5 teams that should hire Hugh Freeze as their next head coach

Would Freeze want arguably the worst job in the SEC? I think the better question is does Freeze want back in the SEC or not? If he can win this prolifically at a place like Liberty, Freeze may not have that hard of a time winning at a Southeastern academic power like Vanderbilt. It is in Tennessee and we have seen the ‘Dores play competent ball not that long ago in Nashville.

The biggest thing plaguing Vanderbilt football under head coach Derek Mason is no offensive competence whatsoever. His defense has its moments, but the ‘Dores cannot compete with the rest of the SEC regularly with its perpetual offensive ineptitude. Freeze may not be to Vanderbilt what James Franklin was for them in the early 2010s, but he would be a huge get for the program.

On paper, this is the best job Freeze could realistically get. This is the flagship university in an SEC state and at a traditional power. However, the Tennessee Volunteers have not been a national power since the mid-2000s under Phillip Fulmer. 12 years since his firing as head coach, Fulmer may have to pull the plug on Jeremy Pruitt in his new role as athletic director.

Freeze should be able to get the Vols to challenge the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs in SEC East play at Tennessee. However, there is too much stigma attached to him and too much bad history of late at Tennessee for him to honestly want to enter that hornet’s nest of a program. Then again, this is Tennessee and Freeze may not get another chance to lead a blue-blood again.

Here is why the South Carolina Gamecocks is the best job for Freeze if he were to leave Liberty in 2021. It offers the same SEC upside of Tennessee and Vanderbilt without the organizational chaos of Rocky Top, nor the academic challenges of winning big at a place like Vanderbilt. South Carolina is a job where Freeze can become the SEC East version of Gus Malzahn and absolutely thrive.

While it would take Florida and Georgia to stumble simultaneously, Freeze could end up having similar success to what Steve Spurrier had in Columbia in his second go-around in the SEC. Unlike at Ole Miss, Freeze would be coaching in the right division to actually have a shot at getting to Atlanta and playing in the SEC Championship game before he theoretically hangs up the headset.

If any of these programs move on from their head coach this fall, Freeze’s agent will get a call.

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