This year's college football coaching carousel is going to be the craziest in recent memory.
In the last three weeks alone, five Power Four head coaches have been fired from their respective jobs. On Sunday, it was Auburn's Hugh Freeze who received his walking papers following a 10-3 loss to Kentucky on Saturday. Freeze joins Florida's Billy Napier, Penn State's James Franklin, LSU's Brian Kelly and Oregon State's Trent Bray in being fired since Oct. 11.
Freeze, who was head coach of Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty previously, went a combined 15-19 across his three-year tenure with the Tigers. Following a 6-7 2023 season that ended with a loss in the Music City Bowl, Auburn never made another bowl game under Freeze, going 5-7 in 2024 and starting 2025 with a 4-5 record before he was canned. He went just 6-16 in SEC play during his time with the Tigers.
Freeze's buyout from his Auburn contract was $15.4 million, per USA Today. It's a figure that pales in comparison to Franklin's $49 million buyout or Kelly's buyout of $54 million, but still hefty.
Auburn's move to fire Freeze now could also put Ohio State back in the running for five-star safety Bralan Womack, who selected the Tigers over the Buckeyes on Aug. 21. Womack is still committed to Auburn but has announced he's reopening his recruitment to other suitors. He took an official visit to Columbus in June.
Following the firing of Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze, 5-star safety Bralan Womack will remain committed to the Tigers.
— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) November 2, 2025
...But he's opening up his recruitment to new suitors, and has locked in a visit to Texas A&M.
VIP Story: https://t.co/DDN05FVpmZ@247Sports / @B_Mack02 pic.twitter.com/w5u1qa8sj0
The quartet of coaches fired in the last three weeks aren't the only Power Four coaches who have already hit the unemployment line this season. In September, Oklahoma State fired Mike Gundy and Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry, with Pry's firing coming the same weekend that UCLA fired DeShaun Foster. Arkansas also fired head coach Sam Pittman at the end of September.
That makes nine total Power Four head coaches fired since the season began. Stanford coach Troy Taylor was fired in March to make another major program seeking a new head man this year, and more firings will certainly follow as the season continues and once it ends.
Be prepared for a flurry of chaotic coaching movement in college football this offseason.
