Liberty making every effort to keep Hugh Freeze from leaving

Hugh Freeze seems headed for another shot at a Power 5 school, but Liberty is hoping a nice new contract extension will keep him around

Last Saturday, the Liberty Flames went to 7-0 with a win over Virginia Tech. They’ve beaten two ACC teams on their way to that best start in program history, with a third ACC opponent (NC State) coming on Nov. 21. Even in what could be a slower year on the college football coaching carousel, Power 5 schools are sure to move in on Freeze.

But Liberty is doing what they can to keep bigger schools at bay. On Wednesday the school announced it has agreed to a contract extension with Freeze to keep him in place through 2026. Freeze got a five-year deal when he was hired on Dec. 7, 2018.

Liberty is a private institution, so it doesn’t release financial details of coaches’ contracts. ESPN’s Chris Low added the deal will pay him an average of $3 million-plus per year, which would place him among the top-5 highest-paid non-Power 5 coaches in college football. In terms of where that annual average fits among Power 5 coaches, that’s mid-tier pay.

After an unceremonious exit that led to his resignation at Ole Miss in 2017, Freeze was out of coaching until landing at Liberty. In two seasons under him the Flames are 15-5, with a top-20 scoring offense so far this year (39 points per game) and a dark horse Heisman candidate in quarterback Malik Willis.

Freeze will still receive interest from Power-5 schools eventually

In a normal year, a contract extension for a coveted smaller school coach would not deter a Power 5 school’s interest. Simply put, a small school can’t compete financially if a big school dangles generational money to come to coach its football team. But of course 2020 is not a normal year due to COVID-19, as schools have to more closely consider restricted budgets and most notably in some cases a big buyout for a coach it’d like to fire.

Freeze was mentioned as a candidate for the job at Southern Miss after Jay Hopson stepped down one game into this season. But as jobs start to come open, perhaps without regard to the implications of firing a failing coach this year, Freeze’s name stands to surface still.

In this most unique of years, it may come down to if Freeze wants to entertain a possible second shot at a Power 5 school. The news of a contract extension with Liberty is telling. It seems to show he’s committed to staying at the school that gave him a chance to be a head coach again, when few (if any) seemed ready to do so.

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