Auburn fires football coach Hugh Freeze after 2-plus seasons - ESPN

Football coach Hugh Freeze, whose 15-19 record in his two-plus seasons at Auburn was capped by a listless home loss to Kentucky on Saturday, has been fired, athletic director John Cohen announced Sunday.

Freeze, 56, will be owed $15.8 million in buyout money.

«I have informed Coach Freeze of my decision to make a change in leadership with the Auburn football program,» Cohen said in a statement. «Coach Freeze is a man of integrity, and we are appreciative of his investment in Auburn and his relentless work over the last three years in bolstering our roster. Our expectations for Auburn football are to annually compete for championships and the search for the next leader of Auburn football begins immediately.»

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin has been named interim head coach of the Tigers.

Much of the SEC offseason spotlight focused on Freeze, only heightening the need for a strong start for the Tigers. In his time at Auburn, he had a 6-16 mark in the SEC, and his tenure was marked by excruciating home losses to New Mexico State, Cal, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Oklahoma.

Freeze, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year, improved the roster heading into this season, landing consecutive top-10 recruiting classes. He also added key transfers such as quarterback Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma) and wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. (Georgia Tech). Combined with a manageable 2025 schedule and a contract that ran through the 2028 season, it seemed the pieces were in place for Freeze to author a breakthrough.

«I think it's as settled as we've been as a program, the continuity of our staff, the pieces of our staff that we've added and what we've been able to do in building our roster in high school recruiting and