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With Hugh Freeze Auburn Football has a chance to be special

By Luke Fletcher

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze looks on during Auburn Tigers football practice at the Woltosz Football Performance Center at in Auburn, Ala., on Monday, April 3, 2023.
Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze looks on during Auburn Tigers football practice at the Woltosz Football Performance Center at in Auburn, Ala., on Monday, April 3, 2023. /
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Did Auburn football finally get it right with head coach Hugh Freeze? 

Auburn took a chance on Bruce Pearl in March of 2014. That hire at the time was considered a second chance. Today it looks like a home run hire and Auburn Basketball has been elevated to heights not seen before on the Plains. Auburn Football has recently given a second chance to Coach Hugh Freeze and just like Coach Bruce Pearl, Coach Freeze knows how to win and Auburn University wants to win.

And Freezes knows how to win. He’s won at Lambuth, Arkansas State, Ole Miss, and Liberty. Officials at Auburn know he will win on the Plains.

Freeze is going to lead the Tigers and that has the attention of Nick Saban. In fact, Nick wanted to hire Hugh as a co-offensive coordinator in 2018, However, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey ultimately pressured Alabama not to make the hire per AL.com.

Knowing that Alabama wanted Hugh Freeze on staff and that he ultimately ended up on the Plains is going to just add to the annual Iron Bowl hype.

What should the expectation be for Auburn football in 2023?

So what should the expectation be on the Plains for year one? While Coach Freeze overhauls the roster he will also need to win over the Auburn power brokers, just like basketball coach Bruce Pearl was able to do. Coach Freeze’s biggest task for year 1 is to unite Auburn fans and boosters and get everyone on the same page.

Clearly, it will take Hugh some time to assemble his players, but it appears he has been building programs through coaching mental toughness in his players over the years and his plan at Auburn football will be no different. In fact, during his press conference, he stated: Faith, Attitude, Mental toughness, Integrity, Love, and You are the core elements of what Freeze feels makes a good football team. It also spells family.

Next. Top 25 college football fanbases. dark

The bottom line is that Bowl eligibility in Year 1 for Hugh Freeze era on the Plains is the floor and Auburn football is not far away from being a tough out in the SEC West. The question is how long will Coach Freeze need to build the culture and the roster?

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