Following Auburn’s hiring of Hugh Freeze as their new football coach, multiple sources told Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde that the school is requiring Freeze to hand over control of his social media accounts.
In 2017, it came out that the then Ole Miss coach made phone calls to escort services on his university phone while on recruiting trips. Freeze resigned in ‘16, once the school found out about these call patterns, and he didn’t have another college football job until ’19, when Liberty hired him as its coach.
In July 2022, the now-former Liberty coach private-messaged a student who was part of a Title IX lawsuit with the school who says she was a survivor of sexual assault. The student, Chelsea Andrews—who is one of 20 plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit against Liberty—tweeted criticisms of the school and its athletic department, specifically noting the hiring of athletic director Ian McCaw, who led Baylor’s athletic department during its sexual assault scandal, per Inside Higher Ed.
Though Freeze wasn’t involved in the situation, he chose to stick up for McCaw in unprompted direct messages to Andrews, stating, “You Don’t even know Ian McCaw. He is the most Jesus like leader I have,” according a screenshot she tweeted.
According to Forde, Auburn went through an extensive background check before hiring Freeze. The school was prepared for the backlash for his hire, as they hired a PR consultant to deal with any negative reaction.
“If he’s contractually obligated to stay off social media and they had to hire an ‘Oh s---’ firm before he even started, is hiring him really a good idea?” one source close to Auburn told Forde.
The details of the 53-year-old’s contract with Auburn are still unknown. He’s set to be formally introduced Tuesday morning.
