Hugh Freeze reveals how far away Auburn is from title contention

It’s been six years since Hugh Freeze was in charge of an SEC program. In that time, a lot has changed — and those changes are why he thinks he can now help turn Auburn around quickly.

NIL and the transfer portal were unheard of when Freeze served as the head coach at Ole Miss from 2012-16. Those are now essential parts of building a roster, and even though Freeze hadn’t had a chance to fully evaluate the roster as of his introductory press conference, he thinks the Tigers are in position to flip the script in a timely fashion.

“I think we can turn it fairly fast with the new world we’re in,” Freeze said. “Because I believe, with the commitment that’s been show by our fans, boosters and administration to invest in things like this that matter in recruiting and that matter in NIL and On To Victory [collective], all of that matters today. Ten years ago, you didn’t have that, and so the turnaround’s a little different. Kids couldn’t just leave a school and come to Auburn. They can now.

“I do think we’ve got to be careful to get the right skids that fit our culture, but at the same time, it’s much easier to add to your roster now than it was when I took over at Ole Miss and they hadn’t won an SEC game in two years. Obviously, we were going to some New Year’s Sixes in year three and four, so I see no reason why with the current structure, we can’t do this fairly fast.”

Hugh Freeze reveals top priority for him, his staff at Auburn

New Auburn coach Hugh Freeze‘s top priority is to hit the ground running. For him that means establishing the program’s culture right off the bat by ensuring his staff is 100% bought in from Day 1.

No ifs, ands or buts about it.

“Staff, staff has to drive the culture,” Freeze said in his introductory press conference. “I’m not near as concerned about Xs and Os with most of the staff. The defensive coordinator has got to be masterful at that. But the rest of the staff, obviously, if I were to show you the number of texts I’ve received of big-time college coaches wanting to come to this place, it’s going to be very difficult, very difficult to decide.

“But what will be the deciding factor is putting a staff together that I think compliments each other and drives the culture consistently. There is none of this, ‘Well, you know, eh, that’s a suggestion.’ No, it’s not a suggestion. This is how we do it, and it’s proven to turn programs and work everywhere we’ve been very, very fast.”