The 2025 college football season turned into a coaching carousel unlike anything fans had seen in years. It’s chaos, sure, but that’s college football, where old doors close and new ones open. Just like with Auburn football, people expected Hugh Freeze to bring the Tigers back to SEC prominence. Instead, a 15-19 overall record, including a dismal 6-16 in SEC play, plus a winless 1-5 start this season, doomed his tenure. But now, Auburn needs to fill the hot seat, and the list is already ready.

Now, interim HC D.J Durkin is also in the mix as per AD, John Cohen. But things are looking very different as per the SEC odds. While Durkin has the inside track from the Auburn staff perspective, the online betting markets are all over Kenny Dillingham as the favorite to land the Tigers’ top job. The Sun Devils HC ranks as the 25th highest-paid college football coach in the country, earning a base salary of $7.44 million for the 2025 season. His deal includes a substantial performance bonus potential that could raise his earnings to over $8 million. It’s the highest possible bonus among Big 12 coaches.

But in this situation, Dillingham’s buyout clause is also significant. If Arizona State were to fire him without cause by December 1, 2025, he would receive a buyout of $24.6 million. This buyout ranks 29th highest nationally and fourth in the Big 12.

Apart from Dillingham, there are a few more potential candidates. Jon Sumrall falls in the second position. Tulane’s head coach is 15-7 at Louisiana and might be leading the Green Wave to a College Football Playoff spot. Following Sumrall is James Franklin, who just got sacked by the Nittany Lions after 12 seasons of service. And as for Dillingham, BetOnline currently lists him at 3/1, the best odds of any candidate.

At 34, people already view Dillingham as an offensive wizard thanks to his time at Oregon, Memphis, and an earlier stint at Auburn. He has earned his reputation for reviving sluggish offenses. He spent 2019 with the Tigers, had a strong year under Malzahn. Dillingham even helped Bo Nix turn the offense around to score 33.2 points a game.

Kenny Dillingham’s sitting at 20-15 at Arizona State through the end of 2024 and the first nine games of 2025. Last year, he led the Sun Devils to the Big 12 title game and a College Football Playoff spot. But one might never know if he would carry the same rhythm to Alabama for the Tigers.

His roots run deep at Arizona State, where he calls coaching his “dream job,” having grown up in Phoenix and graduated from ASU. And Fox College Football analyst, Brock Huard, utters the same tension about Kenny Dillingham when he asks, “Can you pry him out of his hometown?” He further added, “Does he look at the Big 12 and say No, I’d rather build a powerhouse where I went to school, where I know the inside out? ‘”

Meanwhile, Auburn’s football coaching search just got real personal.

AD John Cohen has clear stance about whoever becomes the new Auburn coach

AD John Cohen is just at the brink of it. It’s the same kind of strictness that Cohen applied when he informed Hugh Freeze about his firing. “I have informed Coach Freeze of my decision to make a change in leadership with the Auburn football program,” Cohen said. But now the AD is taking it up a notch, while the search for a new leader is necessary.

In his first public remarks since taking charge of the search, Cohen laid out how he’s running the show. “I am the committee,” Cohen said. “Even though I will listen, and I will do as good a job as I possibly can of taking in information, I will be the committee.” Cohen is no stranger to pressure, having navigated coaching hires before, but Auburn’s situation is undeniably tough.

Five straight losing seasons, recruiting hurdles, and an SEC loaded with powerhouse programs set a high bar. “I know that I owe this to the fan base. Grew up in the state of Alabama. I know how special this fan base is,” Cohen said. “I wake up every morning saying, ‘We’ve got to get this done.’” He plans to tap into industry insiders with deep knowledge and analytics from across the country.