Hugh Freeze Descibes Playcalling As ‘Four Hours of Stress’

Hugh Freeze has a funny way of describing the in-game playcalling process

Playcalling isn't as easy as it seems sometimes Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images / John Reed-Imagn Images

There are not many jobs more time consuming than coaching college football.

Coaches have full plates that seem to have more placed on them every single season. As a result of this, more and more coaches are starting to take on more of a CEO approach. This means allowing your coaching staff to handle the game plan and playcalling so you can spend more time on recruiting and other things.

It is no secret that Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is passionate about recruiting, but he also likes to have a role in the game plan and play calling on the offensive side of the ball.

The pressure of constantly having to make the right calls takes a mental toll on coaching staffs all over the country and Auburn is no different.

“The play calling part has been, obviously (Derrick) Nix does some of it, Kent (Austin) does some of it, but I’ve, for sure, had my share of it,” Freeze said. “It’s four hours of stress. It’s four hours of feeling like you have to have the perfect call for us right now. We don’t have a lot of erasers. We just don’t have a lot of the margin for error.”

With the transfer portal and NIL, coaches have more on their plate than they ever have when it comes to building a roster. This leads to coaching staffs having to be more involved in game planning than they used to be.

“This profession has gotten to where you feel like you’re lifting weights and there’s an added 45 (pound) dumbbell every other day possibly with something else, whether it’s the transfer world or an academic or discipline issue or a family issue that a kid is having.”

Head coaches have a lot going on both on and off the field throughout the week. The amount of experience and talent on a coaching staff is likely only going to get more important in the ever changing landscape of college football.