Hugh Freeze Buyout: How much will Auburn football have to pay to move on from head coach?

It's no secret that Auburn Tigers coach Hugh Freeze is on the hot seat. One could argue that Freeze is sitting on the hottest seat of any FBS coach right now.

Things are going from bad to worse for an Auburn team that started the season 2-1, losing each of their last four games to fall to 2-5. The road only gets tougher for the Tigers, with three ranked opponents in their final five games.

With Auburn favored in just two of its final five games, rumblings have started to come out of Auburn of a potential buyout for Hugh Freeze. Here's a closer look at Auburn's buyout options for him as the season approaches its end.

How much would a Hugh Freeze buyout cost?

Hugh Freeze would be the third straight Auburn coach to have his contract bought out after struggling in his second season with relatively low expectations.

Freeze and the Tigers likely will miss their projected win total of 7.5. If Auburn's football program were to move on from its coach, his buyout would be roughly $20 million.

Freeze's buyout could be spread out for the sake of yearly budgets, paying him an average of around $5 million per year over four years.

Auburn has shown a willingness to move on from struggling coaches, giving Bryan Harsin just 21 games at the helm.

Past Auburn football coach buyouts

Along with Bryan Harsin, Auburn bought out Gus Malzahn's contract after eight years (2013-2020). Both were costly buyouts for the Tigers' football program, only to be in a worse spot five years removed from firing Malzahn.

Auburn bought out Malzahn's contract 10 games into the 2020 season for $21.5 million. The school followed that by buying out Harsin's contract eight games into the 2022 season for $15.6 million.

The football program will be searching for its fourth coach in five seasons if – or, perhaps, when – it elects to move on from Freeze. In his two seasons, Freeze has led the Tigers to an 8-12 record in 20 games.