Ole Miss Hires Hugh Freeze
by Year2 on Dec 5, 2011 11:46 AM EST
in SEC Football
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PrintIt's official, per Archie himself. Ole Miss has hired Hugh Freeze as its new head coach.
There will be a press conference at 2 p.m. Central, and it will be streamed online.
Freeze is best known for being Michael Oher's high school coach in the book/movie The Blind Side, but there's a lot more to him than that. He had a long run of success at Briarcrest High School in Memphis, including a pair of state titles. He coached under Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss from 2006-07 before taking the head coaching job at NAIA Lambuth in Jackson, Tennessee. He went 20-5 there, including a 12-1 second season. Arkansas State hired him as offensive coordinator for 2010 and promoted him to head coach in 2011 following the firing of Steve Roberts. He went 10-2 this year.
Even though most of those experiences came outside the Magnolia State, he went to high school in Senatobia, MS and has degrees from Northwest Mississippi Community college and Southern Miss. Memphis is in some ways an outpost of Mississippi in Tennessee anyway. Freeze has many ties to the area and has done nothing but win games everywhere he's been. At least, everywhere he's been when Oregeron also was not there.
He's not a big, splashy name like Mike Leach, but he might just be the right kind of guy for the school. David Cutcliffe could coach, but he wasn't big enough on recruiting. Orgeron could recruit but couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag. Houston Nutt won right away but found success more and more difficult as more and more of Orgeron's players left.
Freeze was Orgeron's recruiting coordinator and appears to be a good coach. Whether he can put everything together in Oxford at a time when the SEC West has never been tougher remains to be seen, but he's a moderate risk with a high apparent upside.
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its a rice cake hire
It’ll keep you alive but won’t bring you joy. I wouldn’t say its a bad hire, I wouldn’t say its a good hire. Technically you can say he’s a winner. But less so than Larry Blakeney (and I’m not saying they should hire him either). Meh.
by Mark Mandingo on Dec 5, 2011 12:04 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I think it's solid.
Ole Miss wasn’t going to land a high profile coach. A successful HC from lower ranks is a good move. The only downside here is that he doesn’t have a long track record as a HC at one stop. It will be interesting to see how he does in year 4 or 5 compared to year 1 or 2.
Prepare for this, everyone
The Admiral Ackbar references were a bit geeky, so now with Ole Miss, we’re going to start referencing something a little… cooler.
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If you're so inclined, follow me @Year2
I’m assuming you’re putting on a pair of sunglasses right before you say “cooler”
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YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
"I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know."
"Memphis is in some ways an outpost of Mississippi in Tennessee anyway."
You couldn’t be more wrong about that.
Audemus jura nostra defendere
Every day we make it, we'll make it the best we can.
I've always heard that:
The two largest cities in Mississippi are New Orleans and Memphis.
I like trucks.
by Gen. Stoopnagle on Dec 7, 2011 7:23 AM EST up reply actions
Mississippi may well want to claim Memphis.
The feeling is not mutual.
Audemus jura nostra defendere
Every day we make it, we'll make it the best we can.
by animalcracker on Dec 7, 2011 1:11 PM EST up reply actions
If you ask someone from Nashville it is.
Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
Sports are chaotic and stupid; and we're bad at them.
by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Dec 7, 2011 5:15 PM EST up reply actions
Lot's of Mississippians, especially Ole Miss grads, move to Memphis and New Orleans
because there aren’t many jobs to be had in the small towns and “city” of Jackson which make up the Magnolia State.
Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
Sports are chaotic and stupid; and we're bad at them.
by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Dec 7, 2011 5:16 PM EST up reply actions
I just really don't know what to think of...
Ole Miss. This was an opportunity to make a bold move. An opportunity to bring in an exciting coach. Arm him with recruiting resources, facility upgrades, and salaries for top assistants, and get Ole Miss football on the road to respectability.
That, ladies and gents, did. not. happen. And so it is likely that another era of heartbreak is in store for the Ole Miss faithful. I bet it gets even uglier before it gets better. If it gets better. That’s a big IF, folks.
by monkeyattackedmyass on Dec 8, 2011 3:59 AM EST reply actions
Aside from Mike Leach or Rich Rodriguez,
what “bold moves” could Ole Miss have made?
As far as recruiting resources, that shouldn’t be an issue as Orgeron and Nutt had significant recruiting resources given to them (as well as relative recruiting success, if Rivals.com is to be believed). Regarding facility upgrades, Ole Miss is about halfway through a $150M capital campaign to, among other things, expand Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and improve what parts of it are already in place. Since Hugh Freeze will be making $1.5M, the lowest salary of an SEC head coach, we’ll have plenty of money to pay whatever his assistants deserve.
I guess what I’m saying is that, while a Mike Leach type of hire would have turned a lot of heads, the hiring of a guy like Hugh Freeze doesn’t mean Ole Miss won’t be “on the road to respectability.” Yes, the guy could be the next Derek Dooley, but he could also be the next successful BCS coach who got his start in a lesser conference (and there are LOTS of those).
For the record, I was firmly on Team Leach and am still upset that we didn’t even attempt to interview the guy, despite him more-or-less lobbying for the job. But I don’t think that Hugh Freeze is some sort of unmitigated disaster waiting to happen, either.
Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
Sports are chaotic and stupid; and we're bad at them.
by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Dec 8, 2011 8:29 AM EST up reply actions
what "bold moves" could Ole Miss have made?
Ole Miss football is at rock bottom. On life support. Gasping for air.
Flat-lining. If there were ever a circumstance that called for drastic,
bold moves, this would be it.
If you’re patient is dying on the table, who do you call? A first year resident?
No. You call in the big guns. You put in place a plan of attack that is fearless,
determined, and is on par with the enormous challenge ahead. You don’t roll
the dice with a guy who has less than a year of head coaching experience.
Not in a situation like this, at a time like this, given the current state of affairs.
what "bold moves" could Ole Miss have made? The question is the very problem.
In a knife fight, up against the best in the business, you don’t send in a rookie
with a plastic spork, and just hope for the best. That’s exactly what Ole Miss
is doing, and quite honestly, it’s pathetic. It clearly shows that they just don’t
give a rat’s ass. There is no way of glossing this over, and making it into
something better than what it is.
I hear your loyal wishful thinking, I’m just not buying it.
You said it yourself, Ole Miss didn’t even bother contacting Leach. Never bothered
contacting Rich Rod. How about a ballsy plan to take someone else’s
coach? A statement hire, signalling a new and exciting plan for the future? No?
OK.
They never approached the situation with the kind of resolve, and determination
such a situation calls for. Begs for.
Instead they just take their sweet time mulling over the “up and coming”
second tier group of wannabes, while other programs seize the moment.
The unmitigated disaster is the approach Ole Miss takes in handling these
situations.
Who knows, maybe they’ll get lucky and Mr. Freeze will turn into
a coaching phenom. Much more likely, however, is that they will reap exactly
what they are sowing.
by monkeyattackedmyass on Dec 8, 2011 3:07 PM EST reply actions
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