AUBURN — The combining of offensive strategies between Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery has officially ended in a split.

The Tigers have fired Montgomery, the program announced Friday, and Freeze is now in search of his second OC in as many seasons. It'll be a big hire for Auburn, as the Tigers (6-7, 3-5 SEC) struggled to find much consistency throwing the ball in 2023. They averaged 162.2 passing yards per game, which is the lowest mark since they threw for 156.6 yards per game during former coach Gene Chizik's final year with the program in 2012.

Here are a handful of potential candidates that Freeze may consider. They are listed in alphabetical order:

FUTURE: Payton Thorne or not, Auburn football needs incoming WRs to remedy offensive issues

REPORT CARD: Hugh Freeze's first season at Auburn football is over. What's a fair grade for him?

Major Applewhite, South Alabama

A former head coach with over two decades of experience in various roles, Major Applewhite has been the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at South Alabama for the last three seasons. The Jaguars averaged 440.2 total yards of offensive production in 2023, which ranks No. 24 nationally. Their output through the air — 268.2 yards per game — ranks No. 32.

Applewhite began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas, where he played QB from 1998-01, and then proceeded to make stops at Syracuse (2005), Rice (2006), Alabama (2007) and Texas (2008-13) before becoming the OC at Houston in 2015. He later became the coach of the Cougars from 2017-18 and compiled a 15-11 record.

Kent Austin, Auburn

This would be an in-house hire for Freeze, as Kent Austin is already with the Tigers as a special assistant to the head coach. Austin followed Freeze to the Plains from Liberty, where he was the co-offensive coordinator/QBs coach under Freeze from 2019-22.

Austin had a 10-year career as a QB in the Canadian Football before he got his coaching start with the Ottawa Renegades in 2003. He broke into the collegiate ranks as the offensive coordinator for Ole Miss, his alma mater, from 2008-09 and then became the coach at Cornell from 2010-12.

Dameyune Craig, formerly Texas A&M

Freeze could bring a former player back to Auburn by choosing Dameyune Craig, who appeared in 41 games as a quarterback for the Tigers from 1994-97. Craig had a brief professional career prior to getting his first collegiate coaching job at LSU in 2004.

Craig bounced around a handful of programs — he was the co-OC and WRs coach at Auburn from 2013-15 — before most recently serving as Texas A&M's wide receivers coach under Jimbo Fisher for the last six years. With a reputation as a good recruiter, Craig helped the Aggies land a commitment from five-star WR Cam Coleman in July. Coleman eventually backed off his pledge to A&M and flipped to Auburn after Fisher and Craig were fired.

Maurice Harris, Jackson State

Splitting OC duties with Austin at Liberty, former Flames co-offensive coordinator Maurice Harris went to Jackson State after Freeze moved to Auburn. Harris led JSU to 389.4 yards and 27.3 points per game in first season with the program.

Harris and Freeze go back further than their time spent together at Liberty, as the former was the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator during Freeze's entire tenure at Ole Miss. Harris was also Freeze's TE coach at Arkansas State in 2008.

Matt Luke, Clemson

Another option who has well-known ties to Freeze, Matt Luke just got back into coaching after briefly retiring in 2022. Luke, who was hired in December to be Dabo Swinney's offensive line coach at Clemson, was previously working in a similar role at Georgia before taking a step back from the game.

Luke is best known for his three-year tenure as the coach at Ole Miss, taking the program over while it suffered from sanctions levied by the NCAA stemming from Freeze's ouster. Luke was Freeze's co-OC from 2012-16 and has other held various roles at Murray State (2000-01), Tennessee (2006-07) and Duke (2008-11).

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football OC hot board: Options to replace Philip Montgomery