War Of Words As Eli Drinkwitz Doubts Hugh Freeze…
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze didn’t shy away from sharing how close he is with Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz this week.
Both connecting through former Auburn and current UCF head coach Gus Malzahn, Freeze says he and Drinkwitz’s relationship goes beyond the game of football.
“Throughout the years, I don‘t know where we started, truthfully, developing a friendship, but it came pretty naturally,” Freeze said during Monday’s press conference. “We gravitate to one another in our lives, too, when we are at common places, whether it’s SEC meetings or whether it’s the Peach Bowl Classic.
On Wednesdays SEC Teleconference, Freeze compared this weekend’s matchup to siblings competing against each other.
“Eli and I are genuinely friends. We talk a lot and are going to compete like heck; just like brothers do on the weekend,” Freeze said. We’ve talked twice this week already. I’ve got to cut him off.”
During the teleconference, Drinkwitz confirmed the communication between the both of them.
“We exchanged text throughout the season but that‘s really it,” Drinkwitz said. “We have spoken a few times this week.
Freeze and Malzahn’s friendship dates back to when the two were dominating the high school ranks in Tennessee and Arkansas.
Drinkwitz got his coaching start at Springdale High School (Arkansas), where he coached with Malzahn in 2004.
He moved to Auburn in 2009 as the quality control coach and was on the coaching staff when Auburn won the 2010 National Championship.
Now in his fourth season at the helm of the Missouri football program, Drinkwitz gets another shot at Auburn after falling to them 17-14 in a 2022 overtime defeat at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
I think we‘re made of a similar mindset of what coaching should be about and the bigger picture of trying to keep the bigger picture of impacting others as important as the wins and losses — which is very difficult to do,” Freeze said during Monday’s press conference. “I think we see all of those things very, very similarly. He’s a person of faith. So, the friendship is real.”
Auburn will face Missouri at 11 AM in Columbia, MO. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN