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5 potential replacements for Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss

By Brad Berreman

OXFORD, MS - NOVEMBER 26: Head Coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels watches his team warm up before a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on November 26, 2016 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Bulldogs defeated the Rebels 55-20. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
OXFORD, MS - NOVEMBER 26: Head Coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels watches his team warm up before a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on November 26, 2016 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Bulldogs defeated the Rebels 55-20. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Michael Chang-Getty Images
Mandatory Credit: Michael Chang-Getty Images /

4. Wesley McGriff

McGriff was on Freeze’s first staff as defensive backs coach at Ole Miss in 2012, and he returned last December to take over as the new defensive coordinator. He has now been named associate head coach under Luke for the coming season.

McGriff has a long history as an assistant coach at the college level, at Savannah State (his alma mater), Kentucky State, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Baylor, Miami (FL), Vanderbilt and Auburn. He also spent three seasons (2013-2015) as defensive backs coach in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints. The list of eventual NFL defensive backs he has worked with includes Sam Shields, Casey Hayward and Kenny Phillips, and McGriff has a solid track record of helping defenses improve.

McGriff would be another in-house candidate to replace Freeze. He is also theoretically far enough removed from any wrongdoing attached to the NCAA investigation to not be implicated, so that should be a point in his favor if he eventually gets an interview.

It’s a little odd McGriff has never been a head coach, but perhaps he’s just more comfortable serving in the background as an assistant. Ole Miss would do well to consider him as a long-term replacement for Freeze, though, even if his hiring would inspire a lot of “who’s that?”

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