Cohen’s part to install Carnell “Cadillac” Williams as the associate head coach. Kiffin is about his own brand, and the possible looming shadow of Cadillac over his tenure could have turned him away.
Freeze has no room to bargain considering his past at both Ole Miss and Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee. To return to the SEC, he needed to give in to that caveat from Cohen.