So far this season, Auburn football has been one of the most disappointing teams in the SEC despite being competitive in nearly every game. However, in Week 10, things hit rock bottom and now big changes are being made.
Auburn lost to Kentucky 10-3 at home on Saturday night, dropping to 4-5 on the season. On Sunday morning, the Tigers officially made the decision to fire head coach Hugh Freeze, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Freeze was in the midst of his third season with Auburn and had just a 15-19 record overall, including a 6-16 mark in SEC play. Despite being close to pulling off upsets of Oklahoma and Georgia this season, Auburn lost both of those games and now will be looking for a new head coach this offseason.
Freeze's buyout is $15.8 million, and defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will be the interim coach for the remainder of the season, per Thamel.
Auburn has had talented rosters and good defenses during Freeze's time as the head coach, but the offense has repeatedly been a problem. He officially benched quarterback Jackson Arnold before the Kentucky game, and Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels didn't fare much better.
Daniels finished just 13-for-28 for 108 yards and an interception in this game, and the offense mustered just 241 yards in total against a gettable Kentucky defense.
After the game, Freeze addressed the rumors of his potential firing head-on, insisting that his team was close to a breakthrough.
“I wish I could ask for patience but that’s not really something people want to give in this day and time. And I understand that,” Freeze said, via Michael Casagrande of AL.com. “I just know that we’re so dang close and if we had a few things go our way earlier in the year, I think we’re looking at a whole different deal. But it didn’t and that’s life. And that’s the game of football.”
After this loss, Auburn is sitting at 4-5 on the season and needs to win two of its last three games to become bowl-eligible. That will not be easy, as it still has games against Vanderbilt and Alabama on the slate.
