Team leaders working to keep locker room united as Tigers navigate coaching transition to interim head coach DJ Durkin for final three games of 2025 season.

Auburn fired head coach Hugh Freeze on Sunday after posting a 44% win percentage (15-19) in just under three seasons on the job. Following the decision made by Auburn Athletic Director John Cohen, Freeze shared his final thoughts on his time on the Plains and sent a farewell message to fans and players on X.

Annoyed at the CFP Ranking Show.First Quarter: Slouching Tigers, Shrinking CanesThe fact that Hugh Freeze (1) lasted until the afternoon of Nov. 2 at Auburn (2) is one of the biggest upsets in a season of surprises.

Auburn will pay $15.8 million to make Freeze go away, the latest eight-figure payment the university has approved for a failed football coach. In just the last five years, that number totals more than $52 million. No Auburn coach has left on his own terms since 1975, despite at least one of them winning a national championship.

Auburn's Steven Pearl takes shot at Hugh Freeze after overtime win over HBCU team originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. The 20th-ranked Auburn Tigers opened the season with a 95-90 overtime win over Bethune-Cookman in Steven Pearl’s coaching debut Monday night.

The way college football chases down excellence this season, Auburn letting go of Hugh Freeze after a 4-5 fall wasn’t that shocking. He was already in the hot seat before the Arkansas game, but that win bought him a week.