Auburn coaching search: Why Tigers hired Hugh Freeze after missing out on Lane Kiffin

Auburn on Monday hired former Ole Miss and Liberty coach Hugh Freeze to lead the Tigers' program. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that Freeze received a six-year contract worth $6.5 million a year. 

The hiring makes sense considering Freeze is one of the top offensive minds in college football and has spent the last four seasons coaching the Flames to unprecedented success. That said, he reportedly was not Auburn athletic director John Cohen's first choice.

That distinction goes to current Rebels coach Lane Kiffin. A report ahead of Rivalry Week indicated that Kiffin would take over at Auburn following the Egg Bowl, though that quickly unraveled as the coach himself denied the reports.

So now the Tigers have Freeze, who has been widely reported to be the team's second choice behind Kiffin. He is the team's third head coach since 2018. The school fired Gus Malzahn after the 2020 season and his successor, Bryan Harsin, during the 2022 campaign.

Welcome HOME, @CoachHughFreeze🦅

📰 https://t.co/RAyeZbj2zW pic.twitter.com/ohcTWhSwUn

— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) November 28, 2022

MORE: Why Tigers reportedly moved on from Lane Kiffin to target Hugh Freeze

Here's everything you need to know about Auburn's hiring of Freeze, and the circumstances that led to him becoming the Tigers' coach:

Why did Auburn hire Hugh Freeze?

The simplest answer is because Auburn was unable to land Kiffin. That said, Freeze has long been considered a candidate to return to the SEC, not only for his offensive coaching prowess but also because of the success he sustained at Ole Miss and Liberty.

Freeze has just one losing season in 12 years of college head coaching. He began his career at Arkansas State in 2011, leading the Red Wolves to a 10-3 record. The following season, he took over at Ole Miss, and he improved the Rebels' record every year through 2015, culminating in a 10-win season and the team's first Sugar Bowl victory since 1970.

More importantly, he became one of the few coaches to ever beat Alabama's Nick Saban in consecutive years. The Rebels upended the heavily favored Crimson Tide in 2014 and 2015. The only other coach to do that to date was former LSU coach Les Miles, who did it in 2010 and 2011.

Another facet of Auburn's decision to hire Freeze is his ability to create top-end offenses. Those typically have been the types of teams that give Saban's Alabama program the most trouble, as demonstrated in losses this season to LSU and Tennessee.

Freeze's coaching acumen was enough for Cohen to prioritize him, even amid reported pushback by those close to the program.

Hearing pushback on Auburn administration re fb hire now that Lane is staying at Ole Miss. Plan A was Lane; Plan B was Freeze. Don't know if Auburn had a Plan C. Bears watching.

— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) November 28, 2022

MORE: How Cadillac Williams went from NFL to Auburn interim head coach

Why did Lane Kiffin turn down Auburn?

Before Auburn moved its search focus to Freeze, it was widely reported that their top choice was Kiffin, who was Saban's offensive coordinator from 2014 through 2016 before taking over at Florida Atlantic and then Ole Miss.

Like Freeze, Kiffin is an offensive-oriented coach who has had a hand in some of college football's most potent offenses of the past 20-plus years. His success in that area, plus his familiarity with the SEC landscape and Saban's operating procedure at Alabama, reportedly made him Auburn's top target.

Jon Sokoloff of Columbia, Miss., news station WCBI reported Wednesday that Kiffin would step down following the Egg Bowl to take the Auburn job. The third-year Rebels coach vehemently denied that report:

That’s news to me Jon. 🤦‍♂️. Nice sources 🚫👿🪑🍽 https://t.co/P8rdpxEk0p

— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) November 22, 2022

Following the Rebels' Egg Bowl loss to Mississippi State on Thursday, Kiffin said he anticipated being Ole Miss' coach in 2023, also taking time to call out Sokoloff for his reporting:

"It was falsely reported by Jon, who is now famous. Congratulations. That you can just write whatever you want ... I would do it, too, I think," Kiffin told reporters after the game (via 247Sports). "You're never held accountable and you get to become famous ... maybe you'll be right.

"Jon did it, so then I had to have a team meeting to say his article was wrong, which I'd love to know these unnamed sources from Jon. I had to have a team meeting because of that. They don't ... when there's other stuff in chat rooms ... but when a reporter writes it, it changes the game of that."

One reported issue Kiffin had with going to Auburn was his family's desire to remain in Oxford. Regardless, Auburn's reported interest was enough to help Kiffin leverage a new, eight-year contract with an annual average of $9 million.

MORE: Why did Auburn fire Bryan Harsin?

Why did Hugh Freeze resign at Ole Miss?

Freeze resigned as Rebels coach ahead of the 2017 season, after suffering his only losing season to date the year prior.

Despite his history of success, he was forced to resign by then-athletic director Ross Bjork after it was discovered Freeze used a university-issued phone to call a Detroit number with ties to a Florida escort service.

Moreover, the NCAA found that Ole Miss had committed multiple recruiting infractions under Freeze and his predecessor, Houston Nutt. The NCAA cited Freeze in its findings for failing to monitor his assistant coaches and school boosters, but it did not give him a show-cause penalty.

The NCAA levied a two-year postseason ban, placed Ole Miss on three years' probation and upheld the school's reduction in scholarships. The Rebels also vacated 33 wins from 2010-16, 27 of which were under Freeze.