After two disappointing seasons, Auburn Tigers head football coach Hugh Freeze’s seat is scorching hot—at least according to a prominent college football analyst.
The Tigers went 6-6 in the 2023 regular season, getting embarrassed by New Mexico State at home 31-10 late in the year before losing in the Music City Bowl to Maryland. In 2024, they suffered two more embarrassing home losses—to California and Vanderbilt—failing to make a bowl game with a 5-7 record. Is 2025 “do or die” for Freeze’s time on the Plains?
Auburn HC Hugh Freeze’s Seat is Hotter Than Florida HC Billy Napier’s, Says Analyst
As the adage goes in the SEC, “it just means more,” which is more than evident in the amount of leeway football coaches in the SEC have compared to other conferences.
After just two seasons with the Tigers, Hugh Freeze holds an 11-14 record. While that is already bad for Auburn standards, the pressure is always made worse when rivals Alabama and Georgia are doing well.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Next Round,” a show focused on SEC sports, Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara voiced his concern for Freeze’s job security.
“I think Hugh Freeze has the hottest seat of anybody in college football…
It’s such a ‘prove it’ year for him.” @cjogara pic.twitter.com/AYOssFfrg3
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) April 16, 2025
“For his job? Hugh Freeze,” O’Gara said. “I think Hugh Freeze has the hottest seat of anybody in college football. And maybe I’ll get pushback for that.”
“More than [Florida head coach Billy] Napier. Because now, if Napier all of a sudden looks up, because yeah, he’s got the [Florida quarterback DJ] Lagway piece. Lagway’s still got another year of eligibility after this year and that’s what saved him his job this year,” O’Gara explained.
“And in my opinion, as long as that’s around and as long as that’s an asset working in his favor, yeah, that’s going to be something that, look, Hugh Freeze doesn’t have at this point.”
“Hugh Freeze has a lot of pieces that suggest improvement could be in store… but I do think the pressure’s on after a totally disappointing season, in which I think you can point to a lot of his mistakes in the fourth quarter as to why this team ultimately did not get to that seven-, eight-win mark.
“His decision to continue to ride with [quarterback] Payton Thorne obviously hurt that team last year.”
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“I know he’s a friend of the show, but it’s hard to deny. And I do that even more than Napier because, you know, Billy Napier had an eight-win season when people were saying ‘there’s no way you’re going to get to that place,’ especially after that start,” he continued.
“So I do think that Hugh Freeze is someone that enters year three with very much a hot seat, and it’s such a ‘prove it’ year for him.”
After a disappointing 2024 season, Auburn will attempt to correct course when it opens its season with a road trip to Baylor on Aug. 29. The team’s schedule includes several notable games, including trips to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Arkansas and homestands against Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri.
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