What to know about Hugh Freeze, Auburn football's next coach: From 'The Blind Side' to Liberty

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John Cohen left Mississippi State to become Auburn’s athletics director, but he’s bringing a piece of the Magnolia State with him. According to reports, Auburn football is hiring Hugh Freeze as its next coach.

Freeze, best known for his tenure at Ole Miss, has spent the last four seasons at Liberty — winning at least eight games each season.

Here’s what you need to known about the successful but controversial coach.

Ole Miss: The good

Freeze was hired as Ole Miss football coach in 2012. His tenure was one of the most successful in recent Ole Miss history.

The Rebels went 7-6 in his first season before winning eight, nine and 10 games the following three years, respectively.

Ole Miss went 10-3 in 2015, featuring a win against national champion Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It was the second straight year the Rebels defeated the Crimson Tide after a win in Oxford in 2014.

Freeze coached the likes of receivers Laquon Treadwell and Donte Moncfrief, quarterbacks Chad Kelly and Bo Wallace, tight end Evan Engram and defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche at Ole Miss.

WHAT HAPPENED AT OLE MISS?:Why Hugh Freeze left Ole Miss, and what it means for Auburn football

MIXED REACTIONS:How Auburn football fans tried to derail Hugh Freeze hire

Ole Miss: The bad

Freeze and Ole Miss were charged with a variety of recruiting NCAA violations in 2016. Ole Miss employees and boosters were giving financial benefits to prospects, the investigation found.

The Rebels vacated 33 wins from 2010-2016. The 10 wins in 2015 were not vacated as offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, who admitted to receiving money from assistants, was suspended for the first seven games.

Ole Miss received a two-year postseason ban, was stripped of scholarships for four years and suffered three years of probation. Some of the infractions occurred under previous coach Houston Nutt.

Ole Miss: The ugly

Amidst the NCAA investigations, former coach Houston Nutt sued Ole Miss for defamation because he felt Freeze and the school falsely blamed him for the violations. Nutt’s attorneys requested records on Freeze’s university-issued cell phone as part of the investigation.

Those calls discovered a concerning pattern. Freeze was making frequent calls to a number associated with a female escort service, which he later claimed was a misdialed number.

Ole Miss AD Ross Bjork told Freeze to resign or he’d be fired. On July 20, 2017, Freeze stepped down.

Liberty revival

Freeze didn’t return to coaching until he was hired as Liberty football coach following the 2018 season. The hiring, though controversial, turned into a successful run for the Flames.

Liberty played in the Cure Bowl in back-to-back seasons to open Freeze's tenure before playing in the Lending Tree Bowl last season.

His best season came in 2020, when Liberty went 10-1 and finished the season at No. 18 in the AFCA USA Today Coaches Poll. The Flames were led by now-Tennessee Titans quarterback Malik Willis.

Oxford roots

Freeze’s hiring at Ole Miss was personal. He is an Oxford native who made his way up the coaching ranks through the high school route.

His break in college coaching came when the Rebels hired him as an assistant athletics director for football external affairs under Ed Orgeron in 2005. He was promoted to tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator the following season.

Lambuth tenure

Nutt was hired at Ole Miss in 2008, and Freeze was considered but not hired for the offensive coordinator position. Freeze then took a head coaching job at Lambuth.

He went 8-4 in his first season before going 12-1 in his second and final year. Lambuth lost in the 2019 NAIA quarterfinal round.

Among those on his staff at Lambuth was Indiana head coach Tom Allen and UCF receivers coach Grant Heard. They both followed Freeze to Arkansas State and Ole Miss.

A year in Jonesboro, Arkansas

Freeze’s tenure at Arkansas State was short but successful.

The Red Wolves went 10-2 in Freeze’s lone season at the helm. Freeze led the team to the GoDaddy.com Bowl, though he did not coach in the bowl game as he had taken the head coaching job at Ole Miss.

Coaching Michael Oher

Freeze, who was played by Ray McKinnon, was a key character in the film “The Blind Side.”

Freeze was the head coach at Briarcrest Christian School when offensive lineman Michael Oher came along. Freeze helped Oher become an all-state offensive lineman and five-star prospect.

Oher received offers from all over the country, but wound up choosing Ole Miss. Less than a month after Oher signed with the Rebels in 2005, Freeze was brought on staff.

Freeze was at Ole Miss for the entirety of Oher’s successful career except for his senior season in 2008.

Freeze’s faith

Freeze has been very public about his Christian beliefs, which caused some scrutiny when his scandal at Ole Miss became public, per a Tennessean report in 2017.

“He is far from the first public figure to be embroiled in a scandal that appears to run counter to the beliefs they espouse,” the report stated. “But Freeze leaves fellow believers who saw him as a Christian role model trying to figure out how they should respond while examining their own relationship to sin.”

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Nine things to know about new Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze