The firing of Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze has prompted another whirlwind of rumors and movement within the coaching landscape, as the Tigers’ job now becomes one of the top positions on the market.
With the tradition Auburn boasts and the resources at its disposal, many coaches may be drawn to the potential on the plains, as evidenced by past national title game appearances.
With the university’s leaders having to compete with those at LSU and Florida for some of the sport’s top coaches, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg believes that there is one name Auburn could target that would stray from the norm.
Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann is a potential candidate according to Rittenberg, which would make him the second straight Bulldog DC to move into a head-coaching role. Schumann has plenty of experience within the state and is very familiar with what it takes to win in the SEC.
Here’s some analysis from Rittenberg on Schumann:
Most programs of Auburn’s caliber seek prior head-coaching experience in their searches. But rival Georgia has thrived with a first-time head coach in Kirby Smart, and Smart’s last defensive coordinator, Dan Lanning, is working out quite well in his first head-coaching gig at Oregon. Schumann is certainly viewed in a similar light, and has surfaced in recent coaching searches like North Carolina’s last year. He has spent his entire career at Alabama, his alma mater, working under Nick Saban in various roles, before joining Smart at Georgia. Schumann is only 35 and would need to grow into the role, but he has seen how the best SEC programs function and could bring that approach to the Plains.
Auburn is expected to conduct a national search to find its next head coach.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
