Auburn's Top HC Targets After Hugh Freeze Reportedly Fired amid $15M Contract Buyout

Auburn has reportedly fired football head coach Hugh Freeze, per ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Freeze went 15-19 (6-16 in SEC) in two-plus seasons in charge. This year's Auburn team is 4-5 overall with a 1-5 conference record.

Auburn will pay Freeze a buyout of $15.4 million, per USA Today's college football head coach database.

The Tigers' next head coach will be tasked with turning around a program that has posted four straight losing seasons and is in danger of making that number five.

Three top head coach targets are Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall, South Florida head coach Alex Golesh and Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.
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Tulane Head Coach Jon Sumrall

The 43-year-old Sumrall coached college football at Kentucky (two stops), San Diego, Tulane, Troy and Ole Miss before returning to Troy to be the Trojans' head coach in 2022.

Sumrall was sensational in two seasons, guiding Troy to a 23-4 record and a 14-2 Sun Belt record. The Trojans won the Sun Belt both years.

He then left for Tulane and has enjoyed more success there, with the Green Wave going 9-5 and making the AAC title game, where the team fell to Army. This year's squad has also fared well, going 6-2 with a 3-1 conference record.

Numerous outlets have connected Sumrall as a possible candidate to coach Auburn, including On3's Josh Pate, Bryan Fischer of Sports Illustrated and ESPN's Eli Lederman, Max Olson and Adam Rittenberg.

USF Head Coach Alex Golesh

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The 41-year-old Golesh has coached at Ohio State, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma State, Toledo, Illinois, Iowa State, UCF and Tennessee (where he was the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach for two seasons) before heading to South Florida in 2023 to be its head coach.

South Florida went 4-29 in the three seasons prior to Golesh's arrival but then posted back-to-back 7-6 seasons, winning bowl games to cap each campaign.

This year's USF squad is even better, going 6-2 thus far. The Bulls are squarely in the mix for the American Conference title at 3-1 in the league.

Needless to say, Golesh knows about turning around programs. USF was one of the worst teams in Division I FBS, and that changed overnight. He could work wonders at Auburn too. Analysts connecting Golesh to Auburn as a top candidate include Paul Myerberg of USA Today, Chris Vannini of The Athletic and Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports.

Georgia Defensive Coordinator Glenn Schumann

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The 35-year-old Schumann has a wealth of SEC experience at a young age. He was a student assistant (2018-2011) and graduate assistant (2011-2014) at Alabama before leaving for Georgia, where he's worked his way up to being the solo defensive coordinator after roles as inside linebackers coach (2016-2018) and co-defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach (2019-2023).

Overall, Schumann has been part of six national champions in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2021, 2022.

Needless to say, Schumann knows what a winner looks like. Auburn hasn't found consistent success in quite some time and should at least give Schumann a look. The potential drawback here is that Schumann has never been a head coach, and jumping into the fire at an SEC school that's seen better days is a tall order for anyone. However, Schumann could very well be up for the task.

Jerry Humphrey III of al.com and Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports are among those who mentioned Schumann as a potential candidate.