Breaking news:The fruits of Auburn tigers head coach Hugh Freezeare about to blossom as the next generation of players for the…
Freeze has the tendency to churn through coordinators, and that’s been the case so far as the Tigers have new coaches leading the offense and defense in Freeze’s second year. Derrick Nix is a long-timer Ole Miss assistant who was on staff for the entirety of Freeze’s tenure there. Most recently, he was the wide receivers coach under Lane Kiffin.
Nix was the running backs coach under Freeze when Freeze was at Ole Miss in the mid-2010s, coaching numerous All-Conference running backs. Since, he’s shifted to receivers but is back to his most natural position under Freeze.
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers, D.J. Durkin
Former head coach and long-time defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin is not without his own controversies as a coach. During his time at Maryland, offensive lineman Jordan McNair collapsed and died during a practice. The ensuing investigation and controversy forced Durkin to resign his post as head coach, despite some on-field success.
He has been the defensive coordinator at schools like Florida and Michigan and served under Jimbo Fisher the last two seasons at Texas A&M and the defensive coordinator for the
Aggies.
Freeze’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Liberty, Kent Austin, followed Freeze to the Plains, but was in an off-field role in 2023. In January, Freeze shook up his staff, moving Austin back into the quarterbacks coach role at that time. Austin has coached all over, including time in the Canadian Football League and three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Tight Ends Coach, Ben Aigamaua
Ben Aigamaua joined the Auburn program Dec. 2022 to coach the tight ends. Aigamaua first worked with Freeze at Lambuth and has been with him at numerous stops since. That includes all five years at Ole Miss and all four seasons at Liberty. He started in an off-field role but has been the tight-ends coach under Freeze for nearly 10 years.
Wide Receivers Coach, Marcus Davis
Marcus Davis lives and breathes to be an Auburn Tiger. In 2018 and 2019, he was an offensive analyst and off-field player personnel staffer at his alma mater. He went to Florida State as a graduate assistant before brief stints as the wide receivers coach at Hawai’i and Georgia Southern. He returned to the Plains
when Freeze was hired late in 2022.
