Who is the new Ole Miss head coach?

Hugh Freeze has resigned as the head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Who will be replacing Freeze as interim head coach in 2017?

On Thursday evening, former Ole Miss Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze abruptly resigned from his post amidst allegations about a phone call place to an escort service out of Tampa in January 2016. News of this alleged phone call came about due to an ongoing lawsuit former Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt is in with the university.

With Freeze out, who steps up to replace him in the interim? Ole Miss does have a 12-game season to play. However, the Rebels will not be bowl eligible after receiving a bowl ban this offseason for recruiting violations uncovered by the NCAA.

Taking over for the Ole Miss football program is offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Luke. Luke had been with the Rebels program since Freeze came back to Oxford as head coach in 2012. Before that he had spent four years as the offensive line coach and running game coordinator for the Duke Blue Devils.

Luke is a former Rebel himself, as he played for Ole Miss as its starting center from 1995 to 1998 under then head coach Tommy Tuberville. He served as a graduate assistant in 1999 under then-head coach David Cutcliffe. Luke would spend two years with the Murray State Racers as an offensive line coach from 2000 to 2001.

After that, Luke returned to Oxford to be Cutcliffe’s offensive line coach form 2002 to 2005. From there, he’d go to Knoxville to serve under Phillip Fulmer for two years with the Tennessee Volunteers.

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Overall, Luke has proven that he has deep ties to coaching in the SEC. Parting ways with Freeze is embarrassing, but Luke looks to be the right man for the job in the interim. Keeping Ole Miss afloat in this lost season will be immensely difficult. Let’s see how Luke performs in his first shot as a head coach under the interim tag.