AU's Will Herring: 'Freeze is a man of integrity'

In recent days, the momentum surrounding Auburn’s search for its next head coach appears to have shifted to Hugh Freeze.

Freeze, the head coach at Liberty University, holds a 34-15 record at the private Christian school. Liberty’s 2022 regular season was highlighted by a win over an SEC team in Arkansas and a dominant 41-14 performance against BYU.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, who was reportedly among the lead candidates for the Auburn vacancy, recently announced he agreed to a contract extension to keep him in Oxford.

While Auburn interim head coach Cadillac Williams has earned widespread praise among the Tigers’ community, Freeze’s name continues to be mentioned as a contender to be the head man on The Plains.

Shortly after the Tigers lost to Alabama in Saturday’s Iron Bowl, former Auburn standout linebacker Will Herring took to social media and proclaimed his support for Freeze.

Also, showering praise on Williams, Herring described his former teammate’s efforts as interim head coach as being “unbelievable.”

“Long story short, I have never been more proud of my man Cadillac and a group of young men, OK. What they did — unbelievable,” said Herring in a video posted to Twitter. “I just got done texting Lac a minute ago and I’ve never been more proud of an Auburn man than I am right now for Lac and what he did and how he led those boys. Lac loves our young men not as players, as young men.”

My thoughts on AU coaching search. pic.twitter.com/xZzSUj7bBd

— Will Herring (@wherring54) November 28, 2022

According to Herring, “integrity cannot be compromised at Auburn.”

“You can win without integrity in some places, not at Auburn. No integrity, no character, no program as far as we’re concerned,” he said. “Lane, I repeat myself, you would not have fit in. Bye.”

Portions of the Auburn fan base have raised concerns of late regarding Freeze and the circumstances that led to his exit from Ole Miss.

“Hugh Freeze — everybody is throwing stones right now,” said Herring. “Me and my wife happen to be very close friends with a couple through our church and have been for the past two years, Jordan McManus and Mark McManus. I love them like a niece and nephew. Jordan, the wife, her dad is Hugh Freeze.

“I feel like I’ve known Hugh for a year and a half. Never met the man but I do know this, he’s a man of integrity. He loves his young men as men the same way Lac loved on our boys as young men, not as players. There’s coaches who only care about what the players have to offer to promote their careers. That’s not Lac, and that’s ain’t Hugh, either. Lac is assistant head coach day one. You can take that to the bank, if he will take the job.”

Herring proclaimed that he would “stand by” Freeze should he become the next Tigers head coach.

“Hugh Freeze is man of integrity. Did crap happen at Ole Miss? Yeah, it did, but I ain’t going to cast no stone cause I have made mistakes, too,” he said. “If Mrs. Freeze stands by her husband, I stand by him too if he decides and gets offered the job at Auburn.

“That’s my take. My humble opinion.”

Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL