Scary news came out of Auburn Friday when the football program announced that head coach Hugh Freeze had been diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer.

The statement posted by Auburn football on X (formerly Twitter) said Freeze will continue his normal coaching duties and responsibilities and is expected to make a full recovery.

Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl was asked during his Monday morning news conference about Freeze’s diagnosis, and he highlighted how Freeze’s “only consideration was everybody else” when he learned of the diagnosis.

“That’s all he could talk about, was how it affected everybody else, how it affected his kids, how it affected his wife, how it affected his players,” Pearl said. “Pretty, pretty spectacular human being.”

Pearl also pointed to Freeze’s family and faith as things that he said would help him through his recovery.

“Coach has got an incredible family. Coach is a man of faith, and he is in relationship with the Lord, and he trusts his God,” Pearl said. “He’s in a way better spot than people without that faith.”

At Auburn, Pearl has been a big part of the AUTLive program, a program associated with Auburn men’s basketball that raises awareness of cancer prevention and detection, funded by the Bruce Pearl Family Foundation.

Auburn men’s basketball has an annual AUTLive game, and this season’s game against Tennessee offered free prostate cancer screenings on the concourse of Neville Arena.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m