Paul Finebaum puts Hugh Freeze on blast, calls for Auburn to stop blaming everything on Bryan Harsin

Auburn’s Hugh Freeze has had himself a rough two weeks down on The Plains. Paul Finebaum thinks that might only get worse next week if he and his program continue pitching the same reasons as they have been as to why they aren’t where they’re supposed to be.

Finebaum addressed the recruiting controversy ongoing right now at Auburn while on ‘McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning’ on Monday. He says he’s grown tired of what he feels is excuse-making by the Tigers, most recently by the athletic director and the head football coach, for the tenure that is going into year three. He then thinks more from the media could join him and the fanbase if they continue to make those when they arrive start off Tuesday next week at SEC Media Days.

“I understood what their approach was a year ago, and you heard it a lot more than I did. But, when I was at Auburn during the season, you know, I got the song and dance from John Cohen about what they inherited. Okay, I bought it. But that’s over now. Hugh Freeze has had a couple of seasons, the recruiting looked to be on fire and now it doesn’t,” said Finebaum. “So, let’s quit going back and blaming everything on Bryan Harsin. That has to end. That is a terrible message from Cohen. It’s a terrible message from Freeze. They need to sell themselves and quit blaming other people.”

“If they keep pushing this narrative, I’m not going to say it is going to blow up in their face. I think it already has blown up in their face,” Finebaum said. “When you’re under assault and your message isn’t working, change the narrative.”

This stems from the current state of the Tigers’ recruiting class for ’26. Auburn has seven commitments in the cycle at the moment with the class presently rated at No. 80 in Rivals’ 2026 Team Recruiting Rankings. That’s by far the worst rating in the Southeastern Conference and is the second-worst in the Power Four. That comes while Freeze has received his share of criticism for how he has recently been spending his days this summer. It’s also in the midst of the changing landscape in the sport with the House Settlement having taken effect last week.

Again, now might not be the time for any complaints, whether valid or not. That’s especially so coming off of what looks like a mess of a stretch, in the offseason no less, that’ll now lead into next week at SEC Media Days and eventually go into a pressurized season for the Tigers under Freeze.

“I think a situation that did not look dire a couple weeks ago is starting to look very bad, at least perceptively and that’s all we’re talking about. We are literally on the deadest two weeks of the year. That ends in seven days. We know that,” said Finebaum. “If Hugh Freeze walks into Atlanta and tries this same song and dance, it will explode and he will get even more skewered than he already is. And I think he just, I don’t know the infrastructure around him that’s advising him but the one place I wouldn’t be in public right now is a golf course. I’m all for enjoying yourself. We all do it. We all have fun especially, at this time of the year. But, when you subject yourself to a picture and Lane Kiffin can troll you in a nanosecond, that’s a disaster and that’s really where they are right now.”

“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, ‘Well, Bryan Harsin sucked and, you know, we inherited a mess’. I mean, that’s a tough crowd over there,” Finebaum said. “If you go back two or three months? I thought Hugh Freeze was winning. I mean, all I heard was how great recruiting was going, how great things are moving, everybody’s in alignment. We’re sitting her, seven days from media days which is really the kickoff to the football season, (and) 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 may not be there anymore.”

All Freeze can do at this point, beyond his answers next week, is keep working towards success both on the recruiting trail leading into National Signing Day and on the field for this season at Auburn. That’s with little getting around the fact that the past few days have not been the best of his so far with the Tigers, especially with it coming in June and July of all times.

“He’s failed,” said Finebaum. “I mean, he has completely lost the summer and that’s the easiest time of the year to win.”