SEC Media Days: Hugh Freeze Gets Preachy While Explaining How Managing Locker Room In NIL Era Keeps Him Up At Night

Nashville — Hugh Freeze is back in the SEC and the landscape of college football looks completely different than it did while he was at Ole Miss from 2012 to 2016. Name, Image and Likeness exists.

NIL came to be on July 1, 2021 when Freeze was at Liberty. He got a taste of how money factors into the new era, but a private Baptist school on the Group of Five level is a completely different animal than a Power Five program in the best conference in football.

Head Coach Hugh Freeze of the Auburn Tigers speaks during Day 2 of the 2023 SEC Media Days at Grand Hyatt Nashville on July 18, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.(Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)

Freeze is not the only coach who is still learning about how to navigate NIL. It is an ever-changing, ever-evolving entity without regulation or legitimate guidelines.

However, unlike the coaches who have been in their roles for the last two years, Freeze is getting his first taste of NIL at Auburn. And to make things even more complicated, the history of booster involvement on The Plains is... suspect.

All of these various factors surrounding the NIL learning curve have made things very tricky. Money complicates recruiting and roster retention, as well as locker room dynamics.

One player may be get X amount of money. His teammate may get half of X. That could create some resentment or frustration, or cause contention between a collective and a player or a player and the program as a whole.

Freeze revealed at SEC Media Days on Tuesday that the third of those three NIL elements keeps him up at night. He is still figuring out how to manage the locker room in regard to the financial element.

Auburn wants its athletes to have the resources they need.

One part of the Name, Image and Likeness conundrum has to do with education. Many, if not all athletes enter into conversations about money with very little knowledge of how to navigate that wealth.

Taxes exist. Contracts exist. The teachings on those topics within society largely do not.

Freeze and Auburn are working to change that. They want their guys to understand all of the ins and outs of money and money management.

We're creating a program within our building that stands for the students and their opportunities that they're getting, both athletically, academically, and with the resources that they have.
I have five people that work in that arena. They don't have anything to do with football. They have to do with our player development, and how are we going to educate them.
We also depend upon, once a deal is done, after they've gotten to Tower Campus and a deal is done with On to Victory (Auburn's top NIL collective), they have an incredible board that is set up with financial advisors that are willing to help them do that.
I tell every kid that I think you're very, very wise if you take us up on the resources we're offering you. Ultimately they get to make that decision, but if we're not educating , then we're just setting ourselves up for even more issues.

Not unlike the rest of college football, Freeze believes that parameters are necessary. In the meantime, it is his responsibility to navigate the uncharted waters and keep order.

I was very candid with our team and said, listen, how many of you wanted the NIL opportunities? How many hands do you think went up? All of them.
I said, that's great, but you also need to know that it will never totally be fair in your eyes, but accept it as a blessing and be accountable for yours.
Will everybody hear that message and accept it? I sure hope so. I think the ones that do are going to have a better chance to have a better team, but that's the reality that we live in, that life is not always fair, and everybody won't look at everybody else in the sportswriter world or in the coaching world and feel like I got the fairest deal that he got.

His point was well-stated and the message was clear.

And then Hugh Freeze started to preach.

To further drive home his point, as he has been known to do, Freeze (not so) indirectly turned to the Gospel. He related NIL to the messages in Genesis 29-50 and Luke 22:24-27, among other biblical teachings.

Until we start, we need to quit looking at other people because comparison is the chief enemy of joy. It'll steal it and it'll steal from our team.
We've got to focus on, man, the facts are that I'm very blessed that I am getting this education, that I am getting the opportunities that a collective deal may give me. That is a blessing.
So rejoice in that and go work as hard as you can to get a better blessing.

No matter the challenges that keep Freeze up at night, the Lord is top of mind. As he and his team continue to navigate the new era of Auburn football and Name, Image and Likeness, God will be at the forefront.

Freeze made that abundantly clear prior to Media Days on Tuesday morning.

The Tigers will begin its first fall camp with its new coach at the helm in a matter of weeks. When it does begin, Freeze will continue to focus on keeping his team together, even as NIL may try to drive a wedge between them, and lead with faith.