Auburn football became the 13th college program to let go of its head coach this year, as Hugh Freeze was let go by the university Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers are also the fourth SEC school with a head coaching vacancy, joining Arkansas, Florida and LSU.

Currently, 12 schools have head coaching vacancies after Kent State promoted interim coach Mark Carney to head coach on Oct. 30 following Kenni Burns’ dismissal after two seasons.

With the many candidates surrounding one of the most chaotic coaching carousels in recent memory, here’s how AL.com ranks all the current openings and where Auburn sits amongst it all.

LSU

LSU let go of former coach Brian Kelly Sunday, Oct. 26 after the Tigers 49-24 blowout loss to Texas A&M the day before.

LSU’s three previous head coaches before Kelly all won national championships (Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron), putting this program at the top when it comes to A-list Power 5 jobs.

With LSU also moving on from Athletic director Scott Woodward, getting this hire right will be pivotal for the state of Louisiana.

Florida

For the fifth time since Urban Meyer retired in 2010, Florida is hiring a new head football coach.

Things never came together under former coach Billy Napier, as he finished with a final record of 22-23 in Gainesville.

Names such as Lane Kiffin and Marcus Freeman are already linked to this program coaching search, indicating the high value placed on this opening.

Penn State

After James Franklin’s tenure of 11-plus years at Penn State came to an end, no coaching job around the country was safe.

Although things fell apart quickly for Franklin, Penn State made significant investments in facilities and NIL to maintain its competitive edge over other programs.

With early targets like Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule signing contract extensions, Penn State is a program that’ll still aim high.

Auburn

Former Auburn coach Hugh Freeze blew his second chance coaching in the SEC after failing to restore Auburn as a championship winning program.

With Auburn being a program set up to compete in the NIL/portal era, this opening is just as competitive as the other SEC openings.

After Freeze finished his tenure on the Plains 15-19, Auburn is ensuring its next hire is a guaranteed winner as the SEC enters its nine-game conference schedule era.

Arkansas

Sam Pittman ended the Razorbacks’ 20-game SEC losing streak in 2020 and won nine games in 2021 but was fired after six seasons when he failed to get over the seven-win hump.

Bobby Petrino is the school’s most successful coach in recent history and is currently serving as interim coach for the Razorbacks.

Athletic director Hunter Yurachek, who landed John Calipari to coach the men’s basketball team, is expected to be aggressive in this current football hire.

Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy, who was the winningest coach in Oklahoma State history and led his alma mater to nine AP top-20 finishes between 2008 and 2021.

However, after a winless Big 12 campaign last season, Gundy’s era ended in 2025 following the team’s first home loss to Tulsa since 1951 and a 69-3 beatdown by Oregon the next week.

Now with the program in full reset mode, Oklahoma State has some definite pluses, including a history of winning in the Big-12.

UCLA

Former coach DeShaun Foster could not sustain the same success he had as the Bruins running back coach after being promoted to the head coach.

Even after signing transfer quarterback Nico Iamaleava, UCLA started the season losing to Utah, UNLV and New Mexico, ending Foster’s run at the helm.

This will be a key hire for UCLA, as they are still finding its identity in the Big Ten conference.

Virgina Tech

Brent Bry entered this season on the hot seat after the Hokies finished 6-6 in the last two years.

Virgina Tech started 2025 0-3 for the first time since 1987, leading to Bry’s exit.

With Athletics director Whit Babcock job not all the way safe either, it seems like Blacksburg, Virgina is still shaking back from the post Frank Beamer era.

Stanford

Currently led by former NFL coach Frank Reich as its interim coach, Stanford is conducting a search for a replacement following the 2025 season.

As Andrew Luck sits as the team’s general manager, it’ll be no surprise if Stanford builds its staff up like an NFL one or just promotes Reich.

Oregon State

Trent Bray got the boot after leading the beavers to the worst start since 1991, starting the 2025 season 0-7.

Bray was promoted after Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State following the 2023 season.

UAB

The Trent Dilfer experiment failed tremendously at UAB after never coaching in college.

Dilfer was canned after UAB lost its third straight game, 53-33 at Florida Atlantic, to fall to 2-4 on the season. He finished with a 9-21 record in three seasons.

Colorado State

Jay Norvell came to Colorado State from Nevada, where he guided teams to four consecutive bowl appearances.

Colorado State has one winning season since 2017, which was 2024 where they went 8-5 and reached the Arizona Bowl.

Norvell was out after the Rams fell to 2-5, as he finished 18-26 in four seasons with the Rams.

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