Hugh Freeze was one of the hottest commodities on the coaching market over the past couple of weeks. He was rumored to be wanted as an offensive coordinator for a number of Power 5 schools including Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida State. Ultimately, he chose Liberty.
It was two main reasons he chose to take over for Turner Gill as the Flames’ 9th head coach. The first was it was his only opportunity to be a head coach.
“I’ve been head coach for 9 out of the last 10 years,” Freeze told members of the media Friday afternoon. “I love that position because I get to dictate the tempo and the core values of the program.”
The other, perhaps more important, reason, was the environment Liberty offers Coach Freeze and his family. After the past two years, the Freeze family has been beat up in the general court of public opinion. He sees Liberty as the perfect place for a fresh start in a safe environment.
“I really felt like of the opportunities that presented themselves, when I really sat down and got by myself and thought about, this is somewhat in my mind a restart or a reboot. The best environment for my wife and kids and myself to do that in, and it was pretty clear that this (is the place) to me.”
“A lot of people may not understand why do that as opposed to go to another SEC school or something, but I’ve done that before and it worked out pretty good for me. I just like coming into places that I think the environment, in this case, is good for my family. It’s somewhere where you’re embraced in grace, and celebrate you for not only who you are but whose you are. So, that made it come into the lead pretty quick.”
Freeze was very open and honest about his family’s struggles over the past couple of years during his appearances Friday afternoon.
“I just thought that the environment here, got me out of the arena that sometimes can be pretty brutal to your family. I get it. I gave them some ammo. People can say what they want about me whether they know me or not. That’s the disappointing thing is I can’t get to share my story with everybody, and they can hear my heart.”
“This place, man, there was just never a check. It was just go, go, go, go, green light, green light, green light. I never got anything that was a check from the administration or any one that made it feel like this wouldn’t be the safest environment to bring my family and to get that restart.”
