Take Two: Could Hugh Freeze eventually return to the SEC?
MORE TAKE TWO: Could Locksley make Maryland competitive in the Big Ten East?
Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.
THE STORYLINE
Rarely does the ‘Inside Higher Ed’ website write about football coaches getting hired, but when it comes to Hugh Freeze getting the Liberty job recently, that was news everyone wanted to read.
Freeze made the Ole Miss football program relevant in the SEC, especially in a 10-win season in 2015 that culminated in a Sugar Bowl win, but he resigned instead of getting fired after a call had been placed on his university-issued cell phone to a female escort service. According to reports, Freeze claimed it was a mis-dial.
That situation came on the heels of Ole Miss getting whacked for multiple recruiting violations after an investigation found people close to the school and program arranged impermissible benefits for players. Former five-star recruit Laremy Tunsil admitted taking money from an assistant coach. It goes on and on with Freeze.
After not getting much traction for coordinator positions in the SEC and possibly elsewhere, Freeze was hired by Liberty, a private Christian university in Lynchburg, Va. The AD at Liberty is Ian McCaw, who was at Baylor during its sexual assault scandal and resigned that post in May 2016. During at least one subsequent interview, Freeze talked about possibly getting back to coaching in the SEC.
Is it possible Freeze could revamp his reputation at Liberty and some school in the SEC gives him another head coaching job, or with the serious recruiting violations at Ole Miss and the escort service issues, would athletic directors simply cross him off the list of potential candidates?
FIRST TAKE: NEAL MCCREADY, REBELGROVE.COM
“It certainly doesn't appear that Freeze is returning to the SEC anytime soon. Look, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri have, at the very least, kicked the tires on bringing in Freeze in some capacity over the past year-plus. Each time, something has happened to kill that pursuit. Keep in mind Freeze left more than $16 million on the table when he was fired at Ole Miss. There's obviously more there than SEC athletics directors and presidents want to fool with.
"I think Liberty is a great fit for him. He needs to rehab his image and distance himself from Ole Miss. If he wins, interest will pique. However, as long as Greg Sankey is running the SEC, I'd bet against a Freeze return. I can't speak for another Power Five league, but you know how these things work. At least for now, the Ole Miss mess is fresh enough to still be a topic of conversation in any search, and no AD or president is going to hire Freeze without doing a deep dig.”
SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, NATIONAL RECRUITING DIRECTOR
“He’s a no-touch as a head coach in the SEC. He was considered for the offensive coordinator job at Tennessee. I could see him considered as a coordinator in the SEC, but not a head coach. The fact that Liberty hired this guy is amazing to me. It’s a Christian university and it’s arguably one of the most ironic things you’re ever going to see in college football. He could get lower-level jobs, but he’s not going to get a head coaching job in the SEC.”