Auburn fires Hugh Freeze as college football buyouts balloon to $182 million

Another college football program is paying its head coach millions of dollars to go away.

Auburn fired Hugh Freeze on Sunday, the school announced, after a home loss to Kentucky on Saturday dropped the Tigers to 4-5, with a 1-5 record in SEC play.

Freeze, 56, is owed $15.8 million, a figure that is not subject to offsetting based on future employment, per ESPN.

The total buyout figure for the 11 FBS coaches fired this season is now up to $182 million, according to Yahoo Sports.

Auburn is on its way to its third straight losing record under Freeze, who took over in 2023 and compiled a 15-19 record, with a paltry 6-16 mark in conference games.

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, the former Maryland head coach, was named the interim head coach.

Freeze is the latest in a string of head coach firings in college football that have come with big-money payouts.

Last Sunday, LSU fired Brian Kelly despite him being owed approximately $54 million.

Penn State fired James Franklin last month after three straight losses and owes him $49 million.

Billy Napier was fired by Florida with a $21 million buyout.

Other firings this season include Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Jay Norvell (Colorado State), Trent Bray (Oregon State), DeShaun Foster (UCLA), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech) and former Super Bowl winner Trent Dilfer (UAB).

Auburn started the season 3-0 but has struggled to generate offense against SEC competition.

The Tigers lost 24-17 to Oklahoma, 16-10 to Texas A&M, 20-10 to Georgia and 23-17 to Missouri in double-overtime. All four of those opponents were ranked in the top 16 at the time of those games.

Auburn then edged Arkansas 33-24 before Saturday’s loss to Kentucky.