Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze has already started to undo the damage suffered on the recruiting trail in June. But there's no guarantee the results on the field will even keep these commits in tow.
For some of these recruits, games don't even need to be played for their mind to change. Schools just need to find money to pay them. That's the NIL era for you.
Still, some coaches are navigating the NIL era well. Shane Beamer has turned South Carolina into a relevant program in the SEC once again, while Curt Cignetti is doing things at Indiana that Bloomington has never seen before.
Then there's Freeze, who is spending donor money but converting those funds into .500 seasons or worse.
If Freeze continues down the path of unrighteousness, there's a ready-made replacement for the 2026 season who can take over if the program wasn't sold on handing DJ Durkin the reins on a full-time basis.
And he already owns a home on Lake Martin.
Good morning from Lake Martin. Happy 4th of July pic.twitter.com/wI6ROiPmu8
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) July 4, 2025
Gus Malzahn has been there, done that with Auburn Tigers football
Firing Gus Malzahn after the 2020 season might've been a mistake on Auburn's brain trust's part. As it turns out, the grass isn't always greener when you have a head coach who was consistently producing eight and nine-win seasons.
Freeze and Bryan Harsin would have had a victory parade down South College if they had those kinds of seasons in their second years in charge after what their debut campaign showed.
Malzahn coming back to the Plains would be ironic considering he was replaced at UCF with Scott Frost. Beyond that, it'd bring back someone who knew how to sell Auburn to elite recruits.
He's already here part-time, just a few miles up Highway 280, John Cohen.
Maybe Malzahn making a return would be what AU needs to get back to their 2019 standard.