Grade the take: Is Auburn Tigers' Hugh Freeze sitting on the hottest seat in the SEC?

The year 2025 would be a great one for Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers to make a bowl game. Auburn hired the controversial former Liberty, Ole Miss and Arkansas State head coach to get the Tigers back in good graces among the many SEC blue-bloods. Freeze won at a high level at his three previous stops. The thought was he would help Auburn instill fear in rivals such as Alabama, Georgia and LSU.

Unfortunately, that has not been the case so far. Freeze did inherit a steaming pile of crap from the failed experiment that was the brief Bryan Harsin era down on the Plains. However, the SEC is in a far different place from the last time Freeze coached there. Players can be compensated for their names, images and likenesses. Being likable goes a long way for prospective recruits.

So when Conor O'Gara of Saturday Down South argued that Freeze is sitting atop the hottest seat in the SEC, I had to wonder how true that is. O'Gara argued that for financial reasons, it probably is Freeze over the likes of Sam Pittman at Arkansas, Billy Napier at Florida, Mark Stoops at Kentucky and Brent Venables at Oklahoma. Is there anyone O'Gara failed to include in this argument?

Is Hugh Freeze really sitting on the hottest seat in the SEC at Auburn?

Of the five names O'Gara included, I have to cross off Napier immediately. He navigated a seemingly impossible schedule last season. Napier has the support of his athletic director Scott Stricklin and seems to have Florida trending in the right direction in year four under his guidance. As long as DJ Lagway shows marked improvement in his first full season as the starter, Napier is undoubtedly safe.

If I had to replace Napier with anyone in the SEC, I would argue for LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly. He may be capable of winning the SEC at LSU, but his team does not play a lick of defense and is far too volatile for this to continue for much longer. Kelly is not likable at all. Plus, the fact his successor at Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman, is having tremendous success makes Kelly look worse.

I do not think it will be Napier or Kelly to go first in the SEC, so let's look at the other four candidates. The next head coach I would probably cross off is Venables at Oklahoma. No, I do not think he is long for Norman, but the amount of investment that has been put into his program — whether that be salary, staff or NIL — is too much for this to end after next season.

Hence, I would say Stoops is probably the next one to be crossed off. He may be the longest-tenured head coach in the SEC at over a decade now, but I do not see the same amount of investment into Kentucky football that Venables is getting at Oklahoma. Another losing season may result in many Kentucky boosters biting the bullet and paying his massive buyout. He is on the fence.

That leaves us with Freeze and Pittman... Is Freeze really sitting on the hottest seat in the SEC? That is hard to say, because good luck ever trying to predict what Arkansas and Auburn will do. Pittman may be on the other end of the likability spectrum from Freeze, but he is only as good as his coordinators. He is the ultimate CEO-type, whereas Freeze can always return to calling plays.

In a close race, I would say that O'Gara is right in saying Freeze is on the hottest seat in the SEC. While money does play a factor in all this, what tips the scales in favor of Pittman keeping his job over Freeze is that one man is a good person, and the other has real character concerns. Freeze's buyout is chump change compared to many of his SEC contemporaries. My concern remains Auburn's volatility.

If Arkansas fires Pittman, then the Razorbacks are choosing to move on from their best head coach since Bret Bielema — or maybe even Houston Nutt. While the Razorback faithful may have grown tired of Arkansas' finite ceiling under Pittman, I would not be surprised if others were sad to see him go. Once again, Freeze was hired by John Cohen to win. If he can't do that, then Auburn will need to move on.

Freeze may be in the hottest seat in the SEC, but I would not be surprised if Auburn wins eight games.

Take grade: A-