AL.com has already begun its campaign against new Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze, penning an inflammatory cartoon taking aim at his many controversies, and now taking shots at his coaching abilities relative to the coaching position he just received.
On November 30, AL.com sports columnist Joseph Goodman said that the University of Alabama-Birmingham actually made the better coaching hiring to develop quarterbacks — which holds weight to a degree since the Blazers added Super Bowl XXXV champion QB Trent Dilfer.
Auburn introduced Hugh Freeze on Tuesday and UAB hired a better coach of quarterbacks on Wednesday. Wild times.
— Joseph Goodman, Sports Enthusiast 🎟🍺 (@JoeGoodmanJr) November 30, 2022
With that said, Freeze did just send Malik Willis — an Auburn football transfer who lost the quarterback battle on the Plains to Jarrett Stidham and never found his groove under Gus Malzahn — to the NFL, and Dilfer’s coaching experience is limited to high school.
Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze continues line of Tigers coaches battling the media
Part of the Auburn football head coaching position’s job responsibilities is apparently battling the media narrative from major outlets like AL.com. While Hugh Freeze was a somewhat problematic hiring considering the PR nightmares he’s been involved with, he has seemingly made an effort to repent based on the man’s own words at his introductory presser. Hopefully, there aren’t any scandals of either the sexual misconduct or social media misconduct variety.
With all that said, that he is already facing scrutiny questioning his ability to coach after leading Liberty to 34 wins in four seasons in Lynchburg hammers home a troubling trend. While Gus Malzahn was largely kept out of the headlines, Bryan Harsin, and now Freeze, are being heavily scrutinized before completing a full season on the sidelines.
There’s no questioning the prestige of the Auburn football head coaching job, but it’s fair to question if the local media is making it harder to actually perform the job.