We had the chance to sit and talk with Auburn’s current Head Football Coach, Hugh Freeze. He realizes the immense hurdle that Auburn Football has to climb. Hugh Freeze is embracing the challenge.
Coach Freeze comes from humble beginnings. He was raised in Mississippi and had a choice early: Coach or work on the farm. As he put it, “I absolutely did not enjoy milking cows.” So, following in the footsteps of his uncles and father, he decided to take on the coaching profession. The impact that coaches had on his community was a large part of what drew him to the profession. I would say it has worked out well.
What’s up, War Rapport Family. We are back with another great edition of Building Rapport. Today, we have a special guest, Auburn Head football, Hugh Freeze, joins us to talk a little bit about, uh, year one here with Auburn Football Coach. Thanks for joining us.
Well, thank you for having me. I agreed to this via Twitter, I think . Cause I felt like, man, one of my dudes was in jeopardy if I did not . So, I’m glad to be on with you guys today.
Coach, I wanna get the interview kicked off starting talking about year one with Auburn football. Now you came from Liberty. You’ve coached in the SEC before, uh, some of the things that we saw in the media, it seemed like this was an opportunity that you have had your eye on. Can you talk about what it means to get the job as the head coach at Auburn and you know, you know the history behind it and why Auburn means so much?
Well, you, you’re right. We were very, very blessed to have a great job at Liberty and a great environment with great people and great facilities, and felt like we could win a lot of football games there for sure, and to love those young men there. And so it was not an easy place to leave.
And so to, to leave a place like that, you’ve gotta feel really, really, really good about the place where you’re going. I’ve just always felt like that. Jill and I, and our family and our core values really aligned really well with, with Auburn. The place, the community, obviously the university, I’ve always felt like it should be a program that’s mentioned among the elite football programs in the country.
And so when you combine what I believe is an opportunity to, to coach at a program like that, um, at an environment where you really feel like you and your family fit, it’s it’s really hard to pass up some of those. And I know that there will be great challenges to try to catch up to some of the, the schools in this league that are doing it well, but it’s also a place that I think can do that or I wouldn’t have taken it. And, and so it’s exciting to take this on.
Yeah. Coach, you, you’ve got a daunting task in front of you to try to figure out how to, to get the, the program back to the place where you said that you feel like it can be. But one of the things I’ve heard you say this a couple of times now and I wanna drill down a little bit about it. You said you had a lot of things that you had on your expectation list of like, “I’m gonna come in, I’m gonna knock out these things.” But it hasn’t necessarily lined up the way that you thought. What are, what are probably the top one or two things that are on that list of “this is how I thought it was gonna be, but the reality doesn’t really match up to that.”
Well, I may attack that a little different direction. I think right now, if you ask me, you know, what is it that we have to get accomplished? It’s obviously, when I first got here, it was, it was recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit. And you had two and a half weeks to get the 23 class in the boat. Whether it be by the transfer portal, by high school kids, and I think we did about as well as we could do in the timeframe we were given With that, then you turn your attention in January to the 24 class.
Because I really believe that the 24 and 25 class will determine, you know, if we really get this place, uh, turned back to what it can be. Hmm. So that was a priority then? Well now the priority in February for me is creating culture within the walls here. For what we have to change, from whatever it’s been, to give us a chance to compete in year one.
Which, who knows what that really looks like at this point, but I know without us having great culture within our locker room, that we probably have very little chance to close that gap. Very much so. That’s, that is the priority of our mind right now. Obviously recruiting never ends, but, um, we are finally at a point where we can, you know, start our installs. For spring practice and at the same time really start to try to establish the culture.
Coach you got hired, you did an introductory press conference, and then you, it seemed you seemingly immediately went out to recruit. Uh, I think at one point I told Ike, I don’t know if he slept in his own bed in the last like 45 days. Can you talk a a little bit more about the challenge recruiting on a truncated timetable coming in as a new head coach. And do you guys feel like you filled the needs that you needed to, uh, to kind of help build this spring?
Uh, first it’s very uncomfortable, that type of task with the early signing period and you getting hired at the right, right at the 1st of December or the end of November.
But, I know how this league recruits. I know that at that point in time in the recruiting process that most staffs have their claws in, in, in their guys pretty well, and it’s gonna be very difficult to, to walk in. I do think some of the connections that I made while being in this league were somewhat helpful.
And obviously the job that some of the, the current staff that was here, like Zach and and Cadillac, thought their, their roles were vital. That hunt help us in the game or some of those high school kids and particularly, us feeling, feeling the need. So it was very uncomfortable. I don’t like feeling that way.
I won’t feel that way with this 24 class, even though we, we’ve got a little ground to make up. I, we have time to do it. So the ball’s in our court to do that and, and I will make sure that we have a plan that that does that with the 24 class, but it was very uncomfortable in those two and a half weeks for sure.
Do I feel like we filled the needs? We absolutely filled needs now. How much did we elevate ourselves? I don’t know yet. I haven’t coached us a single practice. Right. Uh, so that’s hard to say. But if you look at paper, I mean, we needed to sign nine offensive linemen and, um, to get to our 16 guys and, and we signed eight.
Uh, so we’re still in the hunt for one more in that second portal period. Um, and you know, was the jury’s still out probably on the quarterback. until we coach ’em some this, this spring and kind of see where we think we are. Um, we would probably take one more, uh, linebacker, maybe a receiver, and that that’s really all that we have, have room for if we decide to go the that route.
But again, I’m, I’m encouraged by watching our, our kids and their workout. I think there’s, we might be better at some spots than I gave us credit for. Um, but again, I, I’d like to get through spring before I say that, but we absolutely, it was uncomfortable to answer your question and, uh, I do think we, we, we certainly filled some numbers at positions that we.
Now it’s a matter of how, how much did we improve ourselves.
Uh, coach as, as uncomfortable as it was. Uh, you still out recruited some other programs in the conference that some people thought maybe it would be hard to out recruit. I mean, you guys did a phenomenal job, I think. In my opinion of just getting out there and hitting the trail and recruiting. I see you’ve been working with On To Victory. Can you talk a little bit about recruiting and On To victory and how you guys have been able to accomplish some of the things that you have been?
Well, you know, that was very new to me, probably that added to some of the uncomfortableness. Mm-hmm. , um, Because those are discussions that I’ve never had to have before.
Um, and you know, we can talk about all the issues with it all we want, but the facts are as part of the, as part of the, of the game now. And, and so now it’s a matter of how do you, uh, within the rules, you know, use it to, to benefit your program. . Um, you know, that’s, I’m still learning. Truthfully. I was probably ill prepared to, to handle that part cuz to me it’s the locker room that should be the priority.
Right. And, uh, I hope that we can remain that way, uh, with our On To Victory collective. I do appreciate, uh, them and all the people that are, that are a part of that. Um, certainly that benefits our young, young men and women here on campus that are a part of our athletics program. So we’re thankful for On To Victory and, and hopefully, uh, it continues to grow and, and it benefits our, our team, you know, greatly.
But I do want it to primarily center around, um, uh, young men that are, have come and done it the right way and created value for themselves. And, um, that’s just, that’s a personal preference of mine. I know that, uh, I know that it’s, it’s talked about in recruiting a lot, but I, I think we’ve gotta be very careful in our sport today, uh, to make sure we’re not setting up young men to fail because we made them feel entitled mm-hmm.
uh, to something and they haven’t earned it. And man, that’s, I think we’re losing a bit of that if we’re not careful. And so I’m very honest with this 24 class. I will be for sure cause I’ve got time for them to trust us and, and build a relationship where I can speak truth to them and say, listen, this is some examples of what our collective is doing with our current players.
And man, you have the same opportunity, um, uh, to do some of this, something of similar nature. , but it takes work and it takes you committing to the process and it doesn’t always happen in one year’s time. Right. Um, that’s just real life. And, um, and so I, I, I look forward to having a full year to be able to speak those truths into the guys we’re recruiting.
Coach, I want to drill down a little bit on the evaluation process that you talked about, both for your current players and then, you know, as it relates to some things that you’ve hinted that you might be willing to take a step back from play, calling duties in that nature. Um, how difficult is it on a short period of time to evaluate the room that you have to figure out what you need to do to fill that space? And then what things, how are you gonna figure out how to. Your work for the next season, um, in evaluating where you guys need to pivot to for that next class.
Um, you know, the, you trust, number one, you have to hire people you trust in the evaluation process cuz I don’t have, there’s not enough hours in the day for me to, to do everything that this spot has to do in the recruiting world and the monitoring of your, you know, how your team’s doing.
They don’t wanna show up on lists. That’s right.
No, no, no. That’s right. . But, but some do, and I have to manage all of that. And so I, one of the things that I’m, I do you have, I have to hire people cause I know myself, I have to hire staff that I think are gifted in the evaluation process.
And I have to trust that some, if they tell me, this guy. Is on our rating system, the, the top level man, then I’ve gotta go after them and recruit. I don’t have time to go at that moment to go watch everybody, particularly when you’re taking over by the time next year arrives, I will have more time to do that, but didn’t have that fortune, uh, to, to be able to do it.
So you have to trust those people in the evaluation of not only who you’re going after, but what that current room looks like in their eyes. Mm. And so, um, you know, I’m thankful that we have a good crew down there in personnel that have have been with me a while, and, and I do trust. . And you know, ultimately if we get five or six here in a room that, that don’t measure up, then I’m gonna look at them , and they have to answer for that.
You know, everybody’s got a job to do. Mm-hmm. and I’ve gotta answer to people, and they’ve gotta answer to, to, to the, to us as a staff. If, if the guys that they, uh, said we should go get, we get, and then they, they’re. To the level that, uh, we need to win football games here, there’s a problem. Mm-hmm. , right?
And we, we have to answer to that and be accountable, um, in this building to whatever your job description is. So I use them a lot and trust them. And, um, then moving forward, obviously it’s, uh, it’s, uh, managing your rosters very difficult now with mm-hmm. , you’re not quite sure exactly who’s staying, who’s going sometimes.
Um, and obviously managing those numbers is not easy. Um, so we’ve, hopefully we can get some more parameters around the calendar, um, that will help us all. But, you know, we already have the 24 class of what we’re looking at, how many we’re looking at in each room, and. You know, we try to base our recruiting off those numbers.
Well, coach you’re at Auburn and beating Alabama is something that’s very important. . Uh, now you are the, you are a man who owns two wins over Nick Saban, which is. A short list. That’s a short club. I don’t know if you guys should have jackets or special medallions.
Yeah, I think we should. I think that’s a good idea.
But, you know, as, as somebody who has actually been able to close on those wins against Nick Saban, um, you know, what is the plan here and what is the message, you know, what kind of attitude do you take towards this game? Is it just another game on the schedule? Or are you telling your kids, you know, Hey man, you know, we have to go out here and, and, and win, you know, as much success as Alabama has had, you know, you know, what is your approach to this game every year?
Well, there’s, there’s, there’s been, uh, here recently, basically two gold standards in this league and, um, this Alabama and Georgia. Mm-hmm. and, you know, the rest of us. Some are at different levels. I would say, you know, probably LSU and Tennessee closed a gap. Some this. , um, on, on those guys and the rest of us are trying to, to play catch up and um, you know, but I, we’re, we will never, you know, back down to saying we, we want an opportunity at the gold standard.
And fortunate, or unfortunately, however you look at it, we get a shot at both of them every year. Mm-hmm. right now. Yeah. Right. Um, you know, we get both Alabama and Georgia and well, what a great opportunity that is. And I think that’s the way we have to approach it. . Yes ma’am. We have an opportunity to judge ourselves against, uh, what has been the gold standard of college football for, for a long time in Alabama’s case and more recently, uh, Georgia’s case.
So, um, you know, we have great opportunities to do that, and those games are different and they should feel a little different and that’s okay. I mean, it’s um, obviously on the win loss, um, they all count the same, but it doesn’t in people’s eyes that live. . Yeah. Um, I’ve been a part of state rivalries. I, I get it.
I know how, how much that means to our people and our fan base and, you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna be excited, uh, to play in that game and hopefully in time, I don’t know how fast, but hopefully in time it’s something that, uh, the expectation is we’re walking out there.
Mm. Coach, quick follow up. Um, you know, you, uh, mentioned in your introductory press conference, uh, two things, uh, that you feel like you’re good at, right? And that’s turning programs around quickly and quarterback development.
So beating Alabama will, you know, those two, those two things will be important, uh, kind of moving forward. Uh, you know what, if you’re a fan right now, have you’ve been a fan of Auburn football? It’s been a tough couple. Um, you know, what is your message to the fans about the expectation of this turnaround in year one?
Auburn went five and seven last year, right? Um, you know, in year one, what should fans expect in terms of wins and losses on the field? And then going into year two, your first full recruiting class, um, again, where do, where does your expectation of where you guys will be, will you be competing for the Western year two? Or do you feel like, hey, “we can compete.?
Uh, I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, we, we haven’t practiced here. Here’s what I think is a, I’m big on, on reasonable expectations. Mm-hmm. reasonable expectation is that the Auburn fan base should expect our young men to passionately compete for 60 minutes, um, in every single game.
And for us to play smart, disciplined football, exciting football. Uh, for those 60 minutes, I have no idea what that scoreboard’s gonna say in year one. And, and I might have a better idea after the 15 practices we have, but, uh, currently I really don’t know. And, but I think the reasonable expectation is that they should be excited about the way we, um, the way we represent this university with the passion we play with for 60 minutes.
Hmm. Then year two, I don’t know, let’s see how well we. We’ve approved really well, I’m, I’m good with saying we’re ready to compete, but, uh, we, we’ve got a ways to go yet.
Uh, yeah. Uh, you got Walker White out here. With a whistle for you.
Yeah. Talk about him. But, uh, you know, we’re, we’re off to a good start in 24.
Okay. Right. Just talking about gold standards and, and really just kind of the coaching in the league Last time you were in the league, you know, I mean the SEC’s always gonna have dynamic. Talent, but I feel like the SEC’s gone undergone a transformation as far as the coaching talent is concerned. Uh, can you talk a little bit about, like, the difference this time around with having so many dynamic coaches, specifically in the SEC West that you’re gonna have to go up in?
Uh, you know, I always felt like, you know, everyone had really good coaching and, uh, that certainly hasn’t changed. Um, you know, it, it doesn’t, and the, and the. They just are in the East. Also, it, I don’t think it, everyone has a chance to win, um, on a given Saturday because the, everyone has some players now.
It’s different. I mean, our depth is not the same as some of the others. And there’s other schools that can say that. Um, but that doesn’t mean on a given day that you don’t have a great plan and you get a few break. And all of a sudden momentum kicks in your favor and, and you find yourself in the fourth quarter competing against, against a team whose roster is probably a little better than yours.
I experienced that quite a few times at Ole Miss and um, you know, but our kids and our fans believed we had a chance, uh, going in most every game after year two. And maybe in year two they believe that, I don’t know, I can’t, my memory’s not as good as it used to be, but, , you know, so I, I think that’s the message that every school is sending.
Hey man, we’ve got good coaches. And they do. And um, it’s not like you’re just gonna walk out there and Out Coach people every single Saturday because everybody’s good. And man, if you happen to stumble upon a, a, a great game plan and you get a little momentum early on, you can find yourself, you know, competing against teams that probably a little better than you on the talent and.
I think every coach in this league has that capacity.
Hmm. Yeah. So let me follow up on that, cuz you talked about momentum. Uh, you’ve been on the opposite side of walking into Jordan Hair Stadium. Yeah. What is it like as an opposing team coming into that kind of environment? It, it is a tough place to play.
I think the, the, uh, the, the fans and the student section here are incredibly, uh, energetic and passionate and it shows. , you know, if your product on the field is, uh, is, is playing with good heart and passion and discipline, I, I think it’s a very difficult place for opponents to walk in and win and. , I’m excited about experiencing the home sideline.
Hmm. Coach is Auburn a better program than Ole Miss ?
Well, you know, I love my years at Ole Miss, uh, yeah, sure. I mean, still have, still have different, uh, I mean, have so many good friends there. And obviously my family still lives there and so I was born in, in Mississippi and probably will die there.
Uh, so I’m thankful for the five years I had there and, and obviously I think we did a lot of good things and certainly don’t, I hate the way it ended, but, um, you know, uh, who’s to say what’s the better program currently? Do I think Auburn potentially has, has the, uh, has the potential to be, um, more in the, the discussions of the elite programs in the country?
I sure hope so. You know, that’s, that’s why I took this job. , but, I have great respect for, for the job lane’s done and, and the people there. And, you know, until we proved that we are a better program. I don’t, I don’t feel good about jumping out there and saying anything about anyone right now.
Well, I like to be balanced. I think you have to be in this league
-Coach Hugh Freeze
Well, Coach, more in the lines of, you got a $90 million football only facility. You’ve got, um, you know, from a resource standpoint, uh, you know, do you feel like you have the tools that you need to be, uh, to, to help turn the program around? Yeah. In, in today’s, in today. Deal with NIL and all that stuff.
Yeah. You know, the, the, the, but others do too, you know, and if, if kids are making decisions solely based upon NIL, you know, I, I don’t know how well we’ll do with that. That’s cuz I’m, that’s, that’s really not the way I want to go about it for sure. I wanna build the, the locker room and, um, I want kids to get everything that’s coming to them, but I want it to be after they’ve created the value for the.
Um, in, in the program, but, and I don’t know that everybody’s like that, so it’s, it’s, uh, but do I feel like we have the resources here to, to be in an elite program? Absolutely. I mean, come walk around this place and, and sense it and feel it. And, and so, uh, I’m excited about that possibility. Well, coach, uh, again, you’re still in your first off season.
I want to pivot back to spring. . Um, and particularly I wanna talk about quarterback. Um, now it was highly publicized what you were able to do with Malik Willis a third round draft pick. At, at one point they were talking about him being one of the first quarterbacks off the board. Um, so he made it to the league. You’ve touted quarterback development, you’ve got it, uh, quarterback in Robby Ashford who maybe has some of the same athletic. abilities that Malik had. You know, how important is it to you in your system to have a mobile quarterback in today’s college football and, you know, um, What is that balance gonna look like between, uh, running Pass and, you know, we, we looked at some of the tape of your previous quarterbacks, but can you talk about the quarterback position and what you were able to do with Malik and how you plan to kind of replicate that success here at Auburn?
Well, I like to be balanced. Um, I think you have to be in this league and, um, I don’t think it’s ever good when you’re, you feel like you just have to drop back and throw the football. I, I think the D line’s gonna be more. In most cases, and, and you’re gonna have a hard day if that’s the case. So I think we’ve gotta be balanced and I think Robbie’s, uh, gifts from watching tape, um, allow you to, to, to use him in a lot of different ways if he’s the guy.
Um, we’ve gotta figure that out. And again, I’m at a little disadvantage on some of these questions because Sure. Um, I just hadn’t coached him a single day and, um, I can watch some clips of, of him throwing the football. you think? Wow. I’m excited about the possibilities. And you know, they could show me another cut up that makes me go, oh my gosh, we got a lot of work to do.
Um, you know, so it’s, uh, it’s kind of hard. I don’t, uh, you know, you just don’t know cuz you weren’t in the room. You don’t, I don’t know what it was being told. I don’t know exactly how the protections were. And, um, You know, so it’s, we’ve had success with people like Malik and Chad Kelly and Bo Wallace and, and, um, Ryan Aplin and Buckshot at Liberty.
And we’ve thrown for a lot of yards and, and we’ve been balanced, and I hope we can do the same here. I’m also excited about holding and tj, you know, I see them working hard and, um, you know, I, I love competition. I think the ones that, that shy away from that probably. You know, or telling, telling you something and the ones who rise when, when the competition is there.
I think those are the ones you wanna surround yourself with and. . So, uh, we’re looking Phillip and I and and Kent and, and the other guys that take pride in being able to coach quarterbacks real well. We, we look forward to getting started here in a couple weeks. I
Actually, I, I wanna take it all the way back because I was doing, you know, I’m trying to go, it’s like, ah, man. Did, did Hugh freeze play football? Like, how did he get into being a football coach and you started in, in, in high school football, but like, what made you make the transition over. From wanting to be a baseball player to being a football coach.
That one’s, that’s pretty easy for me. My two choices that I felt like I had were dairy farming or coaching.
Okay. I absolutely did not enjoy milking cows, , good morning, and I had to do it. It taught me a lot of great lessons about work ethic and getting up early and, and, and getting it done. Um, I had the morning shift because I played sports in high school and, but all I knew was that, and then we owned a family farm and then my uncles and my father were coaches, so that’s how they made a living.
Cause neither one paid very much back then. Mm, uh, to make ends meet. They both, they were part of both. And, um, I was just so drawn. the, uh, impact that I witnessed, uh, high school coaches, my father, my high school coaches that they had in the community. I mean, it was truthfully back then, you know, it’s not that way anymore, unfortunately at some places.
But man, if coach said something, man, you just. , that was enough. That’s what you, and it didn’t matter, man. You didn’t argue, you didn’t, you didn’t debate man. If coach said something, it was, he had that kind of impact and, and I was just so drawn to that, um, that I knew. For a long time that that’s, that’s what I wanted to do.
Well, coach, I wanna thank you for joining us, uh, to talk a little Auburn football and, and the, we’re gonna be following the many things you have to evaluate this spring in your first year with the program and, uh, you know, with all the new kids that you have coming in, either through recruiting or through the portal.
Uh, so thanks for giving us a little bit of your time. We appreciate.
You got it. I’m fixing to get on the phones from recruits guys.
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