Breaking news:AUBURN set part ways with 5 star player recommit

AUBURN — Welcome to a special Thursday

We’re changing things up this week, thanks to some basketball availability later today before Auburn makes the weekend trip to Furman for an exhibition.

We’ll have a newsletter from that out tomorrow, along with our usual premium podcast. Dan and I will preview Auburn football’s trip to Kentucky and talk some hoops.

Even though I kept everybody on their toes this week with a schedule switch, the Inner Circle was ready to deliver some strong questions.

Just take a look at the first three

The need for drastic improvement might suggest changes coming on the FB assistant staff, but Freeze’s emphasis on his own responsibility and the fact that few would seek to join a troubled program going into a do-or-die season argue otherwise. Stability or upheaval coming?

earnest, scared, stupid

1 – Do you see CHF making any changes on his coaching staff, considering they are all his guys? Something has to change, and it seems like this coaching staff isn’t getting it done, whether it’s play-calling or getting the players ready to play. There’s no fire, and the coaching staff should set that tone.

2 – With the age of the portal/NIL, do you feel like coaching has to be soft — like, be their friends, so they like you and don’t transfer? I am worried that we are in a position so low that, with this portal era, we may not can come out. It’s like the portal/NIL came at a “tipping point” for Auburn, with Malzahn and his not recruiting well at the end, COVID, Harsin and the potato famine/zero recruiting, Freeze recruiting great but not coaching well. Just really worried at this point that we can’t come out of this hellhole we are in…

Missy

While recruiting HAS improved (the bar was pretty low coming off the Harsin era), I liken it to trying to drive a Lamborghini with no gas. We’ve got a bunch of great new WRs with no one to throw to them and no one who can make the decisions to put them or the rest of the team in a position to win.

Freeze says his QB doesn’t follow instruction, which to me is a direct reflection of coaching. Stats you have shared on turnovers, etc. show a lot of these issues are not new to Auburn and have been a part of all of his programs.

To your point, there is zero proof of concept. The 2024 team is on track to have a record like the 2012 team, and in the NIL world, there is nothing keeping talented players from leaving.

What prevents another Harsin-era mass exodus this offseason? As much as I’d like a change now, that doesn’t seem to be on the radar.

So, how hot is the seat, and what changes could we anticipate to the rest of the staff?

Emily

Did y’all coordinate these questions in an Inner Circle group chat or something?

Let me start this answer by stating something obvious: Auburn still has five games left to play this season. If the Tigers are able to turn things around down the stretch and finish the regular season with real improvement, I could see Hugh Freeze sticking with this plan and moving into 2025 with a similar staff.

“I’ve said it before: I remain confident in the staff, in our players and just continue to trust the process of what we’re becoming through the challenging times,” Freeze said earlier this week. “Hopefully, the results will start to show sooner than later. I know they’re coming.”

But Auburn improving down the stretch is a massive if. The Tigers are going to have to do things that they’ve failed to accomplish at several points this season. This offense has consistently been one that can’t finish drives, and this defense has consistently been one that struggles to get off the field in crucial situations. The special teams units have their own problems, too.

So, let’s assume that Auburn doesn’t show clear improvement down the stretch and struggles to a rough losing record. At that point, I think it becomes major decision time for Freeze.

For all intents and purposes, the 2024 Auburn football offense is Hugh Freeze’s offense. He felt like he would be more comfortable being more hands-on with the offense this season, compared to his arrangement with Philip Montgomery in 2023. He made Derrick Nix and Kent Austin — former trusted assistants of his — the other key members of the offensive braintrust for 2024. This is his offense.

If Auburn can’t turn it around on offense down the stretch, Freeze has a choice to make. Is it better for him to hand the reins over to another offensive coordinator, or does he run a similar arrangement back with the 2025 roster?

The first option would have Freeze take on more of a CEO role, which might suit him at this stage of his career. Maybe he just doesn’t have his same fastball as an offensive guru anymore. But Auburn’s recruiting is operating at an extremely high level under him, even with the on-field struggles. Talking to players and staffers, you get the sense that the majority of the program likes working with him. The big-picture vision and the team culture stuff that Freeze talks about a lot would still be his.

(Also, to answer Missy’s second question, I do think the dynamics of the coach-player relationship have changed in the new landscape of college football. But I don’t think that Auburn’s current problems can be chalked up to soft coaching or anything like that. This staff seems to have done a good job of building and maintaining strong relationships with the players. The seeds of a good culture are there. Auburn’s issues are much more on-field than off-field, in my honest opinion.)

The second option would chalk up Auburn’s 2024 offensive regression to fixable problems in this same system. Freeze would continue to be the offensive coach he’s been for his entire career. I could see the Tigers believing that getting the right quarterback in place — along with having a more talented roster — could be all that they need in 2025 to get the ship headed in the right direction. Freeze would stick to his system and his guys, continuing to double down on himself to fix Auburn’s offense.

The choice would ultimately be Freeze’s to make. I personally would be surprised if he decided to turn things over to an outside offensive coordinator in 2025, but I can’t rule anything out. If Auburn hits the offseason without any forward momentum, there will be tremendous pressure on him to get it right next season. It probably would be much tougher to get people to buy in, from current players and recruits to fans and administrators, if there are no obvious changes on offense this offseason.

But what kind of offensive coordinator would want to join a program in this type of rut? Who would be willing to work under a head coach who is obviously someone who prefers having his hands on the offense? (Yes, Auburn fans, you’ve seen this movie before.) Those are all factors to consider.

(Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

Defensively, I think there’s going to be less pressure for Auburn to make changes. DJ Durkin’s defenses were considerably better in Year 2 than in Year 1 at both Ole Miss and Texas A&M. And, even though that side of the ball has its own critical issues it needs to fix as soon as possible, it’s not like Auburn’s defense has been the main culprit in losing these winnable games. I could see Freeze maintaining trust in this defensive staff. Every season has some sort of position coach changes, though.

Again, I would wait and see what Auburn does over the next couple of games before trying to make any sort of prediction on what happens with the coaching staff. What Auburn does against Kentucky, Vanderbilt and potentially Texas A&M — if it’s won some games by then — could go a long way in determining Freeze’s 2025 moves.

The only exception is this: If there are any staff changes, they’re going to happen after National Signing Day in December. It sucks for the kids, and everyone does it. But there’s a reason why the assistant coach carousel happens later in the offseason. Someone in charge needs to put a stop to that.