SMGT 310
Sport Management,
Liberty
SMGT 310
Hugh Freeze Scandal
During his tenure at the University of Mississippi, Hugh Freeze always seemed to be at
the center of something. In 2016 offseason there was the ban that came out and tossed 30 NCAA
violations on the football program for problems that were “just a fraction football related”. Ever
since that took place, different lawsuits were filed by employees of the program and things began
to murk the water in Oxford. As things were starting to fix themselves and fall back into place,
the investigation reopened after the 2016 draft due to the drafting of Laremy Tunsil due to some
off the field actions that weren’t very clear at the time.
In the 2018 offseason, everything began to unravel to what is now the Hugh Freeze at Ole
Miss scandal. After the school was looking into different phone records for another situation,
they began noticing different phone calls that were deleted by Freeze. The program then started
a separate investigation looking into that. The result shocked the program as they found that
Freeze had made several phone calls to escort services, most being to a Tampa escort service,
over the course of a couple months. As the school became more aware of the situation, it only got
darker for Freeze as some of his dark secrets as a person came to the forefront and affected his
job. Soon after an investigation started showing more and more, Freeze was called in to meet
with his superiors and was confronted about what was found. The day after a long meeting was
held, Freeze met with the chancellor and vice chancellor for a shorter meeting where he gave to
them his resignation and stepped down from head coach of the Ole Miss football program. Later,
the chancellors held a press conference announcing what had come out as a very small amount of
the public was aware of the developments the football program was coming across over the
, previous months. In the press conference, the vice chancellor noted how if Freeze had not turned
in his resignation, he would’ve been fired- as his acts did not reflect what a head football coach
of the program was supposed to stand for.
PR wise, the situation was handled very well by the athletic department of Ole Miss as
they were able to address the public in a way that was not vague, while also being able to keep
the situation private enough for Freeze, as it was a personal hiccup for him and had very little to
do with the program itself. As for Freeze, he was able to maintain a response posture of
rebuilding in and of himself. He never denied being involved in the contacting of escorts and was
always very forthright about everything he did. In fact, he told this hiccup to 2 friends and his
wife, Jill in 2015 and admitted then he had a problem. Having this come out to the public was
rough but was probably something that was needed for him to finish straightening up his life and
officially start with a clean slate where he could focus more on himself and his family. He
showed he was remorseful and wanted to fix what he had wronged.
As for the athletic department of Ole Miss, from the beginning they seemed to have a
very good balance of giving Freeze his privacy and letting him remain with his own problem,
while also being straight with the public and separating themselves from his actions. They held a
different type of diversion response posture. The diversion tactic wasn’t as extreme as we seem
some of them present themselves. Instead, they were able to show how strong their coaching
replacements are and how much faith they have in their ability to perform even with so much
going on in the program. Also, they showed how their players were strong and held resolve in the
area of Freeze leaving and said they anticipate the start of the season and are ready to fight in a
competitive SEC schedule. The vice chancellor in particular, did a great job being straight
forward with the media questions and was able to be short and concise with his answers in way
that held the media off from crazy question openings. He was able to show hope in the program
Sport Management,
Liberty
SMGT 310
Hugh Freeze Scandal
During his tenure at the University of Mississippi, Hugh Freeze always seemed to be at
the center of something. In 2016 offseason there was the ban that came out and tossed 30 NCAA
violations on the football program for problems that were “just a fraction football related”. Ever
since that took place, different lawsuits were filed by employees of the program and things began
to murk the water in Oxford. As things were starting to fix themselves and fall back into place,
the investigation reopened after the 2016 draft due to the drafting of Laremy Tunsil due to some
off the field actions that weren’t very clear at the time.
In the 2018 offseason, everything began to unravel to what is now the Hugh Freeze at Ole
Miss scandal. After the school was looking into different phone records for another situation,
they began noticing different phone calls that were deleted by Freeze. The program then started
a separate investigation looking into that. The result shocked the program as they found that
Freeze had made several phone calls to escort services, most being to a Tampa escort service,
over the course of a couple months. As the school became more aware of the situation, it only got
darker for Freeze as some of his dark secrets as a person came to the forefront and affected his
job. Soon after an investigation started showing more and more, Freeze was called in to meet
with his superiors and was confronted about what was found. The day after a long meeting was
held, Freeze met with the chancellor and vice chancellor for a shorter meeting where he gave to
them his resignation and stepped down from head coach of the Ole Miss football program. Later,
the chancellors held a press conference announcing what had come out as a very small amount of
the public was aware of the developments the football program was coming across over the
, previous months. In the press conference, the vice chancellor noted how if Freeze had not turned
in his resignation, he would’ve been fired- as his acts did not reflect what a head football coach
of the program was supposed to stand for.
PR wise, the situation was handled very well by the athletic department of Ole Miss as
they were able to address the public in a way that was not vague, while also being able to keep
the situation private enough for Freeze, as it was a personal hiccup for him and had very little to
do with the program itself. As for Freeze, he was able to maintain a response posture of
rebuilding in and of himself. He never denied being involved in the contacting of escorts and was
always very forthright about everything he did. In fact, he told this hiccup to 2 friends and his
wife, Jill in 2015 and admitted then he had a problem. Having this come out to the public was
rough but was probably something that was needed for him to finish straightening up his life and
officially start with a clean slate where he could focus more on himself and his family. He
showed he was remorseful and wanted to fix what he had wronged.
As for the athletic department of Ole Miss, from the beginning they seemed to have a
very good balance of giving Freeze his privacy and letting him remain with his own problem,
while also being straight with the public and separating themselves from his actions. They held a
different type of diversion response posture. The diversion tactic wasn’t as extreme as we seem
some of them present themselves. Instead, they were able to show how strong their coaching
replacements are and how much faith they have in their ability to perform even with so much
going on in the program. Also, they showed how their players were strong and held resolve in the
area of Freeze leaving and said they anticipate the start of the season and are ready to fight in a
competitive SEC schedule. The vice chancellor in particular, did a great job being straight
forward with the media questions and was able to be short and concise with his answers in way
that held the media off from crazy question openings. He was able to show hope in the program
