Fansided

Why did Hugh Freeze resign from Ole Miss?

By Ethan Lee

OXFORD, MS - SEPTEMBER 26: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels takes the field with his team prior to a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 26, 2015 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
OXFORD, MS - SEPTEMBER 26: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels takes the field with his team prior to a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 26, 2015 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

What was the scandal the led to former Ole Miss Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze vacating his job in Oxford? 

Former Ole Miss Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze was winning at a high level and had his program trending up, so why did he end up leaving Oxford in disgrace following the 2016 season? While many will like to link Freeze’s resignation to the NCAA investigation that was going on at the time, that’s not the scandal that led to him leaving Ole Miss.

Ole Miss hired Freeze away from Arkansas State prior to the 2012 season. In the five seasons from 2012 through 2016, Freeze went 39-25, took Ole Miss to four bowl games, of which he won three.

And then the NCAA uncovered some not-so-stellar stuff.

An NCAA investigation led to sanctions being imposed on Ole Miss. Many of the issues happened under Freeze’s coaching staff and, along with the other punishments that came down from the NCAA, Freeze ended up getting hit with a suspension if he’d been hired as a head coach during a short window of time.

Ole Miss ended up having to vacate 27 wins from Freeze’s time with the Rebels, but that has very little to do with Freeze’s actual exit from Ole Miss.

The scandal that ended his time in Oxford actually involved using a university-issued cell phone to make at least a dozen calls to escort services.

Former Ole Miss Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze left Oxford due to a scandal involving calls to escort services

Freeze ended up making his way to Liberty, a private Christian university in Virginia, where he has since been able to start cleaning up his image some and get back to winning on the field with a thrilling offense.

That sort of production and the fact that he’s been working on distancing himself from what happened at Ole Miss will likely lead to him becoming a serious head coach candidate in this upcoming coaching search cycle. That’s especially true for teams that are desperate to either start winning for the first time in a while or for schools that are trying to elevate themselves to a considerably higher level.

Next. 30 biggest college football scandals of all time. dark

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.

Home/College Football