A day after announcing that Auburn University has hired Liberty Coach Hugh Freeze to be the 31st head football coach in the history of the program, the University held a formal press conference in Auburn to officially introduce Coach Freeze to the program’s alumnae and supporters.
During the press conference, Freeze announced that he had hired interim Auburn head football Coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams as associate head coach and that Cadillac would be staying with the program.
“To me, it was a direct reflection of Cadillac and his leadership and how he led the staff and those staff,” Freeze said, praising Williams for his performance as interim coach. “I knew I had to have Cadillac on my side to help me drive the culture of Auburn football.”
“It has always been my desire to remain at Auburn,” Williams said in a statement. “Last night, I was able to meet with Coach Freeze where shared his core values and vision for the football program and young men he will be coaching. He is a man of faith, and we share many of the same values when it comes to coaching. I am excited about his vision and plan for getting Auburn back to its winning ways, including winning championships!”
“Coach Freeze asked me to stay on and join his staff as Associate Head Coach,” Williams said. “I accepted the position and am excited about working with him and learning from him. I ask that the Auburn Family join me in supporting Coach Freeze and getting Auburn football back on the winning track!”
Auburn originally offered this job to current Ole Miss head football Coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin turned the job down, opting to stay at Ole Miss, where he reportedly signed a $9 million extension on Tuesday. Many in the fan base had wanted the University to hire Williams as head coach. When Kiffin did not take the position, it went to Freeze. Reportedly Kiffin and Freeze were the only people considered for the job by new Auburn Athletics Director John Cohen, a former coach and athletics director who previously worked at Mississippi State.
The hiring of Freeze has been met with skepticism by many and outright hostility by some.
The Alabama Media Group’s Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist John Archibald wrote, “The university, after all, ignored a few things to hire him as football coach today. It overlooked his NCAA issues and the “pattern of personal misconduct” found by his old employer, Ole Miss. It overlooked 12 calls he made to escort services on Ole Miss phones and the claims of three women who say he acted inappropriately as a high school coach. It overlooked the way he reportedly reached out unsolicited to a sexual assault survivor to defend his own bosses at Liberty University.”
Joseph Acosta wrote, “They can say that he’s a known winner and that this is a “win at all costs” move, which quite frankly is bullshit. He has a below .500 record in SEC competition at .475, including the wins that were vacated. For comparison, HOUSTON NUTT has a .491 record in SEC competition. Gus Malzahn, who Auburn fired in 2020 and is paying $21.5 million, has won more games in his career than Hugh Freeze.”
Hugh Freeze had initial success as head coach at Ole Miss, including one ten-win season, but ultimately most of his wins at the school had to be vacated after the NCAA found that the football program under Freeze had committed a number of recruiting violations. Ole Miss then fired Freeze after the school learned that he had made a dozen phone calls to a Florida escort service on his University paid for phone. Freeze denied a media report that Auburn has required that he turn over control of his social media accounts to the University.
Many Auburn fans, particularly on social media boards, have expressed skepticism about Freeze’s integrity.
“Integrity is not always getting it right, or none of us would have it,” Freeze said. “It’s really when you don’t get it right what do you do, and you look at the end of the day of the film of your game, the film of your practice, the film of your life, the film of your decisions, and they don’t lie. And you have to own that at the end of the day, and guess what? Sometimes there are consequences when you don’t get it exactly right. We fumbled the ball eight times. You probably are not going to win. There is a consequence to that. You made a really poor decision. There may be a consequence to that, and that is Ok. It’s not great, and there may be consequences. You must accept those consequences, make the necessary changes, and get up the next day and play the next play.”
“I see this as one of the top ten football programs in America, and I believe that,” Freeze told reporters.
“We need you,” Freeze continued. “We need the fans. We need the Auburn family. We need the staff. We need the players. We need everyone in this building that is involved in our program to buy in to our core values to drive this train to get it where everyone wants to be. It is all of us that must pull together – the Auburn family.”
A repentant Freeze asked that the Auburn family just give him a chance.
“I don’t know anybody in this room who does not deserve a second chance,” Freeze explained. “I think everybody deserves a second chance, and I think we have fought to earn people’s trust back…Please give me a chance to earn your trust.”
Auburn has reportedly hired a public relations firm to handle the blowback from this controversial hiring.
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