The coaching carousel will be moving again soon enough and former Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze will be looking for a job. Where will he land?
Notwithstanding is actions off the field, Hugh Freeze has proven himself to be a quality football coach. He leaves Ole Miss with a 39-25 record, reaching a ranking as high as third in the nation on two separate occasions (2014, 2015).
It’s so late in the offseason that finding a job for the 2017 season is going to be tough. Freeze will have a job by 2018. The question is, where?
Texas Tech
Kliff Kingsbury was supposed to be the golden boy who road in on his horse (yes, it is Texas) and saved the day. The former Texas Tech quarterback took over the Red Raiders in 2013 and went 8-5 in his first season. Since then he’s 16-21 and facing growing frustration.
Texas dismissed Charlie Strong last season. That leaves Kingsbury on the hottest seat in the Big 12. He’s not playing in the SEC or the ACC, but the schedule isn’t going to do him any favors in 2017. Tech plays West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas on the road. That’s starting to sound like three losses. Three more and the Tech head man is in extremely hot water.
Texas Tech faces an interesting predicament. They’re a Power-5 school, but they’re not the cream of the crop. There are always a few big names looking for jobs at the end of each season. By the time that rising hot shots and the seasoned veterans find new homes Freeze might be the last dog left at the bowl.
It’s not sexy, but it’s how college athletics works. The biggest programs draw the biggest names. Tech is somewhere in the middle of the desirability scale, and Freeze might actually be the perfect fit for the Red Raiders.
SMU
Chad Morris might not have an exemplary record with the Mustangs so far (7-17), but he’s already on his way to becoming the new “Tom Herman” of 2017. Morris was one of the names of interest to replace Art Briles at Baylor. Coincidentally his SMU team topped Herman’s Houston squad last fall.
Morris isn’t on the hot seat at SMU. Their program doesn’t have the expectations it once did. consequently, Morris will have plenty of rope to work with in Dallas. However, the odds are he won’t need it.
Morris was rumored to be interested in the Texas A&M job last season. With Kevin Sumlin on the hot seat there could be a changing of the guard in Aggieland. If Morris moves to Texas A&M that opens the door for SMU. When you’re a school outside of the Power-5 conference you really only have two options when it comes to head coaches.
Plan A: Find the next up-and-comer and hold on to him as long as you can.
Plan B: Get the biggest name you can.
How do you think Jim Tressell ended up at Youngstown State or Lane Kiffin got his job at FAU? The SMU Mustangs haven’t been a go-to destination for coaches or recruits for a long time. That mean’s they’re going to have to take what they can get. For all his faults, and the list seems like its continually growing, Freeze can coach. Morris to the Aggies and Freeze to the Mustangs.
New Mexico State
Speaking of the Aggies, the New Mexico State Aggies may be in the market for a new coach soon. These Aggies haven’t been above .500 since 2002. They’ve had four head coaches since then. Each one of them has made it a few years before the next guy came around. This next guy could be Hugh Freeze.
The Sun Belt isn’t home to many dream jobs, but at this point beggars can’t be choosers. An overused cliche, but it perfectly describes Freeze’s predicament. The longer he stays away from coaching the harder it’s going to be for him to get back in. It might not be glamorous, but it’s a job in a conference that Freeze should be able to handle.
Bobby Petrino got right back into coaching after his questionable motorcycle outing. That’s just a reminder that most coaching hiatuses aren’t forever. Most sins can be forgiven in college football if you can win football games. Freeze has beaten Nick Saban twice in the past three seasons. That makes him a coaching candidate worth checking in on in 2019 or 2020.
If Freeze were to take the New Mexico State job he wouldn’t be locked into a decade in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Although if he did begin to enjoy the scenery, he wouldn’t be run off any time soon. A pit stop at New Mexico State makes perfect sense for Freeze and for the Aggies. At least for a year or two.
Arizona
What’s one more hot-head to add to mix? Arizona seems to have a penchant for hiring extroverted coaches that can offer an interesting quote or two. With their current head man coming close to playing on borrowed time it might be time for the Wildcats to look elsewhere. Enter Hugh Freeze.
Mike Stoops, Rich Rodriguez and Hugh Freeze. That’s makes for a solid lineup of pretty good college football coaches. Pretty good, but not fantastic. Those three have had some huge wins and some big years, but on the whole they boast a combined two 10 or more win seasons since 2008. Freeze fits the mold for a program like Arizona that wants to compete, but hasn’t been able to find the right guy.
More: 5 reasons why Rich Rodriguez should be on the hot seat in 2017
Freeze looked like he was going to be the guy that returned Ole Miss to prominence. It’s worth noting that he resigned due to personal wrongdoing, not any NCAA investigations. As of now, there isn’t a direct line leading from Freeze to NCAA misconduct, at least not yet. That’s important because it allows a school like Arizona to separate the scandal from the football coach.
As a football coach Freeze held his own in one of the toughest divisions in College Football. If he can go toe-to-toe with Alabama and Arkansas he can handle playing the Pac-12 South. Rich Rordiguez had some great years at West Virginia, but it;s been over a decade since those top 10 finishes. If you remove his one great year in the desert in 2015 (10-4) he’s 18-20 with the Wildcats. That’s just mediocre enough that it could leave the door open for a guy like Freeze.
Massachusetts
Current UMass head coach Mark Whipple was a quarterback at Brown in the 1970’s. He threw more interceptions (18) than touchdowns (13) in two seasons as an player in the Ivy League. His time with the Minutemen of Massachusetts hasn’t been any more illustrious. Whipple is just 8-29 in three years.
UMass has the interesting wrinkle of recently joining the FBS. In 2012 they made the jump from FCS/I-AA to Division I as a member of the Mid-American Conference. The results on the field declined and it wasn’t long before they made a coaching change, bringing in Whipple to replace Charley Molnar who finished his tenure 2-22.
In 2016 UMass left the MAC and became an independent. That doesn’t play a huge role in hiring an upcoming coach, but bringing in Freeze might give the Minutemen an added boost in their scheduling. They’re the team that other schools pay to fly in and take a whipping. Why not sweeten the pot by hiring Freeze?
They face a pair of SEC teams in 2017, Tennessee and Mississippi State. Last year they played Mississippi State and South Carolina. Given the SEC’s interest in padding their non-conference schedule it’s likely that these cupcakes games continue into the future. Programs like Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M and Florida are going to pack their stadiums regardless of who’s on the other sideline. But if you’re South Carolina or a Vanderbilt it wouldn’t be too bad for publicity to invite Hugh Freeze and UMass to town.
Next: 5 potential replacements for Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss
Landing a guy with as much name recognition (good or bad) as Hugh Freeze would be a tremendous get for UMass. If there’s any way they can make it work they need to put a phone call into Freeze right now. They should just be careful they have the right number.