Breaking news:five star Auburn football to retain Recruiting last player commitment is today
Best argument for Auburn football to retain Hugh Freeze: Recruiting
When Auburn hired Freeze, I thought he’d be an upgrade over Harsin for three reasons: He’d improve an offense mired in a yearslong stall; he’d elevate recruiting; and he’d better mesh with Auburn’s culture.
The first point proved incorrect. Freeze didn’t fix Auburn’s quarterback woes, and its offense remains as poor as it performed with Harsin and as bad it as it was in Malzahn’s final season.
To the final point, Freeze meshes fine with Auburn – if he starts winning. But, all the handshakes and Southern catchphrases in the world won’t save him if he keeps losing.
What could save Freeze, at least for another year? His recruiting class. On this point, he’s been a major upgrade on Harsin, an ineffective recruiter unsuited to the NIL era.
Auburn’s class ranks fifth nationally in the 247Sports Composite. Keep an eye on that ranking. If the losses mount, and a few recruits decommit, the argument to retain Freeze becomes nonexistent.
Anyway, the strength of a school’s NIL collective influences recruiting as much as any coach, and a coaching change wouldn’t necessarily wreck a class at a school where a strong collective is in place. Consider, Texas A&M signed a top-20 class last year, a month after firing Jimbo Fisher.
If Freeze continues to lose and Auburn boosters think they can hold most of the class together without him, then what’s to stop a firing? Don’t think the answer is Freeze’s buyout.
Auburn paid more – and paid
