00:00John, before you guys made this decision, there was a lot of talk about, you know, Penn State and LSU and Florida, a lot of these other schools already in the market and how crowded it was going to be.
00:08Obviously, you guys think that you can be competitive in a market like that.
00:11Why do you think that Auburn can be a place that can, you know, attract a top candidate knowing that there's going to be a lot of competition for that in this cycle?
00:19Well, I mean, until until we went this route, I didn't I didn't really, really, really, really deep dive every single day into the marketplace.
00:33But I think we have the best job out there. We have the best fans. We have 19 sellouts in a row.
00:38And when you consider what Auburn football has been through, that that is incredible.
00:41It's a testimony to to who our fans are. I'm deeply appreciative of them.
00:46I know our whole staff is. I know our student athletes are. I know our entire administration are deeply indebted to our fans who have been patient.
00:54And the reality is it's it's no longer time to be patient. It's time to act. And it's time for us to make a jump.
01:00It's time for all to make a jump. Our fans deserve that.
01:04And I want that to happen as quickly as possible.
01:09I have not said this, but I do want to say this.
01:15This is something I told the players on Sunday when I when I met with them.
01:19I do want to just say.
01:22Hugh Freeze and his wife, Jill and their entire family are world class human beings.
01:29And I know that a lot of you in the media here have dealt with you directly.
01:35And you know exactly what I'm talking about.
01:38And that makes these decisions even more difficult.
01:45But he is a special man.
01:48I will always have a relationship with him.
01:51And he did some positive things in his three years.
01:57Probably the most notable is the incredible upgrade in talent that we have on the field.
02:05And I think that's one of the most frustrating things for me right now is if you look at both sides of the ball,
02:12you're looking at guys who are going to play in the NFL one day.
02:14You're looking at guys who have skill.
02:18And obviously, defensively, we've been outstanding.
02:21I think we have one of the elite defenses in the country, but offensively, that has been a real struggle.
02:26And we have talented young people on that side of the football.
02:30So that has been extremely frustrating and one of the reasons we had to act.
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