Never say never in the coaching profession.
Liberty coach Hugh Freeze is not shying away from the possibility of potentially jumping for a bigger job, even after this season, as he leads the No. 21 Flames (8-0) into the biggest game in school history this week at NC State.
The recent opening at South Carolina is certainly a hot topic among the media, with many analysts and insiders placing Freeze at or near the top of their list of potential candidates to replace Will Muschamp. Muschamp was fired Sunday after a 2-5 start in the middle of his fifth season leading the Gamecocks.
“Man, you know, the first thing is, I have no clue if anybody even wants me or not, except for Liberty,” Freeze told 247Sports Monday. “And so I’m thankful for Liberty. I know this, and my wife keeps me grounded on this, I live where my feet are and my total focus is on our team here getting them ready for NC State and building this program. I’ve been honest with them and our administration here in saying that it would take something really, really special for me to even consider leaving here — and I mean that. I have no idea if anybody even would want to talk to me, and that’s OK, I’m at peace with that. So I’m happy right where I’m at and at total peace. Got great friends here, great staff, great kids, great administration. I’ve got a house up on the mountain, two minutes from campus.”
Freeze spoke to 247Sports in a wide-ranging interview about his past at Ole Miss, the incredibly successful season at Liberty and what lies ahead in his future. The full Q&A will be posted Monday afternoon.
South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner discussed the firing of Muschamp Monday and was asked directly about Freeze as a candidate for the job.
“I’m not going to speak to any particular candidates. Nobody is ruled out,” Tanner told reporters Monday. “We’ll be looking at a long list of candidates and that work started last night. So at this point we will consider a lot of different people, and now we’re in the process of narrowing the list down.”
Freeze led Ole Miss for five seasons but resigned in the middle of a personal and professional controversy. The Rebels received three years of probation and a two-year postseason ban for lack of institutional control tied to an “unconstrained culture of booster involvement” with football recruitment. The NCAA also accused Freeze of failing to monitor his staff.
Freeze also used a university-issued phone to contact an escort service. He resigned in July 2017.
“Until I’m blue in the face, some may not want to hear it, but for those that that were hurt by a personal decision, in a failing in my personal life, I’m extremely sorry to have hurt anyone in that. I wish I could do it over 1,000 times,” Freeze told 247Sports. “I’ll have great memories of being at Ole Miss, and the great victories we had in the Sugar Bowl, and the two New Year’s Six (games) and the win in Austin. I mean, we had some great, great memories and I’ll forever hold those dear to me. And I hate like heck that on my watch we were guilty of violating NCAA rules. I was the captain of the ship and I had to obviously accept responsibility for not monitoring things properly there. There was a lot of hurt. Man, I hate it. It’s my own state, dude. I’m a Mississippi boy through and through. I hate it like heck. Do I wish that they could have stood with me? You know I do, but I put them in a difficult spot. And so I can’t say they were right, wrong or indifferent. I put them in a difficult spot.”
Freeze led Ole Miss to four straight bowl games in his first four seasons, including trips to the Peach and Sugar bowls. He is also only the third head coach in history to beat Nick Saban-coached teams in back-to-back years (2014 and 2015).
Liberty is 16-5 under Freeze. The Flames moved to the FBS level in 2019 and advanced to the Cure Bowl, which they won, in Freeze’s first season. Liberty owns two wins against ACC teams this season, including most recently with a walk-off field goal at Virginia Tech. Liberty travels to NC State (5-3) for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff Saturday on ESPN3.
