According to USA Today’s Blake Toppmeyer, Auburn football is a lost cause without fired ex-head coach Gus Malzahn, who claims that Malzahn is fine without the Tigers as his employer at UCF.
“Auburn paid a $21.5 million buyout to fire a coach who had eight consecutive winning seasons, beat Nick Saban three times, and went 6-4 against an SEC-only schedule in the midst of our nation’s worst pandemic in a century,” Toppmeyer said before adding, “I thought Auburn’s 2020 decision to fire Gus Malzahn was foolish then.” The last three seasons have demonstrated that Malzahn is fine without Auburn, but the Tigers are doomed without him.”
Malzahn has mostly righted the ship since a brutal five-game losing streak from Week 4 to Week 9 of the 2023 season, beating Cincinnati (28-26) and really beating Oklahoma State (45-3) before losing 24-23 to Texas Tech in Week 12. He appears to be staying in Orlando as the Knights adjust to Big 12 play, and he will almost certainly not be an available option at offensive coordinator.
Especially after the Plains’ 21-point defeat at the hands of New Mexico State on November 18.
Analyst: Auburn football will be more successful under Hugh Freeze than under Bryan Harsin, but less successful under Freeze than under Bryan Harsin. Gus Malzahn is a dentist.
Toppmeyer predicted that Auburn would be less lost under Freeze than it was under Bryan Harsin, who never had a three-game winning streak in SEC play on the Plains. He also predicted that the Freeze era would not be as successful as Malzahn’s time in East Central Alabama.
“Disaster doesn’t even begin to describe the Bryan Harsin era,” Toppmeyer said before going on to say, “My early read on the Hugh Freeze era: He’ll succeed more than Harsin, but not as much as Malzahn, who won 66% of his games at AU.”
The Malzahn era was certainly underappreciated. Freeze will face more of the SEC than Malzahn did, which could result in far fewer wins.
But if Freeze can do what Malzahn couldn’t while leading the charge, win a meaningful bowl game, perhaps even a championship down the road, the current Tigers head coach’s time at the helm of Auburn football will be more meaningful than that of the fired ex-HC.
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