Hugh Freeze's Top Landing Spots After Reported Auburn Firing amid $15M Contract Buyout

Hugh Freeze now as a lot more time to hit the links, and he won't have to worry about any greens fees for the foreseeable future.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Auburn is firing Freeze and will owe him a $15.8 million buyout.

The Tigers went 15-19 in his three seasons at the helm, and his unceremonious ouster means the 56-year-old might be in a similar position to when he resigned from Ole Miss in 2017 amid the cloud of scandal.

Should he want to keep coaching, Freeze may need to take a step down and rebuild his reputation on the sideline. With that in mind, here are three schools where he might fit.

UAB

Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

UAB has obvious structural limitations by sharing a state with Alabama and Auburn, but Bill Clark guided the Blazers to an 11-3 finish in 2018 and then won nine games in 2019 and 2021.

There's more than enough talent in the Southeast to make UAB a good Power Five program, and the transfer portal will allow for whoever takes this job to wipe the slate clean from the disastrous Trent Dilfer era.

Dilfer's initial hiring spoke to the school's ambition on the gridiron. For better or worse, more people paid attention to the Blazers.

Freeze would bring a lot more experience to the table, and his familiarity with the region would set him apart from Dilfer in a big way.

Tulane

Justin Ford/Getty Images

This might be the hiring cycle when Jon Sumrall cashes in his chips for a power conference job. Tulane is 6-2 and ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reported Sumrall is "is the most talked about Group of 5 coach" in the carousel.

"He would be a natural choice for just about any vacancy — current or future — in the SEC," Rittenberg posited. "After serious talks with North Carolina about its vacancy last year, he also might fit in the ACC at a job such as Virginia Tech. The 43-year-old Sumrall certainly will have options."

Given how much success it enjoyed with Willie Fritz before poaching Sumrall from Troy, Tulane might be happy to focus less on a splashy hire and instead target a winner from a G5 school.

Freeze would be wise to look at the Green Wave if this job becomes available because it was a great springboard for Fritz and likely Sumrall.

Western Kentucky

Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Rittenberg also listed Western Kentucky's Tyson Helton among the G5 coaches who could move on before the 2026 season.

Granted it was more than a decade ago, but the Hilltoppers were willing to give Bobby Petrino a second chance following the spectacular circumstances behind his Arkansas exit.

Continuity has gone a long way during WKU's coaching searches. Willie Taggart had been a former Hilltoppers player and assistant before his hiring in 2010. Jeff Brohm was Petrino's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach prior to getting promoted for 2014. Helton was the offensive coordinator for two years under Brohm.

That might be the formula again.

Administrators may aspire to something more once Western Kentucky runs its bowl streak to seven years.