What went wrong: How Auburn reached this point

Hugh Freeze is out as Auburn’s head football coach.

He failed to finish his third season on the Plains after accumulating an overall record of 15-19 and SEC record of 6-16. An embarrassing 10-3 home loss to Kentucky was the nail in the coffin Saturday night, and Freeze was fired Sunday.

How did we get here? What went wrong? Let’s dive into it.

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Taking over the program

Freeze started his Auburn tenure with the program left in a disastrous state. The Tigers had turned in back-to-back losing seasons for the first time 1998-1999 and fired Bryan Harsin mid-season in 2022.

Athletic director John Cohen turned to Freeze, who had spent the previous four seasons coaching Liberty after a three-year hiatus from coaching. Auburn showed interest in Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin for the job, but Kiffin did not return the interest.

Freeze then did what he’ll be known for during his time at Auburn — recruiting talent. He flipped defensive end Keldric Faulk from Florida State, center Connor Lew from Miami and cornerback Kayin Lee from Ohio State.

First season: 2023

Freeze went 6-7 in his first season with a loss to Maryland in the Music City Bowl.

Auburn opened the year with three non-conference wins before dropping four SEC games in a row. The Tigers ended their losing streak with a win over Mississippi State, followed by road wins over Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

Returning to Jordan Hare Stadium with a 6-4 record, Freeze lost one of the worst games in Auburn history. Auburn lost at home to New Mexico State by 21 points after entering the game as 26-point favorites.

The Tigers dropped the Iron Bowl at home and never played Maryland close in the Music City Bowl.

Second season: 2024

In his first full recruiting class, Freeze signed the No. 8 class in the country. Five-star Cam Coleman headlined the class, with other impact players such as Amaris Williams, Malik Blocton and Jay Crawford part of the group.

It brought a talented group of freshman to campus, with expectations that Auburn could start to turn a new page and get back to its winning ways. The Tigers could not and went 2-6 in conference play in 2024. Auburn’s only SEC wins were against Kentucky and No. 15 Texas A&M in a four-overtime upset.

Auburn finished the season 5-7 and missed a bowl game, as Freeze continued to talk about needing at least two full recruiting classes to compete. Well, Freeze got his second top-10 recruiting class in 2025 and still failed to win games.

Final season: 2025

Auburn opened with a road win over Baylor by double figures — appearing to have taken a step in the right direction. Two non-conference tune ups against Ball State and South Alabama put Auburn at 3-0 heading into its SEC opener against No. 11 Oklahoma.

The Tigers lost the game 24-17, although Oklahoma scored a touchdown on a play that should have been ruled as a penalty, the SEC later stated. It showed that Auburn could compete with a top-15 team on the road. Now, it just needed to find a way to win.

Freeze got another chance a week later, facing No. 9 Texas A&M on the road. It was an abysmal performance offensively, as the Tigers tallied 177 yards of total offense. Auburn lost 16-10, but were still close.

The Tigers were close against Georgia and close against Missouri. Continually close. An issue that became problematic, because at some point, Freeze had to get over the hump in big games. He never did.

An embarrassing loss to Kentucky at home, where Auburn failed to score more than three points, did Freeze in. He was fired next day.

Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin is expected to be the interim head coach.