OT: Hugh Freeze Weighing Florida Offer
Ole Miss and Florida are competing for Hugh Freeze's services:
Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze is considering an offer to coach at the University of Florida for a base salary in the range of $4.2 to $4.3 million annually, according to multiple sources.
Additional sources confirm the Rebels are attempting to compete with the Gators' offer, pushing Freeze's salary to somewhere near the $4 million range to take compensation out of the question in a potential decision by Freeze between the two schools.
December 1st, 2014 at 7:36 AM ^
Does the Bag Man get included in the deal?
December 1st, 2014 at 9:27 AM ^
Will he need Sandra Bullock to be his offensive line coach?
November 30th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^
Interesting vote of confidence by Florida, especially considering the buyout.
What the hell did CSU bring to the table to merit such a high buyout? If you are locking me in like that, you better be giving me something in return like a much better deal than I can get elsewhere. Given his background at Alabama, it would seem like he had options beyond CSU.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:10 AM ^
all I can think of is that he wanted a HC job and was desperate enough to take whatever CSU was offering. He is a western guy in spite of his Alabama tenure, from Montana, maybe he thought he'd ride out his days in the Rockies contentedly.
The McElwain report has more legs than the Freeze one, I woudn't be shocked if they bite on him. He ticks all their boxes... SEC and NFL experience, offense oriented, pro style guy so they won't have to make any roster changes.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:18 AM ^
That's too bad. I viewed him as a vaible Plan B guy for us, even with the buyout. The Florida interest only confirms it even more. He may be off the table by the time we would need to go the Plan B route.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^
Yeah, he was my third choice even though I never realistically believed we'd get him (not after Nebraska entered the fray). This eleminates any need to rush, though, as Mullen isn't going anywhere and the Huskers wouldn't go after any of our plan C guys.
December 1st, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
Heard on the college football station hosted by Greg McElroy and Taylor Scarzar (sp?) on siriusXM this morning that McElwain loves living in Colorado. He is from Montana so he would prefer to stay closer to the west. They were debating whether or not they feel McElwain would be interested in the Florida and the both of them felt like he would not take it if offered. Obviously take it with a grain of salt, but I still found it interesting.
December 1st, 2014 at 6:24 AM ^
I wonder how honest they were with him about it. Was the buyout casually slipped in the contract with little mention during the negotiations?
December 1st, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^
Agents and lawyers go over these multi-million deals. It would take a ridiculous level of incompetence for them to miss it and even for CSU to try to slip it in.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:52 PM ^
this would be a better hire for them... Freeze is scuzzy, McElwain is more in keeping with what I'd expect from Florida.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:40 PM ^
Florida fans: "you've got the wrong Mississippi school!"
November 30th, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^
November 30th, 2014 at 11:46 PM ^
Niether of these guys are a "sexy" hire like Meyer was.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:48 PM ^
that hire doesn't exist right now. And Florida is all about the pro style these days anyway.
December 1st, 2014 at 5:55 AM ^
There are a lot of people that think Harbaugh is is a sexy hire - even in pleated khaki pants.
December 1st, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
Yeah. I'm not getting the kind of moves they're talking about making. Maybe they have insight into coaches that other places don't, but I'm not sure about that. It looks like they're starting with plan B candidates.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^
Would that really be an upgrade for him?
November 30th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
Mississsippi = very little in-state talent, while UF has probably the most in-state talent of any state. That, along with a program with a lot more money and fan support, and the answer is emphatically yes.
I'm confused as to why you think it wouldn't be an upgrade, honestly.
December 1st, 2014 at 6:03 AM ^
Since the two Mississippi schools are actually good this year, everyone is forgetting how disadvantaged they are compared to the rest of the conference normally. Ole MIss and MSU are basically the Indiana and Purdue of the SEC. I don't think you can consistently win there longterm
December 1st, 2014 at 6:45 AM ^
Mississippi definitely has some talent, but it does lag behind most of the rest of the SEC footprint and obviously doesn't even compare to Florida, though there are more Florida schools competing for that talent.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
Yes. Expect Ole Miss to end up with sanctions before too long. Freeze will be long gone by then.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:54 PM ^
Ole Miss is one bagman confession away from imploding. Their recent success may not be sustainable.
With Florida, the success will follow you like a puppy. You just need to not do something stupid and abusive and it will stick around.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:14 AM ^
I mean, Hugh Freeze essentially owes his relationship with Ole Miss to COACH O U WANT A HUMMAH giving him a job in exchange for delivering Michael Oher. He is as slimy as it gets, not at all what you associate with Florida.
December 1st, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
At least half the SEC is one bagman confession away from imploding. That so many schools have sustained things for so long suggests that the Omerta is powerful enough to not be a huge concern.
Seriously, Auburn won a national title with a quarterback that had a confirmed cash offer from Mississippi State (oh, hey there) and hasn't lost a single scholarship. That's just some of the stuff we KNOW.
December 1st, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
You can pay players and get away with it (I'm sure it happens nationwide) but the whole college football world has their eyebrow cocked at Ole Miss.
"So you're telling me a school with no tradition and no recent success is just magically pulling in top 10 classes out of nowhere? Because they got a decent coach from Arkansas State?...ok then"
November 30th, 2014 at 11:48 PM ^
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November 30th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^
November 30th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^
He already has a job at MSU.
November 30th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 12:15 AM ^
I could use a call from Clair Voyant <3 xoxo
December 1st, 2014 at 12:23 AM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 6:02 AM ^
I wouldn't mind Ben Dover.
I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot pole (pun intended).
December 1st, 2014 at 5:14 AM ^
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December 1st, 2014 at 7:06 AM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 8:44 AM ^
November 30th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
November 30th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
November 30th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
If we still even want him. He seems to have become last month's flavor of the month. Recent losses and shady recruiting practices have dimmed his star. I did not see anything magical from him in the Egg Bowl.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:17 AM ^
Idk why, I kept telling people he wasn't going to go undefeated back when he was TOO GOOD FOR US, WHY WOULD HE EVER LEAVE MISSISSIPPI STATE
the mere fact that he's winning there is magical, it is a garbage program in a garbage state. His recruiting practices are no more questionable than flavor of the week Les Miles, either.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 12:32 AM ^
Mullen's shadiness basically boils down to "takes Jucos" and "pulled a kid's scholly at the last minute" and then there are unsubstantiated rumors about Cam Newton but name an SEC school that WASN'T rumored to be offering him cash.
He's certainly not Ole Miss or Chizik Auburn level openly dirty, nor does he hella oversign like Les or Saban.
December 1st, 2014 at 8:48 AM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
Most schools do. Hoke did before coming back here.
December 1st, 2014 at 12:25 AM ^
Yeah, Les has more losses and more shady recruiting practices. But he's a Michigan Man so that automatically qualifies him.
If he had no Michigan connections, would we hire him over Mullen? I'm not so sure.
December 1st, 2014 at 7:09 AM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^
Enough people here wanked dismissively at the idea of Stoops when it was suggested for me to believe that nobody would want Les if he didn't go to Michigan. He's old, he acts like an idiot, he's shady as fuck, he's got one of the best/easiest jobs in college football and the fanbase hates him for underachieving. Can you imagine any other fanbase, LSU included, in which people would suggest Les was a BETTER coach than Harbaugh?
The problem here is we've got ridiculous ideas about "success" and what it means to have and sustain it. We want a coach who has done all the things we want to do already, but that is almost never what you end up with. Mullen turning Mississippi State into a team that goes to a bowl EVERY season is a massive and sustained success. It is far more impressive than what peer programs like Florida, Penn State, USC, Tennessee, Nebraska and even LSU themselves have demanded from their most recent hires.
I certainly think having 5 consecutive winning seasons at a school that hadn't done that since World War 2 is far more suggestive of coaching skills than winning all of 2 SEC titles in a decade while consistently sending half of your roster to the NFL. For a guy with an .800 winning percentage, Les has played in spectacularly few big games... only 3 BCS games, only 3 SEC titles games and those two NCG appearences under bizarre circumstances.
December 1st, 2014 at 6:10 AM ^
December 1st, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
In just about any metric that matters, Mississippi is on the bottom 5. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that it's the worst of the 50 states.
I've lived a lot of places. Michigan's a very nice state