Freezer-burned Tigers
What's next for Auburn after kicking Hugh Freeze to the curb? Plus grades on the Kent State hire
Every week I think I’m not going to have to write a Coaching Shortlist. Every week I’m wrong.
12 open jobs - we evened out after Auburn fired Hugh Freeze and Kent State took the interim label off of Mark Carney - just days into November is crazy. But this is going to be a crazy cycle.
Especially when Auburn isn’t the craziest situation on the market, but that’s more of a story for tomorrow.
So, with Hugh Freeze out on The Plains, let’s get into it.
The Job
Let’s start with this: Auburn is a unique situation.
Yes, they’re in the SEC and one of the sport’s most recognizable brands, but that’s mostly due to the men’s basketball team’s highs under Bruce Pearl. Who’s now considering a run for one of Alabama’s Senate seats because that’s how Alabama politics work.
They’re in the nation’s toughest conference and have Alabama, of all schools, as their arch rival. Granted, it’s not the Saban-era death machine the Tigers have seen in years past, but Kalen DeBoer still has the Tide light years ahead of Auburn.
Credit to Auburn: they do have a strong fan base. Even as the results on the field have slipped in recent years, Jordan-Hare Stadium has stayed packed to the brim and one of the toughest environments to play in the nation. This is a fan base that is desperately waiting for their moment in the sun and is ready to explode once they get there. It’ll be glorious once Auburn is better again, but that can be a double-edged sword.
With such an active SEC fan base, the expectation is obviously to compete for national championship. But can Auburn do that? Claimed titles aside, Auburn hasn’t been a title contender in recent years. Their last national championship came on the back of Cam Newton way back in the 2010 season. Since then, the Tigers have just one other national championship appearance (a loss in 2013) and just two other bowl wins. Since the advent of the College Football Playoff, Auburn is dead even with six winning seasons and six losing seasons.
Still, the expectation here is to compete against Alabama, in the SEC, and for national championships. Even if recent history shows the program is far from that.
But that’s not the kicker. The main problem here is Auburn’s institutional issues. They’re still paying buyouts to not one, but three coaches. The recently-fired Freeze is due $15.8 million. Their previous coach, Bryan Harsin, is still seeing checks from his $15.3 million buyout. The coach before Harsin, Gus Malzahn, still has one installment of $2.68 million coming from his $21.45 million buyout - then an NCAA record.
And all of that is on top of the Auburn boosters being an absolute nightmare to work with. They organized a coup of sorts on the athletic department to push Harsin out by threatening to withhold NIL donations. They pushed Bobby Bowden out after an alleged affair with a booster’s daughter that was never proven.
The good news is that Auburn institutionally finally has a semblance of stability. Athletic director John Cohen got a two-year extension on his contract last year, but hasn’t hit on a football hire yet and pressure is mounting. They have a former athletic director in Jared Benko in the wings as well, currently serving as deputy AD. Auburn President Christopher Roberts has been in place since 2022 and is a champion of athletics at his university, often seen supporting the teams in-person.
But there’s a lot of baggage with this job that will scare away some candidates.
The Candidates
As always, the top five candidates listed here are pure speculation. Unless otherwise noted, I’m not hearing things or having sources whispering things in my ear. If I know, you’ll know.
We’ll also likely see the Tigers move quickly to hire a coach. Their previous coaching searches have all moved at a breakneck pace, with most resolving in 28-35 days. Obviously, that narrows the pool some, but I think patience may be more rewarding for the Tigers.
Jon Sumrall, Tulane HC: Sumrall will be a hot name on the SEC cycles this Fall. We talked about him for the Arkansas job what feels like ages ago, but Sumrall’s a winner and has SEC blood in him as a former Kentucky player. He may be biding his time to see if his alma mater’s position comes open, but Sumrall’s a good bet for one of these SEC jobs.
James Franklin, former Penn State HC: The noise around Franklin and Virginia Tech is strong, but Auburn even with all its warts, is a clearly better position. We know what Franklin is and he had success in the SEC previously at Vanderbilt, but that was an entirely different world. Cohen prioritizes coaches with SEC coaching experience, and with Franklin out of a job right now, a quick hire might be a fit. He’s a known quantity and can at least bring stability to the Plains.
Jimbo Fisher, former Texas A&M and Florida State HC: I’ve already let on that I have sources telling me Fisher is gearing up for a return to coaching, and he has SEC experience, albeit an 8-4 filled experience. Believe it or not, but 8-4 is an improvement on where Harsin and Freeze have the program. Fisher, unlike Franklin, has led a program in the SEC during the transfer portal era, so may be a more attractive candidate. And, like Franklin, he’s not currently coaching and can be brought on quickly.
Dan Mullen, UNLV HC: Mullen has plenty of SEC experience at Mississippi State and Florida, and his first foray into coaching after the wheels fell off in Gainesville has gone well. Mullen has always been a well-regarded X’s and O’s coach, but his big knock has been recruiting. Wild to consider that Mullen and noted quality recruiter Billy Napier had similar class ranks at Florida. He’s going to get SEC looks, especially as more jobs open, and has the offensive-minded mold most recent Auburn coaches fit.
Glenn Schumann, Georgia DC: Coordinators are going to get hot this cycle and Schumann’s name will be one you see coming up a lot. He’s been the defensive coordinator in Athens since Dan Lanning was pried away by Oregon and authored some seriously good units. He’d be a risk as a first-time head coach, but it’s worked out well for Lanning and you can’t forget that his boss, Kirby Smart, was also a first-time head coach when he took the Georgia job.
Kent State Report Card
It’s not all firings, though, as Kent State made the first hire of the cycle. Well, maybe not a true hire, as it was just removing the interim tag from Mark Carney’s title and making him the full-time head coach.
We can talk about how bad the positions at Auburn or LSU look, but Kent State is legitimately one of the hardest jobs in the FBS. Despite being in a fertile recruiting area like Northeast Ohio, the Flashes are routinely battling the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and other power schools in addition to their MACtion foes. Like many MAC schools, Kent State is working on a shoestring budget and doesn’t have much to invest into athletics at all, let alone football.
Carney has done what his predecessor, Kenni Burns, could not: win football games. The Carney era started with a win over FCS Merrimack, the program’s first overall win since September 16, 2023 when they beat 3-9 FCS Central Connecticut State. That was Burns’s only win while in Kent.
Carney, though, continued to point the program upwards. His Flashes earned their first FBS and MAC win over UMass October 11 in a 42-6 beatdown of the MACtion newcomer. It was the program’s first FBS and conference win since November 2022. Kent State followed it up with a comeback from a 21-3 deficit against Bowling Green to top the Falcons, 24-21.
With Kent State sitting at an unbelievable 3-5 and 2-2 in-conference, giving Carney the job makes a lot of sense. The team erupted into cheers when Carney’s promotion was announced, which bodes well for his future.
Grade: B
Interim to full-time hires are hard, but Kent State didn’t have a ton of viable candidates at all. Carney already proved that he could do better than Kent State has seen since Sean Lewis departed, and he more than earned the job. Here’s to better MACtion football.
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