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.
4. Lane Kiffin (Current School: Florida Atlantic)
Previously, I had Art Briles in this spot, but does Ole Miss really want another coach who was involved in a scandal? Probably not. The former Baylor head coach covered up multiple sexual assaults and was a walking scandal in Waco.
However, Lane Kiffin isn’t any more well-liked around college football. Although he was one of the rising coordinators during the 2016 season, he could only land a job with Florida Atlantic. Nick Saban’s offense thrived with Kiffin running the show, but the two soured on each other by season’s end and the latter was relieved of his duties before the playoff.
Why was he told not to even bother showing up for the College Football Playoff? Well, less than a month earlier, he accepted the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic. Saban figured he had other things to tend to anyways.
That’s far from the point, though. Kiffin has serious Division 1 coaching experience at Tennessee, for a year, and also USC. He led the Trojans to a 28-15 record through three-plus seasons before being let go and taking Alabama’s offensive coordinator job.
Could he be swayed away from Florida Atlantic after just one season? It’s happened before. Right, Tennessee fans?
3. Chip Kelly (Last School: Oregon then NFL)
This would be quite the hire for Ole Miss. Chip Kelly was just fired from the 49ers after just one season, going 2-14. However, he did coach three years with the Philadelphia Eagles and people seem to forget that he went 10-6 in his first two years before going 6-10, getting relieved of his duties shortly after.
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Before any of this NFL coaching, he was the man at Oregon. The Ducks were experiencing one of their most successful eras of football and it was thanks to Kelly. He was one heck of a recruiter and an even better on-field coach.
Not many college football offenses could match what his Ducks could do each week and it seemed like no defense in the country wanted to face Oregon. In four years with the Ducks, he went 46-7 and 33-3 in Pac-12 action with three conference titles, a division title, a Rose Bowl win, Fiesta Bowl win and appearance in the national title game.
If Ole Miss wants to keep the trend of high-scoring offense going and even improve recruiting, Kelly could be the guy. He’s currently looking for a job and it’s rumored that he might get back into the college ranks.
2. Les Miles (Last School: LSU)
Well, this would be one of the more interesting directions for Ole Miss, and not one fan would be able to complain about the splash hire.
There are few coaches in college football who got more respect and admiration from their players than former LSU coach Les Miles. When rumors of his impending firing were circulating in 2015, LSU beat Texas A&M at Tiger Stadium in late-November and carried the head coach off the field on their shoulders — as seen above.
Now what kind of coach can get that type of love from players even while under intense scrutiny from fans and the athletic department? Not many. Actually, many fans wanted to retain Miles, but there were many donors who wanted more from the football program than just 8-10 win seasons, which had been the norm from 2012-15, although he did win a national title for the program.
After just four games, and a 2-2 record, in 2016, Miles was let go. Many fans and players were upset, but another popular coach, Ed Orgeron, took over as the interim and is now the head coach.
How wild would it be to see Miles and Orgeron switch places? In case you didn’t know, Orgeron coached Ole Miss from 2005-07. Hey, Les already knows the SEC, so why not? His plans to appear on TV this fall can wait.
1. Major Applewhite (Current School: Houston)
One former Texas coach is considered the hottest name on the market these days, and no, I’m not talking about Mack Brown even though he claimed he wants to get back into coaching — in the right situation, of course. I’m talking about former Texas offensive coordinator Major Applewhite who has since taken over for Tom Herman at Houston.
This may be more of a wish list option for the Rebels, but not many major programs will be looking to hire a Group of Five head coach next year. With Freeze resigning this early, the Rebels could get a head start on wooing the former Texas assistant.
Applewhite was Houston’s offensive coordinator for the past two years under Herman and the team experience a wealth of success. The program took a complete 180-degree turn and that earned Herman a job at Applewhite’s alma mater, Texas. In turn, Applewhite took over the Cougars and will be looking to keep the momentum going in Houston.
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At the ripe age of 38, Applewhite is already one of the youngest coaches in college football, but he could be headed to a major program sooner rather than later. Will Ole Miss jump on the opportunity to land him?