Hugh Freeze among SEC coaches with least amount of pressure heading into 2023 season
The head coach of Auburn’s football program IS NOT under immense pressure heading into a season? That is a change of pace.
On3’s Jesse Simonton broke down each SEC head coach’s situation heading into the 2023 season and ranked each coach based on the pressure to perform at a successful rate. Simonton wrote that Hugh Freeze has nothing to worry about running into the season, as he is ranked No. 13 in Simonton’s 2023 pressure cooker rankings.
Simonton said his rankings should not be considered a hot seat list, but rather a pressure gauge based on which coaches need to win plenty of games to meet expectations and avoid the dreaded coaching carousel in November.
Freeze may be under a small amount of pressure now, but do not expect that level to remain steady wrote Simonton.
After the disastrous Brian Harsin tenure, Hugh Freeze arrived on The Plains and quickly established some goodwill within the program. He retained key assistants such as Cadillac Williams, signed a bunch of plug-and-play starters from the transfer portal and has Auburn in the mix to sign a top-10 class in 2024.
This is the least amount of pressure Freeze will face his entire Tigers’ tenure, but at least he’s capitalizing on the long leash to start. Auburn has a cakewalk nonconference schedule in 2023, so if Freeze can bank an upset or two in the SEC, he’ll have Auburn positioned for a potential takeoff season next fall.
The only coach under less pressure than Freeze is Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, who is entering his third season at his alma mater. The top five coaches under the most amount of pressure this season according to Simonton’s list are Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri), Zach Arnett (Mississippi State), Billy Napier (Florida) and Nick Saban (Alabama).
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