One of the more popular names surrounding Tennessee’s vacant offensive coordinator position among Vol fans has been former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze. But according to a prominent voice in college football, Freeze isn’t a serious candidate for the Vols’ OC job.
Bruce Feldman, a reporter for FOX Sports and writer for The Athletic, tweeted out on Monday afternoon that Freeze is “not in the mix” for UT’s offensive coordinator position according to his sources.
Sources tell me that former #OleMiss head coach Hugh Freeze is not in the mix for the offensive coordinator job at #Tennessee.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 26, 2018
Freeze served as the head coach for Ole Miss from 2012-2016 before resigning prior to the 2017 season amid an NCAA investigation. The NCAA charged Ole Miss with numerous infractions regarding “impermissible benefits” in recruiting, and later he was investigated for contacting a “female escort” on his university-issued cell phone.
Alabama’s Nick Saban tried to hire Freeze as an assistant prior to the 2018 season, but he was strongly discouraged by the SEC and didn’t end up making the move.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Hugh Freeze as a coach,” Saban said back in April. “I think he did a fabulous job when he was at Ole Miss. He has been a friend that I’ve shared ideas with and spent time with and know his family, as Miss Terry does know his family. So we have a tremendous amount of respect for him.
“We also have a lot of respect for the SEC and what they think is, in some cases, best for the league relative to circumstances that people created for themselves. But I have a lot of respect for Hugh, and I think he’ll be back in our profession, and we wish him and his family the very best, and if we can do anything to help him, we’ll be happy to do that.”
Freeze earned a 39-25 record at Ole Miss during his five seasons there, and he’s one of only four head coaches ever to defeat a Nick Saban-coached team in back-to-back seasons when his Rebels beat Alabama in both 2014 and 2015.
Freeze, who just turned 49 in September, was also a head coach at Arkansas State and served as the offensive coordinator there.
