Ad Disclosure
Hugh Freeze details potentially coaching under Nick Saban at Alabama prior to Liberty job
Published:
During his two years out of coaching, coaching at Alabama was in the back of Hugh Freeze’s mind.
The former Ole Miss coach and current Auburn coach was looking for his next opportunity after a messy end to his tenure as the Rebels head coach. According to Freeze, Nick Saban was a good friend to him during this time and the two formed a relationship.
Freeze ultimately took the job at Liberty, but when Saban lost one of his coordinators, the potential for Freeze to join Saban’s staff became very real.
Freeze detailed what went into the decision not to take the job at Alabama as well as his relationship with Saban during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t say that (it was blocked by the SEC), and how real it was, that’s probably a question for Coach Saban,” Freeze said. “But he was so good to me in my 2 years out (of coaching) and truthfully, it was when I got to Liberty that there were a couple of occasions that Coach Saban and I had great conversations about that and they just never seemed to work out for one reason or another. The most real was after I got to Liberty, and his coordinator left, that was very, very hard on me there. But I’d already gotten there and hired a few people and that would’ve been very difficult for me to leave and I think Coach understood that. But I’ve said it before and I know that I’m at Auburn and he’s at Alabama. But he and Miss Terry have been very, very good to Jill and I. And I appreciate him even entertaining the thought that that could happen during those times.”
Things worked out well for Freeze, though, as he now gets to coach Saban’s rival. Freeze took the Auburn job in November of last year after the Tigers fired Bryan Harsin. Now, he’s looking to get the Tigers back to national prominence.
Auburn will begin its 2023 campaign this Saturday as they take on UMass.
