00:00John, before you guys made this decision, there was a lot of talk about Penn State and LSU and Florida,
00:05a 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 attract a top candidate,
00:16knowing that there's going to be a lot of competition for that in this cycle?
00:19Well, I mean, until we went this route, I didn't really, really, really, really deep dive every single day into
00:32the marketplace.
00:33But I think we have the best job out there.
00:34We have the best fans.
00:35We have 19 sellouts in a row.
00:38And when you consider what Auburn football has been through, that is incredible.
00:41It's a testimony to who our fans are.
00:44I'm deeply appreciative of them.
00:46I know our whole staff is.
00:47I know our student athletes are.
00:48I know our entire administration are deeply indebted to our fans who have been patient.
00:53And the reality is it's no longer time to be patient.
00:56It's time to act.
00:57And it's time for us to make a jump.
01:00It's time for Auburn to make a jump.
01:01Our fans deserve that.
01:04And I want that to happen as quickly as possible.
01:12I have not said this, but I do want to say this.
01:15This is something I told the players on Sunday when I met with them.
01:19I do want to just say, Hugh Freeze and his wife, Jill, and their entire family are world-class human
01:29beings.
01:29And I know that a lot of you in the media here have dealt with Hugh directly, and you know
01:35exactly what I'm talking about.
01:37And that makes these decisions.
01:41And that makes these decisions even more difficult.
01:45But he is a special man.
01:47Again, I will always have a relationship with him, and he did some positive things in his three years.
01:58And probably 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
02:11sides 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.
02:23But 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.
02:36So that's why we have talented young people on that side of the field, and we have talented young people
02:37on that side of the field.
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