Hugh Freeze explains relationship, rivalry with Nick Saban: 'I want to beat him'

As bitter rivals as they’re about to be on the football field, Nick Saban and Hugh Freeze are equally friendly off of it. In fact, this isn’t the first time these two coaching pals have had to put their friendship to the side to settle the score on the gridiron. Back in the early to mid 2010s, Freeze popped onto the scene nationally for building Ole Miss into the one program that seemed to have Saban’s number, since his Rebels beat the Crimson Tide in both 2014 and 2015, two of just three losses for Alabama over those two seasons.

Now that he’s starting over at a separate SEC school, one in the state of Alabama, he knows that getting back to beating Nick Saban and Alabama is a major goal. When asked about rekindling the rivalry at SEC Media Days, Freeze played it off and raved about Saban the person and the program leader.

“Well, I respect the king, I respect the gold standard, I respect the heck out of him and he’s actually a really good friend,” said Freeze. “And then I know that’s hard for a lot of people to hear, but my wife and I have actually vacationed with he and Ms. Terry and we think the world of them. And he’s truthfully — when I went through my two years out of the game — he was one of the best and biggest encouragers that I had. So I can’t lose the respect that I have there.”

All those compliments aside, though: Hugh Freeze still desperately wants to win that special game in late November. And unlike previous Auburn head coaching hires, he’s proved he can do it.

“But at the same time: I want to beat him. I want to measure ourselves against the gold standard, and he and Kirby right now, you know, and maybe throw LSU in there also, but that’s who they are. So I relish those opportunities and, you know, now I’m right down the road from him. But we were able to have success at Ole Miss — two wins and really should have won the third one, truthfully.

“But, you know, it’s… I accept that. I get it. I know what that means to Auburn and certainly I know that he’s had his success and he’s gonna get his players. But we’ve got to get our share too. And then, let’s see who measures up the best on that given Saturday.”

Freeze then offered a much simpler solution to toppling Alabama: “Or maybe I can talk him into retiring. He could retire, then I might be setup in even a better spot.”

Freeze may not have the roster equipped to match blows with Alabama this year, but you can’t rule out an upset with this guy. Plus, even if 2023 does take the course of a typical rebuilding year, fans can look at Freeze’s job with the Rebels roughly a decade ago and know that their coach is capable of whipping up an SEC contender within a couple of years on the gig.