NFL
By: Brock Vierra
The Auburn Tigers football program has a rich history of success and NFL production. Having three Heisman winners in Cam Newton, Bo Jackson, and Pat Sullivan along with two consensus National titles and multiple SEC championships is a beautiful variety of silverware for the Tigers’ trophy case. Especially in a location where you have to compete against Alabama, LSU, and the rest of the SEC on the field and in the arms race we call recruiting.
Many have praised Auburn’s success and have chopped up their failures to them not being an “elite” or “big name” program. I do not share this sentiment. When I look at the Tigers, I see failure. Since the inception of the college football playoffs, the Tigers have never qualified for it. Since their victory in the 2010 National Championship game, the Tigers have won zero NY6 Bowl Games.
Despite being favored by 10.5 points, the Tigers lost the 2018 Peach Bowl to UCF by 7. The Tigers were once again favored by 7 in the 2020 Outback Bowl and lost by 7 to Minnesota. In fact since their National Title, Auburn has only won three bowl games, their last victory coming in 2018. They were even favored by 2 in the last bowl game appearance (2021 Birmingham Bowl) which they lost to Houston 17-13. They couldn’t get it done in their own backyard let alone a national stage.
Since 2010, they have only one SEC title, zero National Titles, zero notable postseason wins and the few victories they have against Alabama is the only inkling of success they have to hold on two. They messed up Alabama HS Player of the Year Bo Nix’s development to the point he transferred out and is now balling at Oregon. They ruined Tank Bigsby and their best players enter the NFL hungry for the success they lacked in college, success that didn’t come to fruition because of coaching. If you look at the rosters Auburn has had for the past decade, they’re championship level but even the fastest car will underperform when driven by a dud and those coaches were duds.
However, in the fog of failure, a leader of men shined bright. There was a gleam like Marty Schottenheimer used to say and his name is Carnell “Cadillac” Williams. One of Auburn’s greatest running backs, Williams was part of a trio with Jason Campbell and Ronnie Brown that had a perfect season in 2004. A season that saw Auburn win the SEC and the Sugar Bowl while being screwed out of a National Title opportunity by the biggest joke in college football at that time, the BCS.
Having to navigate a program that was ruined by Bryan Harsin, Williams took over a team that was 3-5 while facing a four-game losing streak and he went 2-2 to end the season. Victories over Western Kentucky and Texas A&M helped soothe the pain of a poor season while an OT loss on the road to a nine-win Mississippi State team and a road loss to Alabama, a game they were highly competitive in until the fourth quarter displayed Williams’ ability to lead a squad.
But it wasn’t the scoreline that impressed me, it was the play. He was an injection of energy and anyone with an eyeball could see that his players wanted to play for him. They played hard, without fear, and with a nastiness only the best coaches can unlock. QB Robby Ashford took a massive step in his development while Auburn had a runner with at least 100 rushing yards in every game Williams coached. The defense recorded an interception in three out of the four games Williams coached while they recorded an interception in only two of the eight games played under Harsin.
Williams had that team rolling and when it came time to select a permanent head coach…Auburn hired their native son. Carnell Williams. An Alabama native, a successful player, and a promising head coach. I’m just kidding, they hired Hugh Freeze. You know this Mississippi boy who got investigated by the NCAA for recruiting violations where it was discovered that he paid players at Ole Miss, used his assistants to play players, claimed Houston Nutt, his predecessor was actually the one paying players, lying to the point that Ole Miss had to pay Nutt money and issue a public apology.
But wait, it gets better. Turns out Freeze lied to recruits about the severity of the investigation that they were granted waivers by the NCAA to transfer out of the Oxford dumpster fire, Freeze hired escorts via his university-issued cell phone while making the calls on a university-owned private plane so he probably isn’t the best person to appoint to a position where you have to be a leader of men.
Wait, it gets better. Freeze would be out of coaching for three years before being hired by Liberty Univeristy. You know, the strict, right-wing, queer-hating, Christian-based institution whose main goal is to prohibit premarital sex and get conservative-minded individuals elected into political office. It was a match made in heaven. Freeze, the born-again Christian who was using his coaching money to cheat on his wife was now an employee of a university whose President, Jerry Falwell Jr spread sexual and inappropriate photos of his wife among his male colleagues. The same Falwell Jr who tried to cover up a sex scandal involving himself, his wife, and a pool boy.
Now I’m sure most of you think that the two men and their personal issues aren’t mutually exclusive and it wouldn’t be except Falwell Jr helped approve the move that got Ian McCaw, Libety’s AD, elected. McCaw hired Freeze. McCaw also only went to Liberty because he was forced out at Baylor for failing to respond and report sexual assaults committed by members of the Baylor football team. Yeah. Great Christian values are displayed by these three men. Oh and when a former Liberty student and sexual assault survivor by the name of Chelsea Andrews voiced her displeasure with McCaw on Twitter, Freeze felt the need to DM her and defend his buddy. Freeze told Andrews that McCaw was “the most Jesus-like leader I have ever seen or been around.” Freeze would apologize publically for his words.
But despite all of this, Auburn decided to give him a six-year deal worth around 39 million dollars. Sometimes people can overlook the bad things if they win. Except he’s not a winner. Just because he beat Alabama twice and once had Ole Miss as the number 3 ranked team in the nation doesn’t mean he’s a winner. It was a success built off being such a scummy guy that the majority of his wins are vacated. He averaged 8 wins a season. Not bad but not overly impressive. David Cutcliffe averaged 8 wins, Lane Kiffin is averaging 8 wins. In the five years at Ole Miss, Freeze has 1 ten win season. Other teams in the SEC to have at least one 10+ win season during that span include Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Missouri, Auburn, and Mississippi State. Also, Tennessee and Vanderbilt had at least one nine-win season in that time so Freeze was doing the most to keep up with the Joneses.
So what have we learned? Hugh Freeze does what everyone else does but needs to commit violations to do it. He cheats to be average, he is a walking liability, needs his team to be better than his opponents to have success and he failed to be a leader of men. Now Auburn has committed its future to a joke.
Auburn was able to keep Carnell Williams as an assistant coach but he’ll get his head coaching opportunity soon and it’s highly likely they’ll never get a chance to have Williams be their head man again. Even if they did, I doubt Auburn, more importantly, Auburn’s boosters would give millions to a man with so much melanin.
It’s just sad though because the victims are the players and the fans. When Freeze doesn’t work out and when Auburn continues to be the joke of the SEC West, they will only have themselves to blame. They are too good to be so mediocre and while success may come their way, they’ll pay the price for it eventually. Let’s not forget the man who is in charge of Auburn had some of the best playmakers in the NFL and has nothing to show for it. Zero SEC titles, zero SEC championship game appearances, zero division claims, one NY6 victory, and a bunch of vacated wins. Maybe Freeze and Auburn are a match made in mediocre heaven so I say, grab your popcorn and get comfy as we watch the next SEC dumpster fire ignite right in front of us. You had a Cadillac and went for the Fiero. Well done Tigers.
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