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If Hugh Freeze leaves Liberty, Art Briles eyed as possible replacement

By Brad Berreman

WACO, TX - DECEMBER 5: Head coach Art Briles talks to his players from the sideline against the Texas Longhorns at McLane Stadium on December 5, 2015 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
WACO, TX - DECEMBER 5: Head coach Art Briles talks to his players from the sideline against the Texas Longhorns at McLane Stadium on December 5, 2015 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
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If Hugh Freeze leaves Liberty for a bigger job, former Baylor coach Art Briles has been tabbed as a possible replacement. 

With a job opening now existing there after the firing of Gus Malzahn, Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze is an easy candidate to go back to he SEC and take the job at Auburn. If Freeze were to leave Liberty for any other job, Stadium’s Brett McMurphy has named Art Briles as a leading candidate to replace him.

Briles, most notably recently the head coach at Baylor before off-the-field issues ended his tenure, has a tie to Liberty. Former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw, who resigned as the scandal took root, occupies the same post at Liberty now.

Art Briles is freely available now, for what it’s worth

Briles coached for one season over in Italy, and he has spent the last two seasons as head coach at Mount Vernon (Texas) High School. In perhaps totally unrelated news, as speculation regarding Liberty or a possible opening at Texas Tech (with booster backing for him in the latter case, apparently) surfaces, Briles resigned from that job on Monday.

“After coaching 42 games of football, from Florence, Italy to Mount Vernon, Texas in the last 22 months, I respectfully resign as Head Football Coach and Athletic Director of the Mount Vernon Tigers,” Briles said in a statement released by the district.

Freeze is 17-6 in two seasons at Liberty. He signed a contract extension through 2026 in November. That deal places him among the five highest-paid non-Power 5 head coaches ($3 million-plus a year), and in the mid-tier if he were a Power 5 head coach. But a new contract matters little if Freeze wants to leave.

Liberty gave Freeze a soft landing spot, where he could operate off the radar a bit and redeem himself after a controversial end to this tenure at Ole Miss. Replacing him with Briles would be of a similar ilk, though the controversy that ended his run at Baylor is on a whole different and troubling level.

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