5 teams that should hire Hugh Freeze as their next head coach
By John Buhler
Hugh Freeze has re-emerged as one of the top coaching candidates in college football.
Don’t rule out Hugh Freeze making a return to a Power 5 job as soon as 2021 despite signing a contract extension with Liberty earlier in the week.
While the former disgraced head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels is loving his time leading the Liberty Flames, we all know he is not for long with his current team. Though he may stay at Liberty through this year and next because of the whole global pandemic, we should anticipate Freeze getting back to a Power 5 gig within the next two years. What programs would want him, though?
Five college football programs who should hire Hugh Freeze in 2021
Pac-12. South. player. 836. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. UCLA Bruins. 5
It does not seem incredibly likely, but we do need to consider it. The UCLA Bruins are as bland as ever, even after hiring former Oregon Ducks and Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. It seems as though the game has passed Kelly by. He does not have any interest in recruiting and UCLA is little more than a middle-of-the-pack team in the worst of the two Pac-12 divisions.
By going with Freeze, it would be somewhat of a splash hire yet again for the program. However, it could be the catalyst to make UCLA at least interesting. Given that the Bruins do not play in the same division as Oregon, it would not be shocking if Freeze makes a swift impact in Westwood. Look at him going to UCLA as a bit of a reboot of what did work initially under Jim Mora.
West. Illinois Fighting Illini. 4. 807. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Big Ten. player
It seems like the Lovie Smith era of Illinois Fighting Illini football has run its course. Smith has shown he can lead his team to a bowl game once in a blue moon, but that is about it. Despite leading a team to a Super Bowl appearance in the same state, Smith routinely has his team at the bottom of the worst of two divisions in the Big Ten West. Maybe Freeze can be a panacea here?
As with UCLA, hiring Freeze does seem like a bit of a stretch. It could happen and he could be impactful right away at either school. However, coaching in the Midwest and out on the West Coast will be out of his recruiting wheelhouse. What this move for Illinois would mean is the Illini could consistently compete for middle-of-the-pack in the Big Ten West looking up at Wisconsin.