This is an opinion column.

So close?

Try never further.

Hugh Freeze, the build-a-bear/lab-grown Auburn football coach, was ultimately just a tease.

Canned less than three years into what felt like a slam-dunk, double-sided redemption story, Freeze becomes a cautionary tale.

Auburn was bundled up, expecting Aspen, but was shipped back to Siberia .

And got stuck with the bill.

Again.

Let’s do the math now that Freeze can confirm his Sunday afternoon tee time. He becomes the third Auburn football coach fired since the end of the 2020 season. Their buyouts, in order.

Gus Malzahn: $21.4 million

Bryan Harsin: $15.3 million

Freeze: $15.8 million

That’s $52.5 million set ablaze at the 50-yard line of Jordan-Hare Stadium and that’s before you count the buyouts for assistant coaches.

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