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Hugh Freeze’s hire at Auburn has been met with criticism from both fans and media. The move to hire the troubled head coach has caused backlash even amongst the Tiger faithful.
That criticism stems from past controversies at previous stops. While at Ole Miss, he was fired for both recruiting violations and contacting escorts on a school issued cell phone. At Liberty, he found himself in hot water for inappropriately direct messaging a woman involved in a sexual assault lawsuit against the school.
The latter incident has been discussed following Freeze’s landing of the job, though he was not asked about it during his introductory press conference. The woman involved says she was never consulted in Auburn’s “thoughtful, thorough, and well-vetted search.”
https://twitter.com/chelsandrews/status/1597348188385857536?s=20&t=0MlgA–6MuPNfNHLOPcaig
Hugh Freeze finally addressed this incident for the first time publicly since taking the job at Auburn. Here’s what he had to say in an interview with ESPN.
“I learned from this situation that I should totally understand other people’s circumstances first before communicating or commenting on someone’s situation. It was an inadvertent misstep with no ill intent, and I’m sorry.”
Chelsea Andrews, the woman that received the DMs, responded to that apology on social media. It doesn’t appear she believes the remark was sincere, but rather a task assigned by the Auburn administration.
Called him out in JULY.
He’s saying sorry *now*
A genuine apology would have come before a boss made him.
Freeze said in his opening press conference that he was unaware of any blowback regarding his hire at Auburn, which seems unlikely given the circumstances. He’s also said that he’s not been on social media in nearly a month, and that someone else is now running his accounts.
This, coming after reports surfaced claiming that the university had restricted him from online access upon signing him as head coach. Freeze denied those claims, though it doesn’t seem like an unreasonable thing to ask given his checkered past.
The optics of this hire continue to be negative. It will be interesting to see how Hugh Freeze fares throughout his tenure on The Plains.
Related: Lane Kiffin trolls Hugh Freeze about social media use