Hugh Freeze’s passion for golf helped get him fired at Auburn

Hugh Freeze’s love of golf may not have been the reason he was shown the door at Auburn, but the football coach’s love for the links didn’t help his cause either. 

Freeze was given a $15.8 million buyout to leave the Auburn football program over the weekend after the Tigers’ 10-3 loss to Kentucky and they’ve gone 4-5 (1-5 in SEC play) this season. 

During his three seasons at Auburn, it’s been no secret that Freeze loves to golf, but it appeared that some people began to take issue with how much he prioritized golf, CBS Sports reported. 

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One Auburn booster told the outlet that they had seen Freeze at the golf course on a Friday before a home game and the football coach “just came out to the golf course without clubs to watch guys play golf.” 

Freeze’s passion for the sport even led one booster to tell the outlet, “The only problem we didn’t foresee is that he wanted to play golf way more than coach anymore!”

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Several stories surfaced during the summer about his affection for golf, and Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin seemed to take a dig at Freeze in a post on X, suggesting that golf was impacting Freeze’s recruiting efforts. 

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In June, Freeze had posted 10 rounds of golf in the USGA’s GHIN database, which had been more than any other college football coach who had publicly logged their scores. 

Ironically, golf even seemed to help tip off fans that change was coming to Auburn after an eagle-eyed supporter noticed that the standing tee time Freeze has at the Auburn University Club had been taken off the sheet after the Tigers lost on Saturday. 

Freeze’s two-plus season tenure in Auburn ended with a 15-19 record and the team had lost five of its last six games.