Auburn's Freeze 'couldn't go another year' without calling plays - ESPN

DALLAS — Auburn coach Hugh Freeze conceded Thursday that relinquishing playcalling duties for the first time in his career last season was «so dang uncomfortable» that he had to make a change.

«I don't mean this to say I'm some offensive guru or anything,» Freeze told ESPN, «but I felt like I took one of my strengths off the table.»

It was reflected in the Tigers' offense, which finished 11th in the SEC in scoring (26.2 points per game) under former offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, who was fired following the 6-7 season.

«For the first time ever, [I] let somebody else design it — and I'm sure they're really good at it — but it was so dang uncomfortable for me that it affected the confidence of the kids and the chemistry,» Freeze said. "… Just knew I couldn't go another year and I didn't think we had the answers [quarterback] Payton [Thorne] needed. That was troublesome to me."

Freeze hired longtime Ole Miss assistant Derrick Nix as his new offensive coordinator and said that because the two previously worked together for about five years, there's a familiarity with his offense that will allow either one of them to call the plays.

«I'm not saying I'm calling it all,» Freeze said. «Nix knows it. But I know I can, and that gives me a comfort level, 'All right, we're struggling, let me have this for a minute. I know what I want to do,' and a head coach has that priority to do that.»

Thorne said there were times last year when «that wasn't [Freeze's] play,» and the quarterback couldn't be in constant communication with his head coach.

«I don't even want to talk about that,» said Thorne, who started 12 of Auburn's 13 games last year after transferring from Michigan State.

«It wasn't Coach Freeze's offense last year.