Hugh Freeze Buyout: How Much Auburn Owes Coach After Firing

Auburn has fired Hugh Freeze arsenic its caput shot coach aft 3 unsuccessful seasons. The Tigers will now person to salary nan 56-year-old coach a important chunk of alteration to locomotion away.

Freeze was hired connected November 29, 2022, aft 4 fantabulous years astatine Liberty. The erstwhile Ole Miss caput coach took complete nan Flames’ programme and brought it to prominence, astir notably pinch a 10-1 play successful 2020, which sewage nan squad classed successful nan apical 20. He won 8 games successful each of his 3 different seasons.

Auburn hired Freeze connected a six-year woody worthy $6.5 cardinal annually. In 2023, nan Tigers went 6-7 and mislaid nan Music City Bowl. They followed that up successful 2024 by going 5-7, and had begun nan 2025 run 4-5 earlier nan diversion section pulled nan plug.

In his astir 3 seasons successful charge, Freeze led Auburn to a 15-19 record, and nan Tigers were 6-16 successful nan SEC. He is conscionable nan latest caput coach to beryllium fired from a salient job, arsenic Power Five jobs are opening weekly.

While Freeze doesn’t person a buyout successful nan vicinity of nan monolithic piles of rate owed to Brian Kelly and James Franklin, he will still get a important payout. Auburn will reportedly beryllium him $15.8 cardinal to locomotion away.

Perhaps astir notably, nan money is not taxable to offset aliases mitigation, meaning it will not beryllium reduced if he takes different job. Auburn will salary him each cent of it, nary matter what he decides to do next.

This is nan 3rd consecutive coach nan Tigers person owed a ton of money to. When nan schoolhouse fired Gus Malzahn successful 2020, it owed him $21.45 million. Then it canned Bryan Harsin successful 2022 and owed him $15.3 million.

With Freeze’s full added in, that’s a full of $52.55 cardinal paid to grounded coaches.

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