This time last year, Hugh Freeze was at the helm of the Liberty Flames’ football program, which at one point had strung together six wins in a row – including a 21-19 win over Arkansas.

Come the weekend of Nov. 19, however, Freeze and the Flames found themselves on a two-game losing streak after coughing up narrow losses to UConn and Virginia Tech. Liberty lost those games by a combined three points.

But then came Liberty’s regular-season finale – a home game against the 4-6 New Mexico State Aggies, who Freeze’s current team at Auburn is set to square off against this Saturday.

Liberty went on to lose to New Mexico State — and it wasn’t by a slim margin, either. It was a 49-14 thrashing, giving the Flames a season-ending black eye.

And this isn’t to suggest Freeze has bad luck against New Mexico State or that Saturday’s game at Jordan-Hare is shaping up to be some scary trap game.

But rather it paints a picture of how hard it is to lead a football team while also being considered for a coaching vacancy more than 550 miles away.

“Extremely, extremely difficult to manage,” Freeze said Monday when asked about juggling staying engaged with his current program, while also flirting with another. “I can’t explain how hard it is.”

After Auburn fired former head coach Bryan Harsin in the middle of the 2022 season, the Tigers were rumored to have zeroed in on Freeze less than a month later. Harsin was officially axed on Halloween and by Nov. 26, the same day Liberty hosted New Mexico State, Freeze was left addressing questions from his players.

Freeze is said to have given his locker room a transparent response.

“Is the job everyone is talking about one that I would have an interest in talking with? Sure,” Freeze said in his postgame press conference, echoing what he told his team. “That doesn’t mean they have offered me a job. Who knows where that’s headed but I’ve always said I’ve loved being here on the mountain. I’m happy here, but I’m not going to sit here and say to our kids it’s absolutely false and there’s no interest in it.”

Freeze was later asked if he thought the coaching rumors were reason for his team faltering against New Mexico State.

“I haven’t been offered a job but it certainly was hard to refute that report and it definitely was bothering some people,” Freeze said after the Flames’ loss to the Aggies. “Just hate it.”

In the past three days, two head coaching positions have opened within the SEC as Texas A&M was first to relieve Jimbo Fisher, followed by Mississippi State firing Zach Arnett on Monday.

And while Freeze and Auburn fans alike are relieved that neither party’s names are in the headlines for this year’s rendition of the coaching carousel, Auburn’s head coach can’t help but feel for families like Fisher’s and Arnett’s.

“You hurt for all these families that are gonna be displaced,” Freeze said Monday. “We all sign up for it, so we get it.”

Meanwhile, Freeze’s experience during his final weeks at Liberty can’t help but leave him sympathizing for the coaches on the other end of the stick: the coaches left addressing rumors – perhaps some true and some not.

“I also thought about all the names that start being floated around and just the challenge that it is because I just experienced it here recently,” Freeze said. “I don’t know what the right thing is to do because you’re trying to protect your relationship with those young men and the school that’s been so good to you — while you can’t help but want to listen to an opportunity like Auburn in the SEC. There’s not many of those jobs.”

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Oregon head coach Dan Lanning have each already been questioned about the coaching vacancy in College Station. And with both Kiffin and Lanning currently piloting top-15 teams and are eyeing notable postseason opportunities, both were quick to refute any speculation about them leaving their current posts.

How truthful those remarks were? Only time will tell.

But regardless of who the Aggies, Bulldogs and other programs searching for new leadership begin to zero in on, Freeze would warn the candidates that it’s going to be tough.

“It is extremely, extremely difficult to manage,” Freeze said. “That last 24 hours was rough.”