Hugh Freeze reveals at what point he wanted to return to the SEC

Hugh Freeze recalled the exact point he wanted to return to the SEC, or a big college football program in general, during SEC Media Days 2023 — mainly, after several years away from the sport altogether and only in the last two years at Liberty after proving he can overcome the negative attention and continue to win football games.

“I would be less than truthful with you if after we started having success at Liberty, particularly with it just going FBS and us being able to beat the likes of Arkansas and BYU and Virginia Tech and Syracuse and playing close with every Power 5 that we played, did the thought start creeping in your mind that certain opportunities might present themselves again? Yes, at that point,” Freeze said (h/t Saturday Down South). “But not prior to that point did (returning to the SEC) enter my mind.”

Freeze won no less than eight games every year with Liberty, but it was the 2020 one-loss season and the aforementioned upset wins that made the Oxford, Mississippi native such a hot commodity on the coaching market the last two offseasons. The offseason rumors tended to have an adverse effect on his Flames record toward the end of those seasons too; so perhaps Liberty would’ve taken even fewer losses with Freeze in charge.

Payton Thorne won’t define whether or not Hugh Freeze will keep Auburn football coaching job

Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara doesn’t believe that Freeze’s Auburn football head coaching job security depends on the performance of first-year QB on the Plains, Payton Thorne, saying that it’ll instead depend on just about every other aspect of how he handles the new role.

“A Year 1 quarterback decision won’t determine whether Freeze has many more SEC Media Days appearances in his future,” O’Gara prefaced before saying, “It’ll be everything else. Coaching personnel decisions, roster development, fitting into his new surroundings, getting players to buy what he’s selling … that’ll define this next chapter of Freeze’s SEC career.”

Having players buy into Freeze is absolutely priority No. 1 for most Tiger fans after watching Cadillac Williams get roughly 50% more out of the same players Bryan Harsin failed to maximize. Playing the booster game will obviously also be a key challenge for Freeze, but it’s clear his leverage is minimal given the baggage he brought in that had many questioning his hiring.

It’s not easy to rival Alabama and Georgia in the NIL era, but if Freeze could have AU anywhere close, he’ll be a staple in the conference’s mid-summer meeting of the minds for the foreseeable future.