Auburn coach Hugh Freeze has taken some criticism this offseason for his seemingly-frequent trips to the golf course.
Noise on the Plains has grown louder in recent weeks as the Tigers prepare for a pivotal season under Freeze. Auburn has yet to go over .500 in SEC play since Freeze was named head coach and expectations are rising as the 2025 season gets closer.
Freeze addressed the talk during an appearance on David Pollack’s podcast this week. He assured Auburn fans that he’s “100 percent” focused on getting the program back to the highest level.
“This is the time when people are looking for things to write about and I do love golf, I enjoy playing,” Freeze said. “What people don’t realize … I assure you I never missed a camp day or a recruiting day. But, if camp got over at 3 o’clock one day, and Jill and I go out at 4:30, we absolutely might do that. And I’m not apologizing for that part of it. But my focus is 100 percent on getting Auburn in that win column this fall.”
Freeze said he believes the backlash to his golf outings is connected to Auburn’s woeful recruiting cycle.
“I think the biggest thing that’s causing most of it is the recruiting rankings right now because we have been top 10 my two years here in recruiting and currently we’re not,” Freeze said on the show. “Good lord, we could spend 30 minutes on why I think that is, but there’s a lot of people right now who are operating under a different set of rules on what their interpretation is of this settlement and how you should operate. I’m going to operate in the manner that our administration has interpreted it.”
Freeze is referring to the House settlement, which was approved earlier this year and clears the way for programs to begin paying players via revenue sharing. However, NIL deals with collectives are expected to be under a much higher level of scrutiny under the terms of this settlement. Freeze didn’t go into further specifics on Auburn’s “interpretation” of the settlement and how that might be impacting Auburn’s 2026 recruiting class.
Auburn currently has commitments from 9 prospects in this cycle. The group ranks No. 78 nationally and dead-last in the SEC, per 247Sports Composite rankings.
The noise over Freeze’s golf game and struggles on the recruiting trail even reached Lane Kiffin’s desk last week, as the Ole Miss head coach had some fun at Freeze’s expense. Freeze and Auburn AD John Cohen also addressed the slow start in recruiting earlier this month, with the pair preaching patience.
The Early Signing Period for the class of 2026 begins in December.
Hugh Freeze pushes back on golf criticism, ties backlash to recruiting struggles Saturday Down South.
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