Mailbag 227: Should Auburn stay out of a wild coaching carousel?
This week: Jackson Arnold, Xavier Atkins, Demarcus Riddick, proper context, early-season benchmarks in basketball and Nike shoes
AUBURN — Welcome to a special Saturday edition of the Mailbag.
It’s November, which means it’s the busiest time of the season at The Observer. Auburn football is hitting a make-or-break stretch run of games for Hugh Freeze and his program. Auburn basketball gets officially going in a couple of days, playing three home games before another challenging North American tour.
In the past week alone, we’ve gone to Arkansas and back for football. We’ve been to three different football interview sessions, including a practice viewing window. We’ve had two basketball press conferences, plus the Mike Burgomaster 1-on-1, along with four different hoops practices. We’ve gone to Atlanta and back for basketball. At least we get to stay in Auburn for several days before hitting the road to Vanderbilt.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, though. The amount of access we get these days covering Auburn’s two biggest sports is a luxury. I hope it comes across in what we’re able to provide in the newsletters and the podcasts here at The Observer.
This week, we covered a lot of ground in both football and basketball ahead of the home game against Kentucky on Saturday night and the opener against Bethune-Cookman on Monday night.
But we’ll start with the biggest thing on a lot of Auburn fans’ minds: Freeze and his job security in what is becoming a wild coaching carousel already.
Let’s go.
Do you think the firing of more high profile coaches than Hugh puts Auburn at a disadvantage in the carousel this year? Don’t you want to be the most attractive job available?
Ryan
I’ve heard people say Auburn shouldn’t fire a coach the same year as Penn St, LSU, Florida, because those are better jobs. But I don’t get this. If they poach the dude you wanted, how does waiting an extra year change anything? Is there any argument for sticking with a guy you don’t believe in?
Scott
It was nice getting a win at Arkansas, but it did nothing to change my opinion on Freeze. I still think he should go, but, if Auburn beats Kentucky and Mercer and makes a bowl, a scenario which seems more likely than not, should Auburn give Freeze one more year and hold off on making any potential changes until 2026?
Right now, Auburn would currently be the 4th best job open. But it could drop even further depending on who else gets fired and coaching dominos as other jobs open up after their coaches are poached, and the buyout would decrease more.
But the counterpoints are, coaching hires are kind of a crapshoot (see Kelly, Brian), and it would be discouraging entering 2026 with this same coaching staff.
What do you think?
Wolf
I love that we got three questions with the two opposing viewpoints and the neutral position. It’s obvious that Freeze and his job security are on the front of everyone’s minds, and for good reason.
Before we get into this fully, let me be clear: Auburn still has four games left this season, including a pair of matchups against potential playoff teams. There’s time for the Tigers to finish the season with momentum and a winning record, which would undoubtedly change the calculus for Auburn’s decision-makers. The whole “one week at a time” approach works both in the positive and in the negative. Freeze has time.
This coaching carousel is guaranteed to be a chaotic one. Penn State fired a coach who was in the semifinals of the playoff last season. LSU fired a coach just a few weeks after being in the top 10. Florida, well, fired a coach that it probably should have fired well before this. We’ve already seen two candidates get bigger extensions because of these moves in Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule, and there will be another round of will he or won’t he with Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.
If Auburn jumped into the coaching carousel right now, it would likely be No. 4 on the pecking order behind those three schools. At its best, Auburn can be right there with that trio. But it’s been a while since the Tigers have reached that mark, and the others have had more success in recent years. Penn State and LSU also have the “only huge school in the state” advantage, and Florida is the lone SEC team in its own state.
But I truly believe that a school shouldn’t let what’s happening elsewhere prevent it from making a decision it wants to make on a head coach.