Pete Thamel narrows down Auburn coaching search to three candidates

With Auburn football getting its coaching search underway, ESPN senior writer Pete Thamel believes it will come down to three candidates for the Tigers. Thamel joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday, where he explained that John Cohen, whom Auburn hired as its athletic director last month, is starting the process of sifting through potential targets.

But based on what he has heard, Thamel said he would be surprised if Cohen didn’t land on one of Matt Rhule, Lane Kiffin or Hugh Freeze.

“John Cohen obviously ran two coaching searches at Mississippi State and his thoroughness to the point of ridiculousness were the traits of those if you talk to the people who worked with him internally or externally on those circuits,” Thamel said. “I believe the last time I talked to you I said I’d be surprised if the coach doesn’t come from the grouping of Matt Rhule, Lane Kiffin or Hugh Freeze. I think we’re sort of in a similar place as Cohen works through candidates and does his research. I would be extremely surprised if the next Auburn coach doesn’t come from that group of three.

“Now, it’s Auburn. Crazier things have happened. But I would think — nothing has emerged in my reporting over the last week or two that has shown there’s gonna be some type of distinct outlier that emerges.”

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Of the three candidates, Kiffin has been getting the most buzz. The current Ole Miss coach has the Rebels at 8-2 this season coming off a 10-3 finish in 2021, but has so far declined to comment on his interest in the position.

Freeze brings SEC experience after spending five seasons at Ole Miss from 2012-16. There he defeated Nick Saban and Alabama, Auburn’s biggest rival, twice before being fired at the end of 2016. In 2019, he re-entered the head coaching ranks at Liberty, where he already has one 10-win season and is 8-2 this year with a win against Arkansas.

Rhule rebuilt programs as a college coach at both Temple and Baylor before making the jump to the NFL in 2020 to become the Carolina Panthers coach. However, he didn’t find the same success in the pros, going just 13-30 over the next three seasons before being fired earlier this year. If he is open to returning to college, Auburn could come calling.

Interim head coach Cadillac Williams was not on Thamel’s list, but some have speculated Auburn could end its coaching search by promoting him to the full time position. Last week, he led the Tigers to a 13-10 victory against Texas A&M in his second game since taking over.