Alabama football: Hugh Freeze out at Ole Miss after resignation
By Ronald Evans
Alabama football fans will not be sorry to see the exit of Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss
Alabama football fans who have followed the Ole Miss NCAA saga know the best source for information is Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports. This is what Forde tweeted today.
Y sources: Explosive new information has put Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze's job in immediate jeopardy. A decision should come soon.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) July 20, 2017
Cricket chirping on message boards over the last 10 days stated Freeze would not see the opening kickoff of 2017. None of us who followed the Ole Miss meltdown will ever forget the Freeze request for anyone aware of any Ole Miss transgressions to contact him.
In honor of the new info about Hugh Freeze #TBT pic.twitter.com/7yhp8s5LNB
— Richard (Not Down Bad Right Now) (@umichwolverine1) July 20, 2017
Just two days ago, Freeze tweeted this plaintive message,
One thing I've learned....Adversity teaches us to have greater compassion for others in their hours of adversity. Thankful for this lesson.
— Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) July 18, 2017
Then the hammer came down.
ANNOUNCEMENT | Hugh Freeze has resigned effective immediately. Matt Luke interim head coach. Press conference live at 7:30 PM CT on ESPNews.
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) July 20, 2017
Another very good sports journalist Dan Wolken tweeted this,
Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze made call to number tied to escort service https://t.co/syuS0LCOQX via @usatoday
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 20, 2017
We know nothing about the accuracy of the details reported in tonight’s USA Today story. It appears the claim of an alleged call by Freeze to an escort service was disclosed by the attorney representing Houston Nutt. Last week Nutt filed a suit against Ole Miss for breach of contract via defamation of character.
Details of the call are murky. Apparently, Hugh Freeze has stated the call was a misdial. We choose to not comment further until more is known. What is known is on the day this news was reported, Hugh Freeze resigned from his position as head coach of Ole Miss football.
Alabama football fans will not be sad about Freeze’s demise. There is no way of knowing how this will affect the NCAA investigation into Ole miss football. With Hugh Freeze as the coach or not, Ole Miss was headed toward more pain.
Some Ole Miss fans will argue that a good man was brought down unfairly. Despite today’s news that could still be true. We suspect Hugh Freeze was not the ringleader in the Ole Miss NCAA violations. Freeze was ill-prepared to deal with the pressure of a big-time job. We suspect he naively accepted what others told him was necessary to make Ole Miss competitive.
If our conjecture is valid, there may yet be a bigger story than Hugh Freeze calling an escort service that led to his resignation.
We have been covering the Ole Miss situation for several weeks. These past stories provide the background.
This is the background on the Houston Nutt lawsuit.
We wrote this several weeks ago trying to explain how much NCAA trouble Ole Miss was in.
This one is the most insightful link because it discusses how Ole Miss is trying to not pay the price for its mistakes.
Hugh Freeze paid a price today. The day of reckoning for Ole Miss is yet to come.
Next: The 5 Reasons Jalen Hurts will be much improved in 2017
Ole Miss alum Matt Luke has been named Interim Head Coach. Luke has been on the Ole Miss staff for ten years, the last six being Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line coach. Luke now has one of the hardest jobs in college football.