© Kevin Jairaj/Imagn
The Auburn Tigers took a major risk in 2023 when they hired formerly embattled Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze to take over their football program.
Just 2.5 seasons later, that risk blew up in their face when they fired Freeze nine games into the 2025 season following a 4-5 start. Freeze, however, claims the 2025 disaster wasn’t his fault, but rather that of quarterback Jackson Arnold.
Arnold began the year as the starter for the Tigers, but was later benched for Ashton Daniels and even freshman Deuce Knight at one point. He completed 63.3 percent of his passes, but for just 1,309 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions. Arnold also rushed for 311 yards and eight scores.
Hugh Freeze Blames The Quarterback That He Picked For Getting Him Fired
Arnold is a former five-star recruit who played his first two seasons at the University of Oklahoma. After seeing offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and struggling in Norman, Arnold hit the transfer portal following the 2024 season.
Freeze then decided that Arnold, of all the quarterbacks in the portal, was his guy to lead the team in 2025. Now he’s blaming Arnold for getting him fired.
“Let’s be clear, this is not a beat up Jackson deal. It’s never, always the quarterback. There are other factors. I mean, he missed a touchdown throw here at Oklahoma to a wide-open Cam Coleman. Those plays you’ve got to make to win games,” Freeze said in a recent interview. “And he would say that too. And there’s also the Missouri game where we have what? Eight drops? Then there’s moments in the Georgia second half where he misses open guys, or the protection is not great, so it’s a combination of all those things.
“But certainly, it didn’t work out to the level that he nor I both expected for him and our team. And that’s why I’m sitting here.”
Well, Hugh, maybe you should’ve chosen any of the other quarterbacks in the transfer portal. Trinidad Chambliss thrived at Ole Miss. Devon Dampier had a strong season at Utah, and of course, Fernando Mendoza had a Heisman-caliber year at Indiana.
That’s not to say those players would have necessarily chosen Auburn. But Freeze did have other options he decided not to take.
Additionally, it’s Freeze’s job to help Arnold improve, which didn’t happen at Auburn. Maybe it’s time Hugh Freeze stops pointing the finger and starts pointing the thumb for one time in his coaching career.