If the NFL unofficially can mean "Not For Long," then surely the SEC can apply "Soon, everyone's canned."
Add Auburn coach Hugh Freeze to the list.
On the heels of his team's limp, uninspired 10-3 home loss Saturday night to a Kentucky team previously winless in the Southeastern Conference, Freeze has been removed from atop the Auburn Tigers football program, FootballScoop has learned.
The opening at Auburn becomes the fourth already this fall in the SEC, which saw Arkansas fire Sam Pittman in September followed up by both Florida and LSU making moves against Billy Napier and Brian Kelly, respectively, in late October.
Hired to revive Auburn in the wake of the Bryan Harsin era that went horribly awry, Freeze arrived on the plains before the 2023 season with visions of his former Ole Miss juggernaut offenses expected to be on replay for the Tigers.
Instead, Auburn has manufactured methods to lose close games while been out of commission to generate offense.
The Tigers' three points against a Kentucky team that last week yielded 56 was their lowest output of Freeze's 34 games at the helm. It is the program's fewest points at home since being shut out by rival Georgia, 38-0, in 2012.
Auburn entered this weekend as the nation's No. 88 scoring offense with less than 25 points per game and ranked 106th in total offense.
Freeze entered this season at Auburn inside the top-40 highest-paid coaches in college football at roughly $6.7 million annually and hitting the midpoint of the six-year pact he signed when he accepted the Auburn job after Freeze guided then-independent Liberty to 34 wins in four seasons.
He was Auburn's choice in that cycle after the Tigers could not pry Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Kiffin has guided the Rebels to an 29-6 mark, top-10 national ranking and among the best odds of any SEC team to earn a spot in the upcoming 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Tigers, meanwhile, have five losses just this season and a 7-11 mark since a September loss last season at Arkansas. Their schedule still features contests against Vanderbilt this week on the road, a home date against FCS top-25 program Mercer and then home against rival and top-five ranked Alabama in the 'Iron Bowl' to close the regular season.
In addition to their SEC brethren seeking a new coach, the Auburn Tigers join Power Conference programs Oklahoma State, Penn State, Stanford, UCLA and Virginia Tech in need of their next leader.
Sources tell FootballScoop DJ Durkin will serve as interim head coach.
1:30pm Update> Auburn AD John Cohen has made this official releasing the following statement, "I have informed Coach Freeze of my decision to make a change in leadership with the Auburn Football Program. Coach Freeze is a man of integrity, and we are appreciative of his investment in Auburn and his relentless work over the last three years in bolstering our roster. Our expectations for Auburn Football are to annually compete for championships and the search for the next leader of Auburn Football begins immediately.