Auburn fans are desperate to see the Tigers make their first appearance in the College Football Playoff—but some are predicting third-year head coach Hugh Freeze isn’t the one to lead them there.
It might be too early to forecast a coaching change on the Plains. But after on-the-road losses to Oklahoma and Texas A&M—defeats that pulled Hugh Freeze’s overall record at Auburn under .500—major media outlets are already glancing at the third-year-coach’s buyout. And, to put it frankly, if Freeze’s record continues to plummet, Auburn’s athletic administration will be looking at it, too.
On Wednesday, USA Today per Mark Giannotto published their list of interesting buyouts, naming Freeze amongst other notable coaches—such as Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Penn State’s James Franklin—who find themselves under pressure.
“The Hugh Freeze era in Auburn appears to be on uneven terrain in Year 3 with an unforgiving SEC schedule just beginning and the Tigers in danger of missing a bowl game for the second year in a row.”
Auburn would owe Freeze under $15.4 million if he were fired as of December 1. His buyout drops to roughly $10.5 million after the 2026 season.
Freeze may not be in boiling water yet, but fans are eager to turn up the heat. With two difficult in-conference games ahead—Georgia on October 11th and Missouri on October 18th—the possibility of Auburn opening the season 0-4 in SEC play is a real possibility. Another losing record is by all accounts unacceptable, and missing a bowl game in 2025 would mean failing to reach the comically low bar Freeze set for the program back in May.
Freeze’s buyout is a lot, but it pales in comparison to other SEC coaches, such as Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, who would be owed $38 million within two months of his firing.
When Auburn hired Freeze at the end of the 2022 season, fans couldn’t have predicted that his first two seasons would deliver near-identical records to that of Bryan Harsin. With the third year of his tenure off to a rocky start, Freeze finds himself in a must-win situation against the Georgia Bulldogs. If the Tigers can’t outplay Kirby Smart’s team under the stadium lights of Jordan-Hare, the possibility of new leadership on the Plains could become a reality.