Auburn reportedly parts ways with Hugh Freeze as another UGA rival ousts coach

A fourth SEC football coaching job is open this season, as Pete Thamel of ESPN reports that Auburn has parted ways with Hugh Freeze.

The news comes after Auburn’s latest conference loss, 10-3 to Kentucky at home. Auburn is 1-5 in SEC play and is 4-5 on the season.

Thamel reports that Auburn has named defensive coordinator DJ Durkin the interim coach.

Freeze went 15-19 in his time at Auburn, which started with the 2023 season. Auburn was 6-16 in SEC contests under Freeze.

Despite making significant investment in the roster, Auburn did not get the results it wanted under Freeze. The quarterback position was a consistent problem for Freeze during his time at Auburn, as transfer Payton Thorne, Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels failed to ignite the Auburn offense.

Auburn held a 10-0 lead in its game against Georgia earlier this season before crumbling in the second half. Georgia outscored Auburn 17-0 over the final two quarters to win 20-10.

Freeze went winless Georgia, including home losses to Georgia in 2023 and 2025.

With Freeze out, he joins Sam Pittman, Billy Napier and Brian Kelly as the SEC coaches fired this season. Those four went a combined 0-9 against Smart in their tenures at Auburn, Arkansas, Florida and LSU, respectively.

Smart was complimentary of Napier and his team on Saturday after the Bulldogs’ 24-20 win over Florida and interim coach Billy Gonzales.

“First of all, I want to give a lot of credit to Billy Napier who assembled this roster, and he’s got a bunch of good, tough, physical players,” Smart said. “That’s one of the biggest defensive lines, offense lines we’ve played against, and they match us very well from a physical standpoint, and they’re hard to defend.”

Freeze’s buyout is $15.4 million — a smaller amount than that of Kelly and Napier.

Who could replace Hugh Freeze?

As for possible replacements, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield have all been mentioned as possible candidates. Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann could be worth watching as well, given his ties to the state of Alabama and his track record at Georgia. Unlike the three names listed above, Schumann does not have head coaching experience. He has spent the past 10 years on Georgia’s coaching staff.