Paul Finebaum claims Hugh Freeze has completely lost the summer, casts doubt on future

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze has come under fire in recent weeks. He’s been the butt end of a Lane Kiffin troll job, as well as the subject of numerous segments on sports talk radio.

How did he get here? Well, Auburn’s recruiting has lagged tremendously following an 11-14 start to Freeze’s tenure on The Plains.

There just isn’t much momentum right now. Worse, Freeze has arguably kneecapped himself with some of the things in his control — like how much golf he’s playing currently. That has served to erode support. And ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum believes Hugh Freeze needs a swift wake-up call from someone in his inner circle.

“Sometimes you have to lean on the people around you. We do too,” Finebaum said on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning program. “We have producers who are not only our teammates but our friends. I want my people, and I know you want your people, to, ‘Hey, c’mon.’ And I do that on my show. I sometimes turn into a 22-year-old and my producer will say, ‘Hey, calm down.’

“You need that, and somebody needs to look at Hugh Freeze and say, ‘Coach, enough of this already. We need to work on an address in Atlanta that drops people in their sleep as opposed to, ‘Bryan Harsin sucked and we inherited a mess.’ That’s a tough crowd over there, and he has failed. He has completely lost the summer, and that’s the easiest time of year to win.”

And while the situation with Hugh Freeze didn’t develop overnight, it has hit fever pitch in a hurry. Finebaum seemed surprised at how fast the situation unraveled.

“If you go back a few months, I thought Hugh Freeze was winning,” Finebaum said. “All I heard was how great recruiting was going, how great things are moving, everybody’s in alignment. We’re sitting here seven days from media days, which is really the kickoff to the football season, what has happened to Auburn? What has happened to what seemed like a sure thing, and it comes at the worst possible time, because if the season goes haywire, the support I thought he would have, and I think you agree, may not be there anymore.”

With SEC Media Days right around the corner, Hugh Freeze will have the chance to change the narrative around the program. It won’t be easy.

But if he’s going to salvage some momentum in recruiting — and then hopefully build on it during the season by winning games — he needs to start now. Finebaum impressed upon him the urgency of doing so.

“I don’t know if he can solve that problem in a week, but you better be forceful,” Finebaum said. “And that’s not really Hugh Freeze’s forte. He’s a very cagey guy who most people have always liked, but there’s always that group out there who’s suspicious of him, who will say the same things about him, who by the way, very well may be true. That he’s insecure, that he’s thin-skinned, that the takes criticism poorly.

“So I’m wondering what he’s thinking right now. And one interview won’t do it. One masterful performance in Atlanta is not really the ticket.”

What is the ticket? Win. And win big.

“You and I and Cole know what the solution to this problem is. It’s getting out on that football field in late August and September and changing the narrative there,” Finebaum said. “Because that’s really the only place he can go.

“I thought he had done a good enough job with the fanbase and in recruiting that even if it was a seven- or eight-win season the argument would be, ‘You have to stand behind coach Freeze because of the alignment.’ I’m not sure that alignment is there anymore.”