Cohen: New Auburn coach to have 'tremendous edge'

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Nov. 4—Auburn began looking for a new football coach Monday with athletic director John Cohen promising the hire "has to have a tremendous edge to them."

"There are many ways to define that, but you can call it blue collar, you can call it hard-nosed, you can call it aggressive," Cohen said a day after the Tigers fired Hugh Freeze.

"You can call it all those things, but, usually, priority No. 1 is defining the part. Then, intelligence, strategic, forward-thinking. All those things matter."

The Tigers lost 10-3 at home to Kentucky on Saturday, which led Cohen to his final decision and capped Freeze's time on the Plains.

Auburn (4-5, 1-5 SEC) has lost three straight home games and, in Freeze's three seasons, regularly suffered from an anemic offense. The Tigers scored 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 conference games.

"I want to say I got a good night's sleep, but I didn't sleep at all on Saturday night," Cohen said. "But I want to be able to process everything that happens, because the last thing in a leadership role you ever want to do is have a knee-jerk reaction to anything.

"I needed some data. … I took time after the game to get my thoughts together and reached out to coach Freeze late, late morning on Sunday."

Cohen said "we're not sure" if Auburn will use a search firm to find a replacement and said naming an new coach by December's signing day and the upcoming transfer portal winder is "certainly as close to our plan as possible."

"The candidates that we are talking to, are they still playing at that time? Who are they playing for? And will they still be in a bowl?" Cohen said.

"I assume that every single candidate we are going to speak to outside of the building is going to be in that situation," he said. "We are going to work as quickly as we possibly can to try to get it done as quickly after the Iron Bowl as possible."

He said the ability to develop quarterbacks will be essential, but that was something touted about Freeze before he came to Auburn.

Freeze finished with a 15-19 record at Auburn, including 6-16 in the SEC. He's owed $15.8 million from a six-year, $39 million contract he signed when he replaced the fired Bryan Harsin in 2022.

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will be Auburn's interim head coach. Offensive coordinator Derrick Nix will take over playcalling duties. The Tigers play at Vanderbilt on Saturday.

"I love our team, and I love our guys," Durkin said. "I think we've got a great group that will respond well to what we're doing. I'm really excited, like I said, and humbled, and I told them that. To represent them as the head football coach is a major deal for me."

Durkin was interim head coach at Florida in 2014 after Will Muschamp resigned at the end of the regular season and was the full-time head coach at Maryland from 2016-18. He has an 11-15 career record.

"I do not take the responsibility lightly," Durkin said. "These players are counting on myself and our coaching staff to give them a plan that they can have success with come Saturday.

"That's the focus all the way."

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos