Hugh Freeze did not travel to Lexington, Kentucky, with the Auburn football team for Friday’s Tigers’ Week 9 game against the Wildcats. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Freese plans to remain at Kroger Field, but due to illness, he will instead travel on Saturday morning.
“Source: Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is battling what could be food poisoning and did not travel to Kentucky with his team yesterday,” Thamel prefaced, adding, “He was in Lexington this morning. He is flying and plans to become a coach.”
Freeze is on a hot streak after losing four straight SEC games. Kentucky will be one of the last winnable games on Auburn’s schedule. Obviously, Tiger fans are concerned after hearing that Freeze is under inclement weather.
However, Freeze has a history of doing its best despite the weather.
In the first week of the 2019 season, Freeze coached from his hospital bed as Liberty’s head coach after undergoing surgery to treat a potentially life-threatening staph infection just two weeks earlier. Freeze held staff meetings from the hospital, but decided to coach the Flames’ game against Syracuse from the radio booth in the press box.
This act of defiance was a symbol of Freeze’s love for the game. Liberty lost 24-0, but was one of the best Group 5 teams in college football from 2020-2022 before he took the Auburn job.
AU needs a win. They cannot forgive the loss and the spiritual victory that comes with it. Freeze had just argued before this medical episode that he needed to coach his subordinates more strictly.
The situation is either setting up a heroic story of overcoming the odds and earning a much-needed road win, or the excuse for Auburn’s sixth loss of the season is already built in.
