Hugh Freeze thanks Ole Miss in emotional press conference

No. 15 Ole Miss on Saturday was ultimately able to hold off the Liberty Flames, led by former head coach Hugh Freeze, winning by a 27-14 final. But Freeze, making his first in-game return to Oxford since he was forced to resign, understood that this game meant more than the final score could dictate.

Freeze’s five-year tenure at Ole Miss, which saw the Rebels finish with a 39-25 record, was a bumpy ride, to say the least. Under his leadership, Ole Miss committed an array of recruiting and academic violations that resulted in the NCAA expunging 27 of Freeze’s wins. In addition to those violations, Freeze was eventually forced to resign after university officials discovered that he used a university phone to call escort services on multiple occasions.

Freeze wasn’t sure how he’d be received in his return to Ole Miss, but as he explained in an emotional postgame press conference, Ole Miss fans showed class in welcoming him back to Oxford.

“To Ole Miss people, thank you for your kindness to me and my family,” Freeze said. “The reception from Ole Miss people at hotel in Tupelo and as we were walking into [Vaught Hemingway Stadium], they were incredibly kind. It’s an answered prayer for Jill and I. I’m thankful.”

Matt Corral led Ole Miss to victory over Liberty despite playing on a lingering ankle injury from last week. Kiffin’s quarterback completed 20 of his 27 passing attempts, good for 324 passing yards and a touchdown, while running back Jerrion Ealy did his part to contain the Flames. He rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns on just ten carries, including a 70-yard touchdown on the Rebels’ second play from scrimmage.

Ole Miss trolls Freeze in emotional return

Ole Miss was relentless in its trolling of Freeze after the game on Saturday; however, after Freeze’s postgame press conference, the Rebels’ social media team deleted the tweets. Perhaps his kind, light-hearted response to being welcomed back made the Ole Miss athletic department decide against keeping the tweets up.

Back in 2013, Freeze’s second year at the helm of Ole Miss, rumors began to swirl that the Rebels were offering financial incentives for players and recruits. He responded to the rumors with a tweet that picked up traction in the college football world; one that would later be used against him after Liberty’s loss at Ole Miss.

Roughly eight years later, after the Lane Kiffin-led Rebels defeated Freeze and the Liberty Flames, Ole Miss used that same tweet in an effort to troll the program’s former head coach.

Ole Miss social team ranks inside our CFP top 4 this week pic.twitter.com/WsyQcaLRTD

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) November 6, 2021

Ole Miss wasn’t done there, though. Freeze would later be hired by Liberty in 2019, where he’s been ever since. That season, he had another viral moment during a game against Louisiana. Freeze was recovering from a serious surgical procedure in which doctors fixed a potentially life-altering staph infection; rather than sit out the next game, as most head coaches would, Freeze instead coached from a hospital bed overlooking the stadium. The game’s broadcast at one point cut to Freeze, who had a hat and headset on while laying down in the hospital, and he proceeded to give the camera a thumbs up.

Again, the Rebels turned the viral moment against Freeze on Saturday, using the same image of him in the hospital bed with the score of Ole Miss’ win displayed in the corner.

Ole Miss social team ranks inside our CFP top 4 this week pic.twitter.com/WsyQcaLRTD

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) November 6, 2021

Both tweets included in the aforementioned screenshots were deleted by Ole Miss, just minutes after Freeze’s press conference.