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Hugh Freeze jokes he's going to make sure Nick Saban is out of town during Iron Bowl

Matt Connollyby: Matt Connolly11/25/24MattConnollyOn3
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John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze made it clear on Monday that he has a ton of respect for Kalen DeBoer and the new-look Alabama coaching staff. However, he also isn’t upset that he won’t be facing off against Nick Saban come Saturday.

“I have on my list to call him and make sure he’s out of town, you know, and not in town this week,” Hugh Freeze joked during his press conference on Monday.

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Hugh Freeze was 2-4 against Nick Saban between his time at Ole Miss and Auburn and he nearly had a couple of other wins.

Freeze always enjoyed the challenge of facing off against the legendary coach, who is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.

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“I love competing against him, because he’s arguably the best that’s done it,” Hugh Freeze said. “I know a lot of people say, ‘Well, he always had good rosters.’ Well, that’s part of being a good coach is you go get good rosters. And he was always very good at that.”

Freeze has a good relationship with both Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, but he admitted that it will be a little different coaching in the Iron Bowl and going up against those two instead of Nick Saban.

“First, I have great respect for Kalen DeBoer and we go way back to NAIA days. He’s had success everywhere he’s been,” Freeze said. “And Kane Wommack, obviously, my ties with his family. His father was my DC for years. I gave Kane his first job at Ole Miss. He’s got a wonderful family. So I’ve got great respect for those guys, also.

“And they’ve got one of my former guys as the defensive analyst there and he knows all our stuff. So we’ve gotta combat that again this week. So I have great respect for Kalen and Kane and that staff there.”

Finally, in addition to it feeling weird playing an Alabama vs. Auburn game without Nick Saban on the sideline, Hugh Freeze said that the Crimson Tide scheme now is different, too.

“It’s different, for sure. The scheme is a little different. It’s not the same as what you would see under a Nick defense,” Freeze said. “I mean there are some similarities. There’s always going to be some. But it’s not the same, to answer your question.”