When Auburn announced that it was hiring Hugh Freeze as its next football coach, the former Liberty and Ole Miss coach might have brought a lot of wins with him but he also brought a lot of baggage with him as well, including one particularly disturbing instance that he had never publicly apologized for.
Freeze oversaw Ole Miss from 2012 to 2016, leading the Rebels to a 10-3 season in 2015 and going 39-25 in that span. However, a massive NCAA violation scandal ended up costing him not only his job but most of those wins after it was revealed that Ole Miss committed numerous recruiting violations and Freeze himself had used a school phone to communicate with an escort service on multiple occasions.
After some time away, Freeze was hired at Liberty where he was given a second chance. He took advantage of it by turning the Flames into a perennial bowl team, though he courted controversy by DMing Chelsea Andrews, a sexual assault victim suing the school, to chastise her for criticizing his AD. Still, he’s won enough football games for his off-the-field actions to be forgiven, it seems.
When the news broke on Monday, ESPN reporter Chris Low caught flak for a tweet about Freeze in which he seemed to downplay the coach’s past transgressions, with many assuming this meant he was getting access and playing nice. That appears to be the case as Low spoke with Freeze on Tuesday and the topic of the DMs came up, especially in light of the fact that the person he messaged said that Auburn never reached out to her as part of their vetting process.
https://twitter.com/chelsandrews/status/1597348188385857536
“I learned from this situation that I should totally understand other people’s circumstances first before communicating or commenting on someone’s situation,” Freeze told ESPN. “It was an inadvertent misstep with no ill intent, and I am sorry.”
It doesn’t sound like Freeze or anyone from Auburn plans on contacting Andrews directly with an apology, however.
https://twitter.com/chelsandrews/status/1597820591267987456
There were plenty of other people around the CFB world who had some thoughts about Freeze’s belated apology as well.
“OK seriously y’all, no more bad stuff startiiiiiiiiing…NOW!” https://t.co/s29Rr6ncvp
— Matt Scalici (@MattScalici) November 30, 2022
How convenient he did it during his opening press conference for a new cushy job at the instruction of a PR firm rather than back in July when he actually committed the act. https://t.co/y8GsdTh9l9
— Whitney Lucas (@whitneylu16) November 30, 2022
Man that PR firm is earning that check considering this wasn’t addressed in the press conference. Just get a friendly national media member to help craft it. Shameful. https://t.co/2MHFHgam9f
— Josh Black (@JoshuaBBlack) November 30, 2022
I too often inadvertently perform searchers, mash buttons, and send wildly specific, intimidating messages to the random person I stumbled upon. https://t.co/6fmGWh82pU
— Gray Hardison (@BellyoftheBeast) November 30, 2022
suddenly @ClowESPN’s defense of freeze yesterday is given some interesting context https://t.co/Saf1Jc9OCn
— Jack Byrom (@JackByrom) November 30, 2022
Really happy for @ClowESPN that his shill tweet is paying off. https://t.co/GhuCRuxv36
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) November 30, 2022
