Auburn's vow to do things 'the right way' an odd rally cry for Hugh Freeze
Auburn’s athletic director says the Tigers are determined to do things "the right way." Never mind that Auburn’s recruiting class ranks last in the SEC. Have patience. Athletic director John Cohen’s words echo the sentiments of coach Hugh Freeze, who admits Auburn's recent approach is "not really to our advantage."
Who cares about rules nowadays? Calls for patience and insisting you're doing things "the right way" tends to be the loser's battle cry.
On this edition of "SEC Football Unfiltered," a podcast from the Paste BN Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams examine the situation at Auburn, where Freeze's offseason golf handicap looks better than his recruiting class.
Auburn's recruiting stall comes on the heels of four straight losing seasons. More than the losses from yesteryear, though, Adams says he's concerned about Freeze's recent rhetoric, and he compares Freeze to a former SEC coach who's since been fired.
Still, this is just the kind of offseason headline that can be smashed into irrelevance with a slew of August commitments, plus a Week 1 win against Baylor.
Time to worry about Auburn football under Hugh Freeze?
Adams: That Hugh Freeze bandwagon I rode aboard the past few years is now so far onto the horizon, I can’t even make out the license plates on it. I jumped off that as soon as I heard talk of Auburn's focus on doing things “the right way.” That’s a cry from the basement. That’s something you’d expect to hear from Vanderbilt. Doing things "the right way” has never worked especially well in the SEC. Freeze would do well to change his messaging, and quickly. Better yet, win a lot of games this fall, because Auburn won't stand for another season like the last two under Freeze, and the two under Bryan Harsin before that. I'm starting to wonder whether Freeze has become Jimbo Fisher: a once-proven coach who's lost his touch.
Toppmeyer: When has doing things "the right way" ever worked for Freeze? He made his career by thumbing his nose at the NCAA while coaching Ole Miss, so, yes, it's fair to wonder whether this approach suits him at Auburn.
When Nick Saban retired, that was supposed to open a window of opportunity for Auburn. The Tigers employed a coach in Freeze who knew his way around the SEC and its recruiting circles, and he seemed like a natural fit with Auburn's boosters. Alabama, by comparison, hired an outsider born in South Dakota who'd never before worked in the SEC. Fast forward to today, and Alabama is crushing it on the recruiting trail, while Auburn lags behind. Auburn squandered this window of opportunity. Auburn's roster is in better shape than it's been, but Freeze needs to hit with transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold. If Freeze has lost his touch with quarterbacks, then Auburn must hit the reset button, again.
Later in the episode
∎ The hosts explain why Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti keeps getting the College Football Playoff format debate wrong.
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Blake Toppmeyer is the Paste BN Network's national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox