With temperatures dropping fast and the PGA Tour regular season long over, golf is going dormant for the winter. And as happens this time every year in the U.S., football is asserting its dominance over the American sports landscape.
But for former Aubrun football coach Hugh Freeze, apparently there 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 according to a report, Freeze’s obsession with golf played a role in his firing.
Here’s what you need to know.
Auburn University’s football program has a storied past, including nine claimed national titles, the most recent coming in 2010.
But Freeze’s tenure has head coach has not gone well. Over three seasons, the team went 15-19 under his leadership. That’s not going to cut it for an elite NCAA football program.
So it’s no surprise Freeze was relieved of his duties after the team’s latest loss, an embarrassing 10-3 defeat 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.
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But according to a report from CBS Sports’ John Talty, it wasn’t only Freeze’s poor performance on the sidelines that lost him his job. His affinity for golf, even amid Auburn’s struggles, also contributed to his ouster.
Talty reports that multiple sources from within the Auburn football community told him “just how much Freeze seemed to prioritize his golf game over doing everything possible to improve the Tigers’ football program. Last season, for instance, he was spotted on the golf course multiple times on Sundays after losses the previous day.”
Freeze became self-conscious of media reporting about his love of golf and tried to change the narrative, but, as Talty writes, “he still couldn’t help himself.”
An Auburn booster spotted Freeze at a golf course before 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 only problem we didn’t foresee is that he wanted to play golf way more than coach anymore!”
Auburn replaced Freeze with interim head coach D.J. Durkin, but Freeze didn’t go away empty-handed. He reportedly will receive $15.8 million from Auburn after losing his job.
You can read Talty’s entire report for CBS Sports here.
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