Hugh Freeze is going to survive the 2024 season if his Auburn football program finishes with a 4-8 record. Apparently, though, the Tigers are preparing to extend him enough grace to survive the 2025 and 2026 seasons too; regardless of AU's record.
247Sports' Phillip Marshall relayed as much via Twitter in a response to an Auburn University professor wondering how long Freeze will get to prove that he's more than just promises and excuses.
"He will get a third year and a fourth year," Marshall said on October 19.
"What I know is that his bosses are all in," he added. "They recognize the total cluster he inherited and the way he is recruiting."
Hugh Freeze is lucky Bryan Harsin preceded him as Auburn football's head coach
So it's back to being Bryan Harsin's fault Freeze continues to lose games with a roster made up of primarily players he recruited since taking over in November 2022?
What a sweet gig Freeze has: no accountability ever needed since it's always the last guy's fault.
Giving Freeze extra rope because the program is behind where it should be makes sense. Auburn's Week 8 loss to Mizzou is the perfect illustration of what happens when you're not itching to fire your head coach. Eli Drinkwitz has become a miracle worker in Columbia.
But good grief. In the NIL era, coaches are executing one-cycle turnarounds. Sonny Dykes at TCU and Curt Cignetti at Indiana are debunking these narratives.
If you want to make the case that the SEC is different, fine. Billy Napier has failed at Florida and Brent Venables is a disaster at Oklahoma. Even Kalen DeBoer is struggling with what Nick Saban handed to him at Alabama.
Lane Kiffin exists, though. Ole Miss became a 10-game winner in his second season.
At some point, Freeze needs to stop selling fans on hope for the future and start selling them on success in the present.
Harsin won't exist as an excuse forever. Although if you ask Auburn's beat reporters, he just might.