The Auburn Tigers are coming off a a disappointing season, but head coach Hugh Freeze has publicly shared his long-term plans to turn the SEC program around.
After a last-second loss to Nick Saban and Alabama, the Tigers finished with a 6-6 record and a Music City Bowl appearance against the Maryland Terrapins. While the team managed to be bowl eligible, Freeze believes that the team is just scratching the surface of what it can become with him as the head coach.
"I'm absolutely, positively, totally convinced this place can be an elite program," Freeze told reporters in a recent press conference. "Now being an elite program in this conference, there's some others too in it. Does that mean you're gonna win every single game? Probably not, I don't know if many teams are going to do that anymore truthfully. But we should be in every game and this place and the support it has, the energy, the fan base, the culture, the family feel, the administration alignment, the facilities."
Auburn's 6-6 record in Freeze's first season as head coach was a slight improvement from their 5-7 season in 2022. While there were some tough losses, including a 31-10 loss to New Mexico State, the Tigers also played competitive games against top-tier programs like Alabama, Ole Miss, and Georgia.
What's even more promising is that Freeze is putting together an extremely competitive recruiting class. 247Sports currently has Auburn as the No. 11 recruiting class in the nation, which includes two 5-star commitments. The team has also been very active in the transfer portal, hosting multiple top players (including players from other SEC programs) for visits to potentially get them to commit to Auburn.
It's been a decade since Auburn won the SEC, and even longer since their 2010 national championship run. However, Freeze is confident that he can turn the program back into a legitimate contender in a hyper-competitive conference.
