Key Points:
- Hugh Freeze was fired after Auburn fell to 4-5 on the season.
- 5-star commit Jase Mathews shared his reaction and hinted at exploring options.
- Auburn to participate in competitive coaching carousel.
The Auburn Tigers lost to the Kentucky Wildcats 10-3 on Saturday at home, dropping them to 4-5 and 1-5 in SEC matchups. The next day, the program opted to fire head coach Hugh Freeze, who’d been the head coach since 2023. He officially finished his tenure with Auburn, having a 15-19 overall record, going 0-1 in bowl games and never achieving a winning season.
When a team makes a change as drastic as this, there are several other parts of the program that get affected. That includes high school recruiting. Freeze had put together a solid 2026 recruiting class, which ranks No. 11 in the SEC and No. 24 in the nation with 14 commitments.
One of the key pieces to that group is wide receiver Jase Mathews out of Leakesville, Mississippi. Rivals places him as a five-star recruit, the No. 1 wide receiver and the No. 12 player in the nation.
Of course, it’s not uncommon for players to decommit after a head coach gets fired. However, while talking to Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong, Mathews didn’t appear too broken up.
“That’s crazy,” Mathews said. “That’s unfortunate. But I think I’m going to take it in a good way. I liked Freeze but anything to improve the program is great. Just keep on taking it the way I’ve been, day by day, not let it affect my choice too much but keeping my head on a swivel.”
However, Mathews isn’t completely locked down with the Tigers, also telling Wiltfong, “under these circumstances I’ll probably contact other schools.”
The wide receiver still holds offers from a handful of college football’s top programs, including Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Miami, LSU and Vanderbilt.
The Road Ahead for Auburn
The Tigers are now trying to limit the damage with defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin serving as the interim head coach, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.
The team will be searching for a new long-term head coach. Unfortunately, they’ll have to compete with other desirable programs with head coach vacancies, including Penn State, LSU and Florida.
As Auburn regroups, it enters a pivotal time for the program, where it must balance keeping recruits such as Mathews happy while finding the best candidate for the job.
The Tigers still have three regular-season games remaining as well, with an upcoming matchup against the No. 15 Vanderbilt Commodores.