Rebel fever is spreading around the nation as Ole Miss is ranked higher in the AP Poll than they have been in decades with the No. 1 defense in the country with fewest points allowed per game and a senior quarterback who has been incredibly accurate in SEC play.
The New York Times posted a beautiful feature on Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze, profiling his life as a girls’ basketball and boys’ football coach at Briarcrest High School in Memphis and how that coaching experience affected his college coaching career.
Here’s some of the feature:
The University of Mississippi has emerged as an unexpected power in college football this season under Coach Hugh Freeze, whose road map to the upper reaches of the Southeastern Conference has made him one of the university’s most popular figures since various members of the Manning family roamed the tree-lined streets of Oxford.
The No. 3 Rebels (7-0), who play Saturday at No. 24 Louisiana State (6-2), are rolling behind a stifling defense and an up-tempo offense, styles of play that Freeze developed as a high school coach.
And not only on the football field.
After Mississippi upset Alabama, fans tore down the goal posts and marched them around Oxford.
From 1992 to 2004, Freeze coached girls’ basketball at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis. Known for pressuring opponents into sweat-soaked piles of exhaustion (and this might sound familiar to anyone who has watched Ole Miss play defense), the Lady Saints reached seven straight state championship games, winning four. Freeze’s overall record in 12 seasons with the team was 305-63. As the head football coach for 10 seasons, Freeze led Briarcrest to two state titles and a 99-23 record.
To read the full story, visit The New York Times.
HottyToddy.com staff report
