Hugh Freeze is Auburn’s 31st head coach and arguably its most controversial hire. Sometimes the jokes write themselves, and this is one of those times.

What makes a good college rivalry?

There are a few things required: proximity, healthy respect, healthy dislike or hatred and, in today’s age of social media, an easy target to make fun of. And Auburn just handed Alabama fans all the ammunition they’ll ever need to poke fun at their rival. You can already see the ESPN “College Gameday” signs, can’t you? Puns about escorts and running afoul of the NCAA and the infamous screenshot of him giving a thumbs up from a hospital bed inside a stadium suite.

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The jokes won’t stop no matter how much Freeze wins. But that’s what Auburn is banking on, that its fan base will focus on the winning that they’re convinced will come under his leadership.

Alabama-Auburn is the best rivalry in college football. This is my home state, and I won’t make apologies for why I rank it first. With respect to everyone else, you’re running for second place, though Michigan–Ohio State is a great game that deserves national respect. But Michigan and Ohio State don’t share a state, so the everyday stakes just aren’t the same. There’s just something about knowing you’ll be ridiculed by classmates, co-workers and family members that makes the Tide-Tigers rivalry different.

The ridicule has already started since the news broke Monday afternoon that Freeze had been offered and accepted the Tigers’ head coaching position, leaving Liberty. The derision didn’t just come from the partisan Alabama side of the aisle, either. It came from Auburn fans disgusted that someone with Freeze’s reputation was now their leader. I’m not here to litigate Freeze’s past. I know what’s been alleged, but that’s it. You are free to research what’s been attached to his name and make your own determination of whether or not he should be leading young men.

What’s clear enough is that some Auburn fans had already done so and were embarrassed that their program had handed over the keys to Freeze, who SI.com reported needed to relinquish control of his social media accounts upon taking the Auburn job. Freeze denied that Tuesday, though he also said someone else has been running his account in recent weeks.

As a football coach, Freeze is an upgrade for Auburn. No one can deny that. That’s not a particularly high bar to clear from the 1.5 seasons of Bryan Harsin, but it’s true all the same. Freeze was said to already be recruiting Monday night even before his Tuesday news conference. The retention of interim head coach Cadillac Williams, which was almost assuredly a condition of his employment or at the very least highly recommended, assures he’ll be quickly welcomed at every school in the state.

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That’s the one thing that will be an instant upgrade over Harsin, who did a miserable job of recruiting the state and the Southeast. High school coaches told stories about the lack of effort Harsin put into talent acquisition. Freeze and Williams will remedy that.

Much has been made of Freeze’s back-to-back wins against Nick Saban and Alabama in 2014-15. He also had a 21-point lead late in the second quarter in 2016. That’s one of the reasons he brings hope to Auburn. But if it was only about beating Saban, Auburn already had a coach who did that in Gus Malzahn. And he was paid handsomely to leave.

Freeze came close to winning the SEC West in 2015, but the fourth-and-25 Hunter Henry miracle prevented it. Overall, he was 39-25 (the NCAA vacated 27 of those wins in 2019) at Ole Miss. Given the talent he’ll likely be able to attract to Auburn, the thinking goes that his ceiling goes up as well.

The Tigers, along with Tennessee, start every season with the hardest conference schedule, given that both programs play Alabama and Georgia every season. So a difference-maker at head coach like Alabama and Georgia have is almost a necessity. Can Freeze be that? The jury is still out, though there’s no doubt he’s a good head coach. But can he be great while directly competing with Saban and Kirby Smart, the program’s two biggest rivals?

"I have great respect for Nick. He and Mrs. Terry have been great friends to us too, but I hope they're a little nervous today."

Hugh Freeze can't wait for the Iron Bowl 🔥

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 29, 2022

Freeze’s hiring automatically inserts some juice that was lost in the Iron Bowl the past two years. The 2021 game was a four-overtime classic, but it wasn’t that fun of a game to watch as both offenses slugged along. And as I wrote last week, there was sort of a cloud hanging over this year’s game. The game itself almost felt like the appetizer, as most of the attention was on Lane Kiffin and if he’d be the Tigers’ new coach.

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I can tell you that sitting in the press box covering the game, there was almost more attention paid to the fact that Jimmy Sexton was spotted with Auburn AD John Cohen than on the actual game. Kiffin and Freeze are both Sexton clients.

With Freeze on the sideline for next year’s Iron Bowl in Auburn, you can bet the attention will be on the game.

As I stated above, I believe that Freeze’s hiring is problematic within the Auburn fan base, which has been fractured. But by the time the season rolls around, most fans will still go to games and will still cheer the team. They will opt to cheer for the players and not the coach.

This hire was still a popular one with plenty of the Auburn contingent, too. Let the man who’s without sin cast the first stone, and whatnot. There’s truth in that as well. I don’t know the man’s history as well as Auburn officials, who say they conducted a background check and were satisfied enough to hire him.

Regardless, the Iron Bowl got a little juice this week. Only 361 days until the next one, so get ready or get your jokes ready. It’s the Iron Bowl after all.

(Top photo of Nick Saban and Hugh Freeze: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)