Auburn Tigers defensive coordinator DJ Durkin huddles with his team as Auburn Tigers take on Ball State Cardinals at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. Auburn Tigers defeated Ball State Cardinals 42-3.

Hugh Freeze's time at Auburn came to an end on Sunday.

The Tigers announced Freeze's firing on Sunday after a 10-3 loss at home to Kentucky, which dropped them to 4-5 on the season. Freeze leaves with a 15-19 record (6-16 against the SEC).

“I have informed Coach Freeze of my decision to make a change in leadership with the Auburn Football program," athletics director John Cohen said in a statement. "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.”

In the release announcing Freeze's firing, Auburn also announced that defensive coordinator DJ Durkin would take over as interim head coach.

Durkin is a well-traveled SEC defensive coordinator. He was hired from Texas A&M after Jimbo Fisher's firing in 2023, and he previously served as Ole Miss' defensive coordinator under Lane Kiffin. He also had DC stops earlier in his career at Florida and Michigan.

Durkin was the head coach at Maryland for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, turning in a 10-15 record. He was placed on administrative leave shortly before the start of the 2018 season while an investigation into the program was conducted following the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair, who died after a team workout the prior spring in which he showed signs of heat stroke and exhaustion.

Though he initially returned from leave, he was fired the next day amid backlash. Durkin spent the 2019 season as a consultant with the Atlanta Falcons before Kiffin hired him at Ole Miss.

Durkin will look to lead Auburn back to a bowl game after the Tigers missed one last time, and they'll need to win one of two against Vanderbilt and Alabama to do so. Durkin has a career head coaching record of 11-15, as he led the Gators to a win in the Birmingham Bowl in 2014 following Will Muschamp's firing.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Who is Auburn's interim coach after firing Hugh Freeze?

Reporting by Tyler Nettuno, College Sports Wire / College Sports Wire

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