The Hugh Freeze era at Auburn came to an end on Sunday, as the head coach was fired after 34 games in charge of the Tigers. During that time, Freeze went 15-19, including 6-16 in SEC play, while losing an eye-popping 11 games in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
When discussing Freeze's tenure on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Paul Finebaum didn't hold any punches.
“The only positive thing I could say is that it was better than Bryan Harsin, but it was still a complete and total failure," he said. "There’s no getting around that."
Better than Harsin is a low bar for anyone to reach. And maybe what Finebaum said was on point, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he'll use any excuse to lob explosives over the wall towards Auburn. It's what he has made a living out of all these years.
But for the longtime talk show host, there was something different about the Freeze he saw at Auburn and the coach he knew before he arrived on the Plains.
"He does not seem, to me, to be the same coach that I remember at Ole Miss," Finebaum said. "And even at Liberty. Something was missing. He just didn’t seem to have that one molecule necessary that could get him over the top.”
Getting over the top is what cost Freeze his job, as the Tigers continued to come up short in close games over the past two-plus seasons. The final straw came on Saturday night as Auburn was defeated 10-3 by Kentucky in an offensive display that will not be in any highlight films anytime soon.
Known as an offensive coach, Freeze could never get the right mixture of players, especially this season, to make the offense explosive. In six SEC games this season, the Tigers average 15 points per game, while the Auburn defense has held every opponent to 24 points or less.
It's only been 24 hours since Freeze got the pink slip, but it was only a matter of time before Finebaum chimed in.