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South Carolina Football: Hugh Freeze would be perfect head coaching hire

By Connor Muldowney

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Liberty Flames looks on during the third quarter of the 2019 Cure Bowl against the Georgia Southern Eagles at Exploria Stadium on December 21, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Liberty Flames looks on during the third quarter of the 2019 Cure Bowl against the Georgia Southern Eagles at Exploria Stadium on December 21, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images) /
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South Carolina football and Will Muschamp just parted ways and that opens the door for a perfect hire in former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze.

South Carolina fans can finally take a breath. The long wait is over, Will Muschamp has been let go and a new era is about to officially begin. For the remainder of this odd 2020 season, however, the Gamecocks will promote an assistant to interim head coach and then start a true coaching search this offseason.

Will South Carolina keep with that assistant next season and beyond? It all depends on how he does in the remainder of 2020 and if the players buy in.

Chances are, though: no.

Where does that leave the Gamecocks heading into the offseason? There will be plenty of names thrown around like Billy Napier or Luke Fickell, but one to keep an eye on and who might just be the most logical and biggest home run of the bunch is Hugh Freeze.

The current coach of Liberty has the Flames surprisingly ranked in the AP Top 25 in the midst of an 8-0 start. This comes after he led the new-to-the-FBS program to an 8-5 record last season with a win in the Cure Bowl.

Before that, Freeze was actually in the SEC with Ole Miss where he was an elite recruiter but was fired after a recruiting and academic scandal.

If anything is clear, though, it’s that he didn’t need to cheat to win or land recruits because just look what he’s doing with the Flames. No one expected that program to have a pulse but the hire of Freeze has interjected some life.

Freeze is a winner and made four straight bowl games at Ole Miss before getting fired amid a scandal and while that’s a major black eye on his resume, it was almost five years ago.

South Carolina needs a winner and what better opportunity for Freeze than to get a redemption tour in the SEC with a dormant program? This would work out well for both sides as South Carolina can develop some solid recruiting pipelines and it has a rich history.

This may be the break Freeze has been looking for and the timing is right.

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