Ole Miss Football: 5 potential replacements for Hugh Freeze

On Thursday night, Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze shockingly announced his resignation from the program. Who will replace him long-term?

In somewhat shocking news on Thursday night, Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze announced his resignation from the program, effective immediately.

Not many people saw this coming so soon, although it had been rumored since the start of the offseason because of potential NCAA violations. In fact, the Rebels even have a self-imposed one-year bowl ban which is in response to the allegations against them and internal investigation.

With the trouble looming, along with Houston Nutt lawsuit, Freeze took it upon himself — maybe with some encouragement from the athletic department — to resign. The news shook the entire college football landscape, but it looks like the Rebels will be looking for a new coach.

Although Matt Luke has been named the interim coach already, which five candidates could replace Freeze, long-term? We took our best guess at five potential candidates.

5. Matt Luke

Why not let interim head coach Matt Luke take his best run at the job before going out to find an immediate replacement? With Freeze’s resignation on Thursday night, it seems as if Luke will get a shot to show what he’s made of in Oxford, whether that’s a positive or negative, we will soon find out.

The former co-offensive coordinator has been considered one of the rising coordinators at the college level, but is he ready to coach his own program?

It could end up like the case of Ohio State assistant Luke Fickell who took over for Jim Tressel following NCAA violations for a year as an interim, but won just seven games and lost his head coaching job. He was retained by Urban Meyer as a defensive coordinator before earning the job at Cincinnati.

Luke will get a fair shot, and if all goes as planned, he could be the long-term coach of the Rebels.