Hugh Freeze on why Auburn football can have a quick turnaround in 2023
Hugh Freeze is confident Auburn football can have a quick turnaround during the 2023 season after two straight losing campaigns under the last regime. The reason? He has full confidence he has assembled the perfect coaching staff to get the team on the same page.
Freeze was speaking to Auburn Director of Strategic Communications Jeff Shearer when he gave a shoutout to a coaching staff that has seen some guys follow him from Oxford to Lynchburg to Auburn.
In order to get things moving quickly, Freeze told Shearer he needs and has had, the coaching staff to be in full alignment — just like how things must run at AU from the brain trust and boosters down to the other various power brokers on the Plains:
"“One of the things that I do feel very strongly about is the ability to take a group of people, formulate a staff, and say this is the direction we’re going in. It only works if we all are talking alike, believing the same, and are moving in that same direction.”“One of the reasons we’ve been able to turn programs around really fast is because of that.”"
Hugh Freeze on Auburn football recruiting: “Auburn sells itself”
Freeze is confident in the university he signed on the dotted line to represent for however long he sticks around. He’s on the books for six, but he could go on to become an AU-lifer or get yanked before the end of his contract like the last two Auburn football head coaches.
Freeze explained his strengths as a leader and how it’ll mix well with the existing Auburn brand and mission:
"“The one thing I knew about Auburn is I felt like Auburn sells itself. If it has someone leading with a vision that people can see and buy in. I do think I have a gift to be able to say, ‘Here’s what my vision is for you individually and for us collectively as the Auburn football family.”"
Freeze knows what it takes to be an Auburn man, having spent time in the SEC and battling Gus Malzahn’s (and Gene Chizik’s last) Tigers teams. If he can share that vision with recruits effectively — and it certainly seems like he’s been able to — then there’ll full alignment for the first time in a while.