Hugh Freeze once badly wanted to be hired at Tennessee
The Auburn Tigers hired the controversial Hugh Freeze this week to replace Bryan Harsin as the program's head coach. Freeze, in case you haven't been keeping up with college football over the last six to seven years, was fired by Ole Miss in 2017 after it was revealed that he had been using a university-issued […]
The Auburn Tigers hired the controversial Hugh Freeze this week to replace Bryan Harsin as the program's head coach.
Freeze, in case you haven't been keeping up with college football over the last six to seven years, was fired by Ole Miss in 2017 after it was revealed that he had been using a university-issued phone to set up visits with escorts (some sources have said he was visiting suspect massage parlors).
After taking two seasons off, Freeze was hired as the head coach at Liberty in late 2018.
Before taking the job at Liberty, it was assumed that Freeze badly wanted back in the SEC.
WNML's Brian Rice seemingly confirmed that assumption on Wednesday during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone's "Ramon, Kayla, and Will".
Rice said during his appearance that Freeze wanted to be hired as the Tennessee Vols' offensive coordinator when Jeremy Pruitt was UT's head coach.
"Hugh Freeze desperately wanted to be the OC at Tennessee when Jeremy Pruitt was hired," said Rice. "He DMed us asking to come on our show, we said no, and he threatened to go to our bosses."
There were rumors at the time that Freeze wanted the offensive coordinator job at Tennessee — specifically in late 2018 after Tyson Helton stepped down as the Vols' offensive coordinator to become the head coach at Western Kentucky.
Freeze, however, was never a viable option for Tennessee or any other SEC program in 2018. At the time, Freeze was still viewed as a disgraced former head coach. Some still feel that way about him, but I suppose enough time has passed now that he was viewed by Auburn as hirable in the SEC.
There's obviously still some risk with hiring Freeze, though. It wasn't just the escort service stuff that got him in trouble in Oxford. He was also embroiled in an NCAA investigation at Ole Miss in 2017 (NCAA issues/accusations clouded nearly Freeze's entire tenure as the Rebels' head coach). When you combine the escort services and the NCAA investigation, it's more than understandable why Tennessee declined to give him a chance as the program's offensive coordinator.
That's also why it's still a bit of a surprise that an SEC program actually hired him.
Everyone deserves a second chance, but it feels like Freeze has had a few of those already.
Featured image via James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
