Reports: Auburn pursuing Hugh Freeze as next head football coach

Sources are reporting that Auburn is deep in discussions with the Liberty head coach

AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

After a week of public rumors and questions about Lane Kiffin potentially leaving Ole Miss for the Plains, it's a different former Ole Miss coach coming to Auburn. 

According to multiple reports on Saturday morning, Auburn is preparing to make an offer to Liberty's Hugh Freeze to become Auburn's next head football coach. Pete Thamel of ESPN was the first to report the news on Saturday morning.

Sources: Auburn has been in discussion with Hugh Freeze for weeks about him becoming Auburn's next coach. They won't make a formal offer until after the Iron Bowl, but they've informally discussed contract and numbers with him for more than week.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 26, 2022

This followed reports from fellow ESPN college football reporter Chris Low that Kiffin had notified Ole Miss officials on Saturday morning that he was staying at the school, quickly confirmed by Thamel. 

Sources: Lane Kiffin's Auburn candidacy had significantly cooled in the last 48 hours. The pull of his family wanting to stay in Oxford had become an obstacle for both sides in Kiffin becoming the next Auburn coach. https://t.co/X4IO95PqMt

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 26, 2022

Freeze, 53, has spent the last 4 seasons as head coach at Liberty, compiling a 34-14 record, including three bowl appearances and a 10-1 season in 2020. From 2012-2016, he was head coach at Ole Miss but was forced to resign after recruiting and academic violations levied against both him and prior head coach Houston Nutt. Prior to having 27 wins vacated, his on-field record at Ole Miss was 39-25. 

Freeze is known as an offensive-minded coach with strong recruiting success, bringing in the #5 recruiting class in the country. He is one of three head coaches to have beaten a Nick Saban-coached team in back to back seasons, with Ole Miss defeating Alabama in 2014 & 2015. He led Ole Miss to 2 9-win seasons, its first two top-10 finishes since 1969 and only the 2nd and 3rd 10-win seasons since the mid-1900s.  

Stay tuned to Auburn Daily for more about the hire of Hugh Freeze and the steps forward for Auburn Football after today's Iron Bowl. 

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