Hugh Freeze’s time at Auburn came to a merciful end on Sunday, November 2nd, and it’s hard to find anyone who’s shocked about it. The guy came to Auburn with a mandate to turn the Tigers back into a national player, and instead, he’d managed to compile a 15-19 record over nearly three seasons. This included an absolutely brutal 6-16 mark in SEC play that felt like it was getting worse by the week.

After taking a listless 10-3 home loss to Kentucky on Saturday night, the Auburn brass finally hit the eject button. Hugh Freeze had arrived on a six-year deal worth roughly $39 million back in 2022, with the entire program banking on his ability to return the Tigers to SEC prominence. 

Instead, Auburn’s watched him oversee embarrassing losses to Kentucky, Missouri, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M. Through just nine games in 2025, Auburn was sitting at 4-5 with a 1-5 start in SEC play. The buyout clock started ticking for about $15.8 million. Now, the program must find its fourth head coach in five years.

That’s the dysfunction that requires a specific type of coach to fix, someone with both SEC savvy and a track record of building winning cultures from scratch.​ Here are some potential names who could replace Hugh Freeze at Auburn.

Eli Drinkwitz

Eli Drinkwitz isn’t a random candidate Auburn should consider. He’s a Gus Malzahn disciple who spent time at Auburn as quality control coach in 2010-11, meaning he’s got Jordan-Hare Stadium in his bloodstream. The Missouri head coach just watched his Tigers beat Auburn twice, and he’s done something remarkable in Columbia.

He’s taken a program that was a complete dumpster fire when he arrived and turned it into a consistent bowl team heading for conference contention. Drinkwitz sits at 44-26 at Mizzou overall, but more impressively, he’s gone 27-7 over the past three seasons. This year, even with a brutal SEC schedule, Mizzou is 6-2 and ranked 19th in the country.He’s figured out how to build an offense that can move the football, and more importantly, he’s got the swagger Auburn needs right now. He’s got proven defensive coordinators on staff, he knows the Auburn system inside and out, and frankly, he’d probably be thrilled to come back home and reclaim Auburn for the Malzahn disciples.​

Jon Sumrall

Then there’s Jon Sumrall, and if Auburn wants a coach who’s proven he can turn nothing into something, Sumrall’s your guy. The Tulane head coach just took over a Green Wave program that had some serious expectations before him. And in his first season, he went 9-5 and got them bowl-eligible.

This year, Tulane is 6-2 and competing in the American Conference like they belong there. Sumrall took over a Troy program that had gone 15-20 in the three years before he arrived. In his first year, he somehow won the Sun Belt Championship and took Troy to the Cure Bowl. In his second year, he did it again, back-to-back Sun Belt titles with a 23-4 combined record. His overall record is 38-11, and he’s got legitimate SEC experience as Kentucky’s co-defensive coordinator. 

At 43 years old, Sumrall is also a Huntsville native with deep Alabama roots, so there’s no culture shock when he arrives in the Deep South. Auburn would be getting a guy who understands the grind of building a program from absolute rock bottom, who’s proven he can win at multiple levels, and who plays the kind of tough, physical defense that Auburn used to hang its hat on.​

James Franklin

And then there’s James Franklin, who just got unceremoniously dumped by Penn State after starting the 2025 season 3-3. It sounds weird to add a freshly fired coach to the Auburn discussion, but Franklin is one of the only guys on the market right now who’s got both the track record and the SEC experience Auburn actually needs. 

Franklin went 104-45 at Penn State, posted eight double-digit win seasons, made five top-10 finishes, and in 2024 took the Nittany Lions to a 13-3 record. Before that, he spent three years at Vanderbilt from 2011 to 2013, going 24-15. He took a Commodores program that had been dormant and made it competitive in the SEC. He took Vandy to back-to-back nine-win seasons in his final two years, something the program hadn’t done in forever. Franklin’s got the resume of a guy who knows how to win immediately and consistently. 

Auburn has a real choice to make, and every option offers something different. Auburn needs someone who can recruit at the highest level, win ugly when necessary, and understand that it won’t be a quick fix. The Tigers have undergone three coaching changes in the past five years. They have boosters who want results yesterday, and they have a roster that needs a serious talent infusion through both recruiting and the transfer portal. Whoever Auburn hires must know they’re stepping into a program that has been through absolute chaos. The next few weeks are going to be fascinating because Auburn is hiring someone to restore a program’s entire identity.​