You know, I could be hard on Hugh Freeze sometimes. The Auburn Tigers' results over the past several seasons were enough to group Freeze in with Bryan Harsin, since the losing has been non-stop regardless of which one was the head coach, and the team looked helpless either way. The comparison is only fair from a strict on-field performance perspective, though. Freeze did a lot more work in the seat, and his impact on the recruiting trail is still being felt -- in both the voids that the talent that left under his watch and the memory of what he was able to accomplish. Despite the losing record, it definitely wasn't nothing.
As Alex Golesh enters his first year in charge on the Plains, The Athletic's Grace Raynor and Antonio Morales shared a clear challenge: do what Freeze did on the recruiting trail in the state of Alabama. After all, Freeze's in-state recruiting brought Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, Keldric Faulk, Jared Smith, and Demarcus Riddick to the Tigers, to name a few.
"There are always questions about a coach’s recruiting acumen when he makes the jump from a G6 or non-traditional power to the SEC or Big Ten. Florida’s Jon Sumrall has put together a resounding response to those questions right now, which we will get to in a bit. So has Golesh at Auburn," Raynor and Morales wrote.
"An interesting angle to look for is whether he can make more headway in the state. There are 20 blue-chip prospects in Alabama, but Auburn has commitments from just two of them. ... Hugh Freeze had his faults, but he cleaned up in-state during his last full recruiting cycle on the job (2025), when he signed nine of the top 15 players from the state. We’ll keep an eye on how Golesh progresses there."
Alex Golesh needs to keep the in-state recruits he brings to Auburn, which isn't always what Hugh Freeze did
The thing with Freeze is that he recruited like a madman but fell off when it came to actually concocting a winning game plan. After his past successes with the Ole Miss Rebels, it never quite made sense how AU was so futile during most of the team's SEC slate over three years, though particularly last season, when the Tigers barely cracked the top 75 in points per game and didn't in yards per game.
Something Freeze's undisciplined locker room caused, besides losing, was players seeking better options elsewhere once the checks cleared. Golesh can bring in in-state recruits, but he needs to keep them. He can't let talents like Coleman come into the program, underperform, then leave for a bigger program and start getting legitimate NFL legend comparisons.
There will always be turnover in the SEC, as long as there aren't stricter transfer rules. Even with one-time transfers, schools will poach. Golesh can establish a long-term plan for these players, though, and break the chain.
Let's see if he does. It's easier said than done, but Golesh is showing a lot of traits that point to him doing it.
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