Reports: Hugh Freeze, Liberty agree to 8-year contract extension, raise

Liberty and head football coach Hugh Freeze have agreed to a contract extension that runs through 2030 and includes a pay bump, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Multiple other reports have confirmed the news.

Per Thamel, the deal is for eight years and just less than $5 million annually over the length of the contract. Thamel added that the annual salary will make Freeze one of the highest-paid Group of 5 coaches.

Freeze has coached the Flames for four out of the five years they have been a Division I program and hasn’t posted a losing record — the worst record a Liberty team has had under Freeze is 8-5. He is 33-12 as the head coach there.

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The Flames went 10-1 in 2020 and are on a torrid pace in 2022, going 7-1 so far, giving the administration plenty of incentive to keep Freeze in place for a long time.

Freeze said in the past he’d consider an SEC return

Freeze coached at Ole Miss from 2012-16 before resigning amid multiple alleged recruiting violations and other scandals. At the time of his resignation, the Rebels were 0-7 through the 2016 season, and he finished with a 12-25 record in Oxford.

He became the head coach at Liberty three years later and has taken the Flames to a 26-11 record and three consecutive bowl games. He also helped develop Malik Willis into a potential first-round NFL Draft pick.

In March, Paul Finebaum asked Freeze if he’d consider leaving to head back to the SEC. It sounds like he’s enjoying his time in Liberty — but admitted the opportunity that “makes sense” hasn’t come along yet.

“It would take something extremely special for me to consider leaving here,” Freeze said. “Jill loves it here on the mountain, my kids love it here on the mountain. My daughter is my personal assistant here and you can’t do that just everywhere. I’m just so blessed with a great administration here.

“I’m very honest and candid with my players and them that, should an opportunity ever present itself that makes sense for Jill and I and our family, they would be the first to know. To this point, none of those have come my way and I’m quite OK with that, because I truly am at peace.”