Hugh Freeze plans to coach through significant illness

Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze is introduced at the Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn, Ala., on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. Photo Credit: Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze will be coaching at less than 100 percent on Saturday when his Tigers face off against Kentucky in Lexington.

Freeze is dealing with an illness, potentially food poisoning, ahead of Saturday’s game, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN. Freeze told Chris Low of ESPN that he fully intends to coach despite dealing with severe nausea.

Sources: Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is battling an illness — potentially food poisoning — and didn’t travel with the team to Kentucky yesterday. He’s flying up to Lexington this morning and is expected to coach.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 26, 2024

Spoke with @AuburnFootball coach Hugh Freeze and he said “Heck yeah” when I asked him if he were going to be able to coach tonight against Kentucky. Freeze has been fighting severe nausea and is flying to Lexington today.

— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) October 26, 2024

Freeze will not want to miss this game. The Tigers have lost four in a row and desperately need to get right against the Wildcats. On the other hand, some Auburn fans might not necessarily see this as a positive, especially with the context of his quotes from last week.

This will no doubt conjure up memories of one viral moment from back when Freeze was still at Liberty, though the situations seem quite different.