OPINION: Chances are, Hugh Freeze will embarrass Auburn University, too

Nov. 30—This isn't about escort services.

It isn't about repenting. It isn't about second chances.

Auburn University hiring Hugh Freeze as head football coach is about a school willingly overlooking a pattern of transgressions that have embarrassed his employers going back to his days as a high school coach.

Chances are, he'll embarrass Auburn, too, and the Tigers are doing it to bring aboard Freeze, whose hiring has fractured the fan base and sent a hard-to-ignore message that women are second-class citizens on the university's campus.

If you're going to cheer Freeze's preacher-like performance at Tuesday morning's introductory news conference, please be aware the backlash to his hiring was never just about him cheating on his wife with escorts. If you're going to say that Freeze has repented, that his use of escorts is between the coach, his wife and God, and that no man is perfect, just realize that it doesn't mean it's OK to put him in charge of the football program.

His issues go back to his time at Briarcrest Christian School. He coached there from 1992-2004 and won four girls basketball state championships and two in football.

According to a USA Today report in 2017, he called aside an eighth-grade female student for wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt, which was against the school dress code. According to the student, Freeze made her change out of it in front of him in his office.

In the same report, another female student said Freeze was "hyper attentive" about the length of her skirts and would "loom" in the parking lot while she went to her car to change clothes.

The same student said that there was an "inherently sexual nature" about how he approached discipline, including his paddling of the student.

In a statement provided to USA Today, Freeze denied any wrongdoing.

Ole Miss was accused of NCAA violations, with at least some of them happening while Freeze was head coach in 2012-16. The football program received a two-year postseason ban.

The last straw was the revelation about the records of his university phone, which showed calls to an escort service. According to multiple published reports, he initially said it was a "misdial," but when shown that the same number popped up at least 12 times in his phone records, he admitted it wasn't a misdial after all.

In 2019, he accepted a job as Liberty's head coach from athletics director Ian McCaw, who worked as AD at Baylor when that school was accused of covering up sex assaults, including ones by members of the football team. He coached there until Auburn brought him back to the Southeastern Conference this week.

Liberty is undergoing a federal investigation by the Department of Education for covering up sex assaults. A former Liberty student, Chelsea Andrews, joined a lawsuit with more than 20 others, accusing the school of mishandling sex assault allegations. She has been outspoken on Twitter, and within the past year, Freeze contacted her at least three times through direct messages, according to Alabama Media Group.

In one email, he defended McCaw. In another, according to Alabama Media Group, he wrote, "I would love for you to help me understand your attacks on me and our program."

According to Outkick.com, Andrews emailed Auburn University President Chris Roberts, Chief Operating Officer Marcy Girton, Executive Associate Athletics Director and Senior Women's Administrator Djenane Paul, and the athletics director's office, which is unfilled. She warned about Freeze and said, "Googling "Chelsea Andrews Hugh Freeze" will bring up many articles written about the way I was contacted."

Andrews posted on her Twitter account Monday afternoon that she had not been contacted by Auburn University.

Hardly the "thoughtful, thorough, and well-vetted search," that Auburn athletics director John Cohen wrote that the school undertook in a Monday statement announcing the hiring of Freeze.

Certainly, Auburn essentially had to settle in hiring Freeze. The firing of Gus Malzahn two years ago and the firing of Bryan Harsin more than a month ago revealed once again the troublesome in-fighting and power struggles within the university, which we've seen so often in the past.

Good coaching candidates weren't jumping out of their shoes to jump onboard that ship. Still, there was at least one viable candidate who would've accepted the job if asked: Interim head coach Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, who was the first Black man to lead the football program at either Auburn or Alabama.

Hiring Freeze is going awfully far out of your way to avoid naming Williams the full-time head football coach.

In Tuesday's news conference, Cohen appeared to indicate he believes Freeze's problems are in the past: "Coach Freeze was completely transparent with his past transgressions. He showed remorse and had an accountability plan that he's used for the last five-plus years. Everything he disclosed to us turned out to be accurate after speaking with credible industry sources."

Then again, the emails to Andrews are within that window of "five-plus years." Also, again, it's clear Cohen didn't speak to everyone. Example: Andrews.

During the Tuesday news conference, Freeze was asked about a Sports Illustrated report that said, "Multiple sources say Freeze has agreed to relinquish control of his social media accounts when he becomes the Auburn coach."

Freeze denied that Tuesday: "That's not accurate. How could you in this day? I think there may be wisdom in that though."

True or not, with what other new coach is this even a question? "Hey, are you going to harass assault survivors through direct messages while you're head coach? That'd be great if you don't."

I don't recall that being an issue when any other head coach in the league was hired.

Good grief, how could Auburn University be so tone deaf?

Senior Editor Mark Edwards: 256-235-3570. On Twitter: @MarkSportsStar.