4. Hugh Freeze won big at Ole Miss before off-field issues did him in, but would Texas A&M take a chance on a coach that’s beat Nick Saban twice?
Hugh Freeze’s name draws mixed reactions any time it’s brought up, and for good reason. He left Ole Miss in shame as the Rebels had to deal with all sorts of scandals, but he’s been working to distance himself from the mess he left in Oxford as he coaches the Liberty Flames.
Ad as long as you’re only talking about what is happening on the field, Freeze seems like a pretty great option. All he’s done at Liberty is win. Since he arrived in Lynchburg, Liberty has gone 23-8, with the Flames winning 10 games in 2020.
Heck, before he got to Lynchburg, all he did (on the field) was win. In his first head coaching gig at the collegiate level, Freeze thrived at Arkansas State, going 10-3 during the 2011 season. Over at Ole Miss, Freeze went 39-25 over the course of six seasons with the Rebels.
That’s pretty good. That sort of success makes Freeze a viable candidate for a lot of jobs. What happened off the field might detract from that though.
Now, the Rebels have since had to vacate many of the wins that came during the Freeze era. 27 of his wins from 2012 through 2016 technically didn’t happen, at least as far as the NCAA is concerned that is. Now, if you ask the Ole Miss fans who saw those wins happen, they’ll tell you it was a blast to see Ole Miss take down Alabama in back-to-back seasons. They’ll also rave about how much fun it was to get to the Peach Bowl (even if losing it stunk) or how great a trip to the Sugar Bowl is.
Texas A&M’s current athletic director, Ross Bjork, was at Ole Miss while all of that was happening. He’s familiar with Freeze and what can happen when he’s the head coach of your team, both the good and the bad.
Would he (and the Aggies) be interested in reuniting Freeze with his former AD in College Station? Would Freeze even entertain the potential opening knowing that Bjork is the AD?