Small-town upbringing sent new Ole Miss football coach Hugh

[rebeljim]

Small-town upbringing sent new Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze on his way

INDEPENDENCE, Miss. -- The story of Hugh Freeze, the newly hired Ole Miss football coach, doesn't begin and end with what he said at his introduction last Monday in Oxford. It orbits the end of a winding driveway, where a house sits on what was once a dairy farm behind the old high school here.

It isn't necessarily about the state championships at Briarcrest Christian, the turnaround at Lambuth, the 10 wins at Arkansas State. It is, say those who know him, about leadership.

"It didn't matter from elementary school on -- everybody he was around, they would follow him," said his mother, Rita Freeze.

It isn't so much about the words he used to describe his Christian faith, nor is it about the evangelical way in which he said them. It's about Mount Zion Baptist Church, in a field off the two-lane road heading toward Coldwater, his salvation experience at the age of 7, his mission trips in college.

It is the story of success, of reaching goals made long ago, goals forged in this unincorporated Tate County village. Just seven years ago, he was a Memphis high school football and girls basketball coach. Now, Freeze is a member of that exclusive fraternity of head coaches in college football's most prominent league.

He will make $1.5 million next year. He will have the opportunity, if not fans' longstanding patience, to resurrect the struggling program 50 miles down the roads that wind around Sardis Lake.

It is the kind of small-town success story that still has Rita Freeze's phone ringing with congratulations. From the pastor who married her and Danny some 47 years ago. From a former school principal. From a 91-year-old fellow worshipper at Mount Zion who just so happens to adore Ole Miss football. She has tried to keep a list.

The phone rang a few times at their home on a cold, snowy Wednesday morning, past the four-way stop and the cemetery and Bucksnort Country Store and Grill. Danny Freeze wasn't so sure the weather would allow him to handle the task he was to have ahead of him that day. His truck was full of items he moved out of his son's office in Jonesboro, Ark., a day before -- ticketed for new digs in Oxford.

Hugh Freeze was actually born in Oxford, as his father was finishing his master's degree. When he was 5, the Freezes moved to where they remain -- a modest rectangular house behind what was then the community's school.

Back then, the Freezes had a dairy farm. The children helped milk the cows; the would-be coach learned how to drive the tractor to cut silage.

"He learned his work habits," Danny Freeze said. "A dairy farm will teach you how to work."

Freeze played football, basketball and baseball in high school, finishing at Senatobia High. At Northwest Mississippi Community College, he played baseball. But he took an active role in the student Baptist ministry, too.

Chad Logan, the Baptist Collegiate Ministry leader at Arkansas State, recalls asking Freeze once "about the moment he got serious about his faith." Freeze told of a mission trip to Russia, one he took while finishing college at Southern Miss.

About that same time, his father said, Hugh realized he wanted to be a coach. By the age of 25, he was the head football coach and girls basketball coach at Briarcrest.

After a decade there, the ascent began: as an off-field, then on-field, assistant at Ole Miss; head coach at Lambuth; offensive coordinator at Arkansas State; head coach at Arkansas State. (A two-month tenure as offensive coordinator at San Jose State preceded the Arkansas State tenure; he jumped at the sudden opening in Jonesboro after being in the unfamiliar Bay Area.)

Matt Saunders, now the head coach at Munford High, has no doubt Freeze will be successful at Ole Miss. Saunders played for Freeze during his first three years at Briarcrest. Freeze was 25 when he got the job, but to Saunders, it felt like he had been there forever.

His favorite Freeze memories were in those 15 minutes before kickoff, when the team gathered around their coach at dusk on a Friday night in the locker room.

"You know, I would not trade you guys for the Dallas Cowboys," Saunders recalled him saying.

Saunders laughs at it now. Of course he'd trade the Briarcrest Saints for the Dallas Cowboys. But "when you're sitting there as a 17-year-old kid about to play under the Friday night lights, you believed him," Saunders said.

Saunders attended Monday's introduction in Oxford, beaming with pride at his old coach. Same with Danny and Rita Freeze, their middle son grown up and in command of his goals.

"I felt a peace," Rita Freeze said. "This is what he's wanted all of his life, and God has seen fit to give it to him."

The Hugh Freeze file

A closer look at new Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze:

Age: 42

Mississippi roots: Born in Oxford; hometown is Independence; graduate of Senatobia High School, Northwest Mississippi Community College and University of Southern Mississippi.

Prep coaching highlights: Posted 99-23 record in 10 seasons as Briarcrest head football coach, winning state championships in 2002 and 2004.

College coaching highlights: Led Arkansas State to a 10-2 record and Sun Belt Conference championship this season. Became just the 14th Football Bowl Subdivision first-year head coach to win 10 regular-season games. Is a former Ole Miss assistant under Ed Orgeron. Posted a 20-5 record in 2008-09 as head coach at NAIA-level Lambuth University.


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[OMNOB 1A]

I was really hoping that Nutt would retain Freeze when he took over, and was a bit surprised he elected not too.

What is even more surprising is that Freeze was a member of Orgeron's staff to begin with.

Thanks for this post.

[DangerousMrLederman]

Thanks for this post.

I kept wondering why this is where he wanted to be and questioned his Ole Miss ties since he is a graduate of USM. I still wonder why he didn't go to Ole Miss.

Anyways, if he wins, I don't care if he was coaching a purse before landing in Oxford.

Win or lose, I will support the Rebels. It is much more fun when they are winning though.

[theghostofcolonelreb]

I don't know if this is/was his reason for USM over Ole Miss, but with Ole Miss not having a Phys. Ed. program and correct me if I'm wrong but is there a Sports Admin. program? I know USM turns out more high school coaches than any of the big 3 schools and know many coaches personally who attended there for this reason. I actually think not having a Phys. Ed. program is hurting Ole Miss Athletics both now, and in the future when we recruit kids that played high school for grads of USM, etc.

[colreb1974]

USM also allows you to go the alternate route which means that coaching and sports admin can be your major and then you can get a minor in something else. You can also take a certain amount of classes in other subjects and use them as add ons. Meaning that if you are hired in the public school system that you can teach those classes even though that is not your major or minor.

[theghostofcolonelreb]

USM also allows you to go the alternate route which means that coaching and sports admin can be your magor and then you can get a minor in something else. You can also take a certain amount of classes in other subjects and use them as add ons. Meaning that if you are hired in the public school system that you can teach those classes even though that is not your major or minor.

I thought there was something to this. Thanks for the clarification.

[mpzreb17]

I don't know if this is/was his reason for USM over Ole Miss, but with Ole Miss not having a Phys. Ed. program and correct me if I'm wrong but is there a Sports Admin. program? I know USM turns out more high school coaches than any of the big 3 schools and know many coaches personally who attended there for this reason. I actually think not having a Phys. Ed. program is hurting Ole Miss Athletics both now, and in the future when we recruit kids that played high school for grads of USM, etc.

All we have is exercise science. It is also a major. We do have Sports Medicine supposedly, and a good Elective program that focuses on phys ed. However, we really need the Phys Ed major. How do you think half of Bama and all of USM's kids are all sitting on 3.0's?

When I read this article a few days ago, I thought to myself there's no way anybody can't like this guy.