Hugh Freeze, Auburn’s head football coach, sees the larger picture when it comes to Bruce Pearl’s Tigers reaching their second Final Four in five years, excluding the cancelled 2020 March Madness tournament due to COVID-19 and the playoff ban-stricken 2020-21 season/tournament.
Freeze recognizes the Auburn brand’s great momentum as a result of its successful trip to San Antonio.
“I told him [Bruce Pearl], ‘you are in the middle of the fight right now and the battles—you don’t recognize the notoriety and the brand [building] for Auburn that you and your team are doing to help all of us,” Freeze told WKRG’s Simone Eli in Atlanta this past weekend.
This Auburn basketball team is inspirational on a national level. While some criticize the starting lineup’s aggregate age and accuse them of “not finding jobs yet,” players like Chad Baker-Mazara, Denver Jones, and Dylan Cardwell demonstrate that hard work can land you in spotlights previously reserved for high school 5-stars.
How can their path be anything else than inspiring? How about Johni Broome transitioning from Morehead State to Wooden Award discussions?
Pearl’s journey from the BBQ ashes of his Tennessee career to the No. 1 overall seed is also a lesson for coaches who believe they can’t rebound from rock bottom. And it’s a significant story given AU athletics’ other figurehead.
Given his own career trajectory, Freeze should respect his counterpart’s experience. His ejection from his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, by Ole Miss was even more harsh than Pearl’s in Knoxville.
Freeze faces a tougher road to atonement, especially given how his first two years went.
However, faith was placed in Pearl, and the results were remarkable. At this point, it’s worth contemplating having it in Freeze, even if the only good reason is to save NIL money by avoiding another buyout.
