With temperatures dropping rapidly and the PGA Tour regular season long over, golf is on hold for the winter. And as happens every year in the US, football is asserting its dominance over the American sporting landscape.
But for former Aubrun football coach Hugh Freeze, there apparently is no offseason in golf, even in the middle of the NCAA football season.
Freeze was fired from Auburn’s top coaching post on Sunday and a report said Freeze’s obsession with golf played a role in his firing.
Here’s what you need to know.
Auburn fires head coach Hugh Freeze, partly over golf
The Auburn University football program has a storied past, including nine claimed national titles, the most recent in 2010.
But Freeze’s tenure as head coach has not gone well. Through three seasons under his leadership, the team went 15-19. That’s not enough for an elite NCAA football program.
So it’s no surprise that Freeze was relieved of his duties after the team’s latest loss, an embarrassing 10-3 loss to the University of Kentucky on Saturday night. It was Auburn’s fifth loss in six games after starting the season with three straight wins.
But according to a report from John Talty of CBS SportsIt wasn’t just Freeze’s poor performance on the sidelines that caused him to lose his job. His affinity for golf, even amid Auburn’s struggles, also contributed to his ouster.
Talty reports that multiple sources within the Auburn football community told him “how much Freeze seemed to prioritize his golf game over doing everything possible to improve the Tigers’ football program. For example, last season he was seen on the golf course several times on Sunday after the previous day’s losses.”
Freeze became aware of media coverage of his love of golf and tried to change the narrative, but, as Talty writes, “he still couldn’t do anything about it.”
An Auburn booster spotted Freeze on a golf course for a Friday game this season. According to the booster, Freeze showed up without clubs, just to “watch guys play golf.”
Talty quotes another booster who said, “The one problem we didn’t anticipate is that he wanted to play golf much more than coach!”
Auburn replaced Freeze with interim head coach DJ Durkin, but Freeze didn’t leave empty-handed. He will reportedly receive $15.8 million from Auburn after losing his job.
You can read Talty’s full report for CBS Sports here.
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