Auburn hires Hugh Freeze as its next football coach

Move comes with upside on the field and risk of embarrassment off it

Auburn has hired Hugh Freeze to become the Tigers next head football coach, the university announced Monday following the end of its 2022 season.

Freeze, 53, was most recently the head coach at Liberty University. He has a career record of 76-48, including a 39-25 mark in four seasons at Ole Miss. Freeze was fired by Ole Miss in 2017 after an NCAA investigation found that he had committed multiple violations of the organization's rules, including lying to NCAA investigators about his knowledge of and involvement in a prostitution scandal involving some of his players.

Auburn fired coach Bryan Harsin in October after a 3-5 start to the season. The Tigers finished the season 5-7 under interim coach Cadillac Williams.

The hiring of Freeze is a controversial one for Auburn. He has a history of off-the-field issues, including the NCAA violations at Ole Miss. However, he is also a successful coach who has won at a high level in the SEC. It remains to be seen whether Freeze can avoid the off-the-field issues that plagued him at Ole Miss and lead Auburn to success on the field.