Hugh Over Lane? Expert Ranks Auburn Coach Freeze Higher Than Rebels Kiffin
There is never a shortage of interesting takes about SEC football.
Nor is there a shortage of hot takes on Ole Miss Rebels coach, Lane Kiffin.
But on Thursday, the Athletic's Bruce Feldman might have had the hottest one yet, ranking Auburn Tigers coach Hugh Freeze ahead of Kiffin in his poll of Top-25 coaches in college football.
Wait what?
Yes, you read that correctly.
Feldman had Freeze, who has yet to coach a game for the Tigers, coming in at No. 19, while Kiffin did not make it into his top 25.
His reasoning?
The Tigers were spinning their wheels and knew Freeze would get them back in the Top 25. No doubt there is baggage with Freeze, particularly from his exit at Ole Miss, but on the field, his teams win and he is an outstanding offensive coach. He got Liberty into the top 20 by his second season, when LU finished 10-1. He went 34-15 in four years there. At Ole Miss, his teams got up to No. 3 in the polls in both 2014 and 2015 and finished top 10 in the nation for the first time since 1969. While there, Freeze beat Saban’s Alabama team twice, an accomplishment not to be overlooked — especially at the place that just hired him. In his first job as an FBS head coach, Freeze led Arkansas State to a 10-2 record after 15 years without a winning season.
Keep in mind, Kiffin has resurrected the Ole Miss program from near death, taking them to three-straight bowl games, a 10-win season, and a Sugar Bowl appearance.
A program he was brought in to resurrect, due to the egregious mistakes committed under the Freeze regime from 2012-2016, and the subsequent dumpster fire that followed under Matt Luke.
Not to mention that the only time they have met on the field in recent years, in 2021 when Freeze was at Liberty, Kiffin's Rebels beat Hugh's Flames easily.
And yet, Freeze is somehow lauded as a better coach?
A flaming hot take for sure.
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