Auburn Tigers’ head coach Hugh Freeze is now chanting only one word. ‘Win.’ Yes, this is their only goal moving into 2025. Combining the No. 1 transfer portal class with two top 10 recruiting classes, some Tiger fans are optimistic about the 2025 season. But not everything is seen through rose-tinted glasses when it’s about Freeze’s Auburn. 

With an 11-14 overall record at Auburn, Freeze failed to reach a bowl game last season with the Tigers. Prior to taking up his head coaching role in Auburn, Freeze had an 83-43 record in 10 seasons with a 65.8 winning percentage. After his Tigers’ stint, the winning percentage dropped to 44.0. While Auburn is yet to gift a turnaround to his fans, Freeze is now keeping them busy with something else. 

On July 1, the Auburn head coach shared a post from the Auburn Report page on his IG story. The picture showed a backpack in the signature Auburn colors, navy blue and burnt orange. Along with it, there was a T-shirt in the iconic white and navy blue combination. What struck the fans is the “swoosh,” the tick that’s iconic to the sportswear brand, Nike, which has reported a total revenue of $46.3 billion for the fiscal year 2025. While the picture was enough for the Auburn fans to guess, Freeze made it more interesting by dropping a cryptic message. The head coach wrote, “@nike 👀.” Well, before Auburn, Nike CEO Phil Knight backed Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks in organizing a for-profit collective called Division Street. But how did Freeze’s Tigers get lucky?  

Auburn is officially a Nike school. The Tigers previously announced a deal with Nike, but their agreement officially goes into effect as of July 1. Auburn initially announced a 10-year deal with Nike approximately 15 months ago. That’s when Freeze’s program parted ways with Under Armour, which has been their primary apparel sponsor since 2006. And the head coach couldn’t keep calm since it marked Nike’s first rep on the Plains. 

Freeze released a statement, “We are thrilled to kick off the Nike era of Auburn football. I’ve seen firsthand Nike’s commitment to excellence and innovation. Our student-athletes look forward to competing in Nike cleats and uniforms in front of the greatest fans in college football this season at Jordan-Hare Stadium.” But what made Auburn end the deal with Under Armour? Many believe it to be money, but the truth is it’s not quite about the riches.

When Auburn continued its deal with Under Armour with a nine-year extension in 2015, the contract was worth $78.2 million. That marked one of the richest deals in college athletics. However, over the last ten years, Under Armour has regressed — both from a business standpoint and a popularity standpoint. Right now, they are running low in terms of global partnerships.

While Freeze is busy celebrating their NIL milestone, he has to save his seat first.

Hugh Freeze has no room for excuses 

Well, Freeze’s departure rumors started to heat up when the head coach was spotted playing golf in June, when the Tigers had a hard time with recruiting trail losses. However, later on, the head coach’s personal friend Brian Stultz passed the news off as  “completely false” and “dumb.” Now that Freeze gives himself another chance in Auburn, he can no longer afford to make any mess-ups. Doing the bare minimum is a BIG NO NO.

As Lance Taylor came up with a wake-up call, “I still think Hugh Freeze is a good coach, but if you’re sitting there at the end of the year with 6-6, 7-5, I don’t really know what they do at this point.” Five of Auburn’s seven losses last year came by 10 points or fewer. The Tigers scored just eight red zone touchdowns in eight conference games, while leading the SEC with 22 turnovers. When was the last time Auburn has won more than six games? It was in 2019, more than five years have passed by. Does that mean that Freeze has not done enough for Auburn?

Definitely he has. Hugh Freeze maintained his streak by recruiting well since joining the program in 2023. He had top-10 classes for 2024 and 2025. But maybe that’s not enough for him to continue to loom in the hearts of the Tigers’ fans. Even Ryan Brown stated, “Hugh Freeze has to sell now like he has been selling the future for two years now. And if you’re at the end of year three, as you said, with another 7-5, oh, but we got the top five recruiting class. I don’t know if Auburn fans are going to buy that one.”

On the recruiting front, too, Freeze has started to loosen his grip. Auburn’s 2026 class now ranks No. 74 overall via On3 Sports. No more negotiations. Freeze has to grab eight wins and a bowl game. Or he might have to leave his head coaching seat.