Nick Saban Describes His Relationship with Auburn Coach Hugh Freeze

With the two facing off in the Iron Bowl for the first time this year, Saban said he doesn't have to have an adversarial relationship with someone to compete with them.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When Hugh Freeze was announced as Auburn's new head coach last November, he shared that he had a lot of respect for the Sabans, who had been great friends to him, but he hoped they were a little nervous about his hiring as the coach of the Crimson Tide's main rival. 

Freeze revealed back in August on the SEC coaches teleconference that Nick Saban nearly hired Freeze to be a coordinator at Alabama while he was the head coach at Liberty. 

The relationship between the two formed while Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss from 2012-2016. 

Now, the two will meet as opposing head coaches this weekend for one of the biggest rivalries in sports as No. 8 Alabama travels down to Auburn for the Iron Bowl. Saban was asked about his relationship with Freeze on Monday and compared it to his relationship with Bill Belichick while Saban was in Miami and Belichick in New England. 

"I think you can have a relationship with somebody and still compete like crazy when you play against each other," Saban said. "But it's really not personal. The outcome of the game is really not personal. You're doing the best you can to get your team to play the best, and I respect that as a coach.

"We're going to do the best we can to get our team to play their best as a coach and hopefully people respect that. But at the end of the day, does it have to affect your relationship? I don't think so. I don't think you have to dislike somebody or have an adversarial relationship with somebody to actually compete against them."

During his tenure at Ole Miss, Freeze went 2-3 against Alabama, and to this day is still one of only two coaches ( alongside Les Miles at LSU) to beat Saban-coached Alabama teams in back-to-back seasons.

In his opening statement, Saban had a lot of respect for what Freeze has done in his first year at Auburn, despite the Tigers' 6-5 record coming off a loss to New Mexico State.

"Hugh Freeze has done a fantastic job there with his team this year," Saban said. "They've played very competitively in all their games. They're 6-5, they've won some games really well but they do a great job of running the football. I think that they've got a very difficult offense to prepare for with the multiples that they give you, the different ways that they run the ball, the way the quarterbacks, both quarterbacks really can add to the running game...This is a challenging game for us and I think our guys need to have a right mindset of what it's going to take to be successful in a game like this, especially playing on the road."

How to Watch the Iron Bowl: No. 8 Alabama Football at Auburn