Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze plays a lot of golf, leading to speculation that it is hurting recruiting efforts

The late Bing Crosby once asked his friend John Swanson if he was playing much golf. “Only days,” Swanson famously replied.

This came to mind when questions arose as to whether Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze was playing golf at that kind of frequency and that it was affecting the Tigers’ recruiting efforts.

Matt Stahl, who writes for AL.com, raised the issue in a June 24 story headlined: “Which SEC football coaches are playing the most golf in 2025?” Stahl noted that Freeze recently had posted to the USGA’s Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN.com) a score of 78.

“Unfortunately for Freeze,” Stahl wrote, “his honorable scoring record came under fire on social media and message boards on Monday, as the Tigers’ recruiting struggled. A trio of blue-chip prospects decommitted from AU over the past two weeks, and fans were unhappy after realizing how much time the coach was spending on the course.”

On Thursday, AL.com’s Peter Rauterkus had a story with this headline: “What’s the reason for Auburn football’s recent recruiting struggles?”

Was the question already answered in Stahl’s earlier story?

That’s for others to determine. Freeze, who faithfully posts his scores on GHIN, played 11 rounds in June alone, another eight in May. His handicap index is 7.6, though given that his low index was 4.5, an argument could be made that he isn’t playing enough golf.