AUBURN | When John Cohen was hired as Auburn’s athletic director Oct. 31, one of the most important factors he mentioned in the impending coaching search was fit.

Exactly four weeks later, it was fit that he first mentioned with the hire of Hugh Freeze as the Tigers’ 31st football head coach.

“After a thoughtful, thorough, and well-vetted search, we ended where we started, with Hugh Freeze,” said Cohen in AU’s press release. “Of all the candidates we considered, Hugh was the best fit. Fit has several meanings, but the most important factors were student-athlete development, football strategy, recruiting and SEC experience.”

Cohen, who came from Mississippi State, specified that fit was different depending on the school and situation. And Cohen believes Freeze checks off those boxes when it comes to his fit at an Auburn program trying to compete with two perennial top five programs in Alabama and Georgia.

From a player development standpoint, Freeze coached four first-round NFL Draft picks and had 20 All-SEC players at Ole Miss. At Liberty, he developed Auburn quarterback transfer Malik Willis into a top draft prospect, throwing for 2,857 yards and 27 touchdowns, and rushing for 878 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2021.

Freeze’s offense has excelled at every stop including ranking 16th in the country at Liberty in 2020 averaging 38.2 points per game. Ole Miss led the SEC in 2015 averaging 40.8 points.

His 2013 and 2016 classes at Ole Miss ranked No. 7 nationally in the Rivals team rankings and are the highest-rated classes in school history. Seven of his signees went on to earn All-American honors.

Freeze comes to Auburn with 12 years of head coaching experience including five at Ole Miss from 2012-16. He has two more additional years of SEC experience as an assistant at Ole Miss from 2006-07.

In his first statement as Auburn’s head coach, Freeze acknowledged the work that Cadillac Williams put in as interim coach over the last four weeks. The former Auburn players is expected to remain as part of Freeze’s staff.

"First, I want to acknowledge Cadillac Williams for the incredible job he did as interim head coach. The impact he made is immeasurable and cannot be overstated,” said Freeze. “Secondly, Auburn is one of the preeminent programs in college football and I’m very appreciative of President (Chris) Roberts and John Cohen for this opportunity at Auburn.

“I’ve been fortunate to witness first-hand how special Auburn is during my time as a head coach in the SEC and while visiting my daughter Jordan who attended Auburn and currently lives in the community. I can’t wait to work with our student-athletes and the Auburn family to bring championships back to the Plains.”

Auburn will officially introduce Freeze during a press conference Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. CT at the new Woltosz Football Performance Center.