NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze took to the podium Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Nashville.
This may be Freeze’s first season at Auburn, but he’s back in a league where he coached Mississippi starting in 2012 before resigning in July 2017 following an investigation into his personal conduct.
“It’s good to be back,” said Freeze, who went 34-15 with three bowl wins the past four seasons at Liberty,
Freeze isn’t the first coach to coach at two different SEC schools. Steve Spurrier coached at Florida, then South Carolina. Nick Saban won a national title at LSU before his brief stint in the NFL and has dominated since taking over Alabama.
Now Freeze is the third different coach who once worked at Arkansas State to run Auburn. He said Tuesday when he left Ole Miss, he would’ve said no to ever getting a chance to coach in the SEC again.
“How a person responds to those and reacts to those probably tells you more about them than the successes do,” Freeze said.
Beating Arkansas, BYU, Virginia Tech and Syracuse while at Liberty got Freeze to thinking he might get a Power Five opportunity again. Freeze also talked with former Auburn and Arkansas State coaches Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin about Auburn.
“Obviously, Gus is a dear friend of mine who I talked with about a lot of things, and he’s just so complimentary of Auburn and the people and the things that can happen there,” Freeze said.
The Tigers went 5-7 last season, including 2-6 in SEC play. They did not receive a bowl invitation for the first time since 2012 and fired Harsin after less than two seasons. Freeze has qualified for eight bowl games in 10 seasons as a head coach with Ole Miss, Liberty and Arkansas State.
“I see no reason why Auburn shouldn’t be one of the upper half and competing every year,” Freeze said of his expectations. “Look, if you’re in the upper half of this conference, you get a break here or there, you’re in the playoffs. Then you’ve got a real chance. That’s where I see Auburn.”