Alabama columnist compares Hugh Freeze to Donald Trump

Since Auburn hired Hugh Freeze, the new Tigers head coach has criticized over his past misdeeds, and justly so. While Freeze has been called many things, one AL.com columnist even went as far as to compare him to Donald Trump.

To be fair, that may not be seen as an insult by some in the state of Alabama since they voted heavily for Trump both in 2016 and 2020. But it was not intended as a compliment to compare Trump’s and Freeze’s behavior over the recent years.

“Hugh Freeze is Auburn’s Donald Trump,” wrote Cameron Smith in a recent opinion column. “He’s shown that he can win where it counts, but poor judgment has dogged his career. Worse yet, his hire is a symptom of a larger trend demonstrating a powerful disconnect between the university’s leadership and the Auburn Creed.”

"The uncomfortable truth is that plenty of folks will trade all that talk about the Auburn way for a few wins against the Crimson Tide," contributing columnist Cameron Smith writes. https://t.co/iZXIakVEpl

— AL.com (@aldotcom) December 7, 2022

Auburn has been criticized heavily for hiring Freeze, especially after a recent article from AL.com about the high number of rape cases on campus recently.

“Auburn’s athletic director and boosters want to beat Alabama, and Freeze did it in back-to-back seasons at Ole Miss,” wrote Smith. “Also under Freeze’s watch, Ole Miss cheated, fudged academic eligibility submissions, and lied to recruits to keep them from transferring. As it turns out, the only “escort” that matters is the one that leads Alabama out of Jordan-Hare after a loss.”

Freeze resigned from Ole Miss over several NCAA violations and ethical issues, including calling prostitutes. He also got in trouble for contacting a sexual assault victim at Liberty to criticize her, so many people understandably are upset, including some Auburn fans and students.

But to have the executive director of the Republican Policy Committee in the United States House of Representatives, which Smith is, compare your new head coach to Donald Trump, is quite frankly, very shocking.

{Cameron Smith}