Fired $15.8 million college football coach blames QB's performance for his dismissal

Fired Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze isn't going out quietly.

Freeze was outspoken in the weeks before his dismissal, saying he and his staff were still the right fit to lead Auburn into the future, despite going 15-19 over two-plus losing seasons. Auburn athletic director John Cohen disagreed, firing Freeze on Nov. 2, taking on his $15.8 million buyout, and hiring South Florida head coach Alex Golesh last week.

Despite that nice payday on his way out, Freeze is still venting about his dismissal and blames quarterback Jackson Arnold for why he's no longer Auburn's head coach.

During an interview this week with AuburnSports' Justin Hokanson, Freeze said, “Certainly, it didn’t work out to the level that he or I both expected for him and our team. And that’s why I’m sitting here.”

Freeze recruited Arnold out of the transfer portal from Oklahoma, where he passed for 1,421 yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 444 yards and three TDs as the Sooners' starter in 2024. It seemed to be a mutual parting of the ways between Arnold and Oklahoma, which brought in the highly coveted Washington State transfer, John Mateer, at quarterback.

Arnold, who was a five-star prospect and the No. 4-ranked QB recruit in the 2023 class by 247Sports, looked for a fresh start as a junior at Auburn, but it was more of the same for him this fall as he passed for just 1,309 yards, 6 TDs and 2 INTs with 311 rushing yards and 8 TDs before being benched Oct. 25 vs. Arkansas after throwing an interception that was returned 89 yards for a touchdown.

Ashton Daniels, a senior and transfer from Stanford, took over and led Auburn back from an 11-point halftime deficit to a 33-24 win over the Razorbacks and finished the season as the starter.

Freeze tempered his comments on Arnold a bit, saying, “Let’s be clear, this is not a beat-up Jackson deal. It’s never always the quarterback. There are other factors. I mean, he missed a touchdown throw here at Oklahoma to a wide-open Cam Coleman.

"Those plays you’ve got to make to win games. And he would say that too. And there’s also the Missouri game, where we have what, eight drops? Then there’s moments in the Georgia second half where he misses open guys, or the protection is not great, so it’s a combination of all those things."

Maybe it's also partly the coaching. Freeze was given a six-year, $49-million contract at Auburn after having previous success at Ole Miss (on the field, at least) and Liberty, but he went 6-7 and 5-7 in his first two seasons before starting 4-5 this year and getting fired. He was 6-16 in SEC play during his tenure.