Offensive Staff is Set- I LOVE IT!

[toddc 13,194]

Hugh Freeze and Auburn’s offensive staff is set for 2024. Here’s a look at the final product

By 

Ainslie Lee | alee@al.com

Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze on the sideline during the first half of an NCAA football game against Mississippi Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023 in Auburn, Ala. (AL.com Photo/Stew Milne)Stew Milne

The first shoe dropped on Jan. 5 as Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze announced he wouldn’t be retaining Philip Montgomery, who served as Auburn’s offensive coordinator for the 2023 season. 

However, Montgomery’s exit wouldn’t be the only staff change Auburn’s offense saw as associate head coach and running backs coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams abruptly announced his plans to resign on Jan. 11, forcing Freeze to do a bit more restructuring as it pertains to the Tigers’ offensive coaching staff. 

And as of Wednesday afternoon, barring any unexpected changes, Freeze has filled out his offensive coaching staff for his second season at Auburn. 

More: A timeline of all of Auburn football’s staff changes

Here’s a look at the final product:

Offensive coordinator — Derrick Nix

Auburn announced the hiring of former Ole Miss associate head coach, wide receivers coach and running backs coach Derrick Nix on Jan. 17.

Nix comes to The Plains after spending the past 16 seasons at Ole Miss, which included five seasons under Freeze, who served as Ole Miss’ head coach from 2012-16. 

Quarterbacks coach — Kent Austin

Kent Austin was elevated to the role of quarterbacks coach on Jan. 17 after serving as Auburn’s special assistant to the head coach and quality control in 2023. 

Prior to taking his off-the-field role at Auburn last season, Austin served as Liberty’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterback’s coach under Freeze. Austin also spent two seasons serving as Ole Miss’ offensive coordinator 2008-09, as well as coaching stints in the Canadian Football League. 

Austin spent his college playing career at Ole Miss, where he quarterbacked the Rebels in the 1980s and is recognized as one of the program’s leading passers behind the likes of Eli Manning and Bo Wallace. 

Running backs coach — Derrick Nix

With the resignation of Cadillac Williams, Auburn also needed someone to coach running backs. 

Fortunately for the Tigers, Nix comes to Auburn having spent 12 years coaching running backs at Ole Miss, as well as a successful running back career at Southern Miss. 

At Southern Miss, Nix became the first Golden Eagle to notch 1,000 rushing yards in each of his freshman and sophomore campaigns and is the only Southern Miss and Conference USA player to have rushed for 1,000-plus yards in three seasons. 

Wide receivers coach — Marcus Davis

Auburn wide receivers coach Marcus Davis remained cemented in his current post as wide receivers coach throughout the Tigers’ staff shakeup. 

Davis, a former Auburn wide receiver himself, returned to his alma mater in December of 2022 as a part of Freeze’s inaugural staff at Auburn. Before his return to The Plains, Davis spent stints coaching receivers at Georgia Southern, Hawaii and Florida State.

Davis played for Auburn from 2013-16 and helped the Tigers capture an SEC title and make an appearance in the BCS National Championship as a freshman. 

Tight ends coach — Ben Aigamaua

Ben Aigamaua was also brought on as a member of Freeze’s inaugural staff at Auburn to serve as the Tigers’ tight ends coach. Aigamaua tagged along with Freeze after serving as Liberty’s tight ends coach for four seasons. 

Before his time at Liberty, Aigamaua spent seven years at Ole Miss and held a number of roles including graduate assistant, offensive analyst and assistant athletic director of community relations. Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss during Aigamaua’s first five seasons in Oxford. 

Aigamaua spent his playing career on the defensive line at Lambuth and played under Freeze for two seasons when he was head coach. 

Offensive line coach — Jake Thornton

Coaching Auburn’s guys along the offensive front is Jake Thornton, who was brought to Auburn as part of Freeze’s first coaching staff in December of 2022. 

Thornton’s jump to Auburn came after spending two seasons at Ole Miss — also as the Rebels’ offensive line coach. 

Thornton also spent time at Gardner-Webb and Tennessee Tech, as well as serving as an offensive line graduate assistant with Alabama’s national championship-winning team in 2017. 

After getting his start in Division II football, Thornton made the jump to Division I and played three seasons at Western Carolina.

[ArgoEagle 1,788]

All the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.  The fact that Nick Satan retired is an added bonus in speeding up the process.

I had predicted that no later than 2025 we would be competing for an SEC Championship.  I'll just go ahead & guarantee that now.

And if the ball bounces our way this coming year, we may even be in the playoffs, not as confident in that though.  Definitely better than 2023.

[bigbird 60,540]

This is a very good staff.  We're really coming together at the perfect time. 

[AU120289 379]

16 minutes ago, ArgoEagle said:

All the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.  The fact that Nick Satan retired is an added bonus in speeding up the process.

I had predicted that no later than 2025 we would be competing for an SEC Championship.  I'll just go ahead & guarantee that now.

And if the ball bounces our way this coming year, we may even be in the playoffs, not as confident in that though.  Definitely better than 2023.

🤔

[OfficiatingExpert 126]

Will this be enough to overcome the New Mexico State’s of the world? Time will tell lol

[Chaotic_zx 1,044]

16 minutes ago, OfficiatingExpert said:

Will this be enough to overcome the New Mexico State’s of the world? Time will tell lol

The new question will be if it will be enough to overcome Vandy. Vandy got the New Mexico State QB and hired Jerry Kill as a senior offensive analyst. So I am now concerned about that game. 

 

Transfer Portal: New Mexico State QB Diego Pavia Commits to Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea has announced that veteran coach Jerry Kill will join Vanderbilt as chief consultant to the head coach and senior offensive advisor.

 

[Hank2020 3,204]

53 minutes ago, AU120289 said:

🤔

Thats why we are called “fans”. Lol

[Hank2020 3,204]

8 minutes ago, Chaotic_zx said:

The new question will be if it will be enough to overcome Vandy. Vandy got the New Mexico State QB and hired Jerry Kill as a senior offensive analyst. So I am now concerned about that game. 

 

Transfer Portal: New Mexico State QB Diego Pavia Commits to Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea has announced that veteran coach Jerry Kill will join Vanderbilt as chief consultant to the head coach and senior offensive advisor.

 

Well, at least he won’t be peeing on the “V”!!!

Edited January 18 by Hank2020

[ArgoEagle 1,788]

1 hour ago, AU120289 said:

🤔

We'll see who gets to double down in 2025 Obi Wan.   Til then, may the force be with you

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

I hope so, for years now it's felt like Auburn/deep pockets must be absolutely bleeding money for former & current staff with not much to show for it. 

[AU120289 379]

12 hours ago, ArgoEagle said:

We'll see who gets to double down in 2025 Obi Wan.   Til then, may the force be with you

I truly hope you are right. It would be glorious, but I don’t see it. The Force is pretty clear on this one. LOL.

The body of work this year outside of recruiting (which he will have to keep delivering and developing those kids) was a massive disappointment, and he squandered almost all of the goodwill he had  

After the season, I went back and watched the intro presser again. He oversold himself and his abilities, severely underwhelmed from a coaching stand point, failed as a CEO, turned over his hand picked staff after 1 year, took credit for the good, and mostly pushed blame for the bad.

The ultimate weasel move for me was dumping on the bowl game offensive game plan which he could have vetoed but didn’t as Head Coach. He is a career 8-4 coach, if you include his vacated wins.

Again, I hope I am wrong and will gladly eat crow all day long. 
 

Edited January 19 by AU120289

[gravejd 3,270]

The parallels between the Harsin era and the Freeze era are striking. About the only differences have been no offseason scandal for Freeze and that nice looking recruiting class. And those are very important differences....now can Freeze translate that into success on the field?? 

[shabby 1,958]

19 minutes ago, gravejd said:

The parallels between the Harsin era and the Freeze era are striking. About the only differences have been no offseason scandal for Freeze and that nice looking recruiting class. And those are very important differences....now can Freeze translate that into success on the field?? 

I agree. However I would say that's its not just a recruiting class but a structure that should result in long term competitive recruiting. This is huge. 

[Auburn93 540]

10 hours ago, AU120289 said:

I truly hope you are right. It would be glorious, but I don’t see it. The Force is pretty clear on this one. LOL.

The body of work this year outside of recruiting (which he will have to keep delivering and developing those kids) was a massive disappointment, and he squandered almost all of the goodwill he had  

After the season, I went back and watched the intro presser again. He oversold himself and his abilities, severely underwhelmed from a coaching stand point, failed as a CEO, turned over his hand picked staff after 1 year, took credit for the good, and mostly pushed blame for the bad.

The ultimate weasel move for me was dumping on the bowl game offensive game plan which he could have vetoed but didn’t as Head Coach. He is a career 8-4 coach, if you include his vacated wins.

Again, I hope I am wrong and will gladly eat crow all day long. 
 

And right now, we need 8-4. 

[1auburn1 1,120]

28 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

And right now, we need 8-4. 

Yes, the record has to start improving to show the new staff knows how to coach, not just recruit.    If not, the recruiting well will begin to dry up also.

[Mims44 1,871]

1 hour ago, shabby said:

I agree. However I would say that's its not just a recruiting class but a structure that should result in long term competitive recruiting. This is huge. 

20 minutes ago, 1auburn1 said:

Yes, the record has to start improving to show the new staff knows how to coach, not just recruit.    If not, the recruiting well will begin to dry up also.

Yes to both of these.

Gotta remember, Gus was fired for recruiting 4th-6th in the SEC and coming in 4th-6th with his record.

Freeze being 5th his first year is a fine start, but that either needs to improve to being 1st-3rd or show he's great at coaching up the talent he has.

[TigerOne 1,144]

On 1/19/2024 at 8:14 AM, gravejd said:

The parallels between the Harsin era and the Freeze era are striking. About the only differences have been no offseason scandal for Freeze and that nice looking recruiting class. And those are very important differences....now can Freeze translate that into success on the field?? 

Will Freeze actually coach anything?

sure he as automatic check deposit so that should free him up a little bit.

[auburnphan 6,050]

Freeze has his guys now, so I like that for him.