What if the NCAA accused OM of hiring Freeze with the sole purpose of cheating?

[Bubb Rubb]

I expressed a very similar opinion on here a few weeks ago. My theory includes his "preacher" persona as a smokescreen for outside entities like SEC office, NCAA, some of their gullible fans, and for church mothers of recruits. I'm all in with your idea.

My personal opinion is that I don't fully agree with this. I think Freeze was hired because he's a rube, and the booster network knew they could operate with him in place. I believe Hugh uses his faith to his advantage, no doubt, and that is shameful, but I also think that he genuinely believes a lot of the stuff he is saying. He just cannot control the football program - he's in over his head. For this reason - he will ultimately be the fall guy, and they will throw him under the bus and move on. You heard it here first.

[Johnson85]

^^^ This cat thinks like me. When Auburn hired Chizik, it didn't pass the funny-look test. Just seemed weird. Lo and behold, the guy wins a natty, maybe the worst coach to ever do so. I learned a lesson --- and apparently some UOM folks noticed, too. The feeling was familiar when UNM announced Freeze. Who? EXACTLY! The proverbial fat girl at prom. They were following the Auburn model, and who can blame them?

Will the NCAA do anything? They didn't at Auburn.

The Chizik hire was actually more obviously about him turning the other way. Both Auburn and Ole Miss were having trouble getting a coach comparable to their stature because of their unrealistic expectations (UM still thinking they should somehow be something other than 2nd tier Power 5 program; Auburn thinking that they should never fall behind Bama, even for three or four year stretches). But Auburn could have still gotten some coaches with good resumes; no reason for them to grab a guy with a losing record like Chizik. Freeze actually made a little bit of sense. AFter chasing off Cutcliffe, the Orgeron failure, and Nutt imploding after just two years (after having a pretty decent, long stretch at Arkansas), Ole Miss didn't look desirable at all. They could have gotten a better candidate, but Freeze had shown promise. He just hadn't had the time to build up a competitive resume.

[Political Hack]

My personal opinion is that I don't fully agree with this. I think Freeze was hired because he's a rube, and the booster network knew they could operate with him in place. I believe Hugh uses his faith to his advantage, no doubt, and that is shameful, but I also think that he genuinely believes a lot of the stuff he is saying. He just cannot control the football program - he's in over his head. For this reason - he will ultimately be the fall guy, and they will throw him under the bus and move on. You heard it here first.

Generally agree with this. In the long run, it doesn't matter though. He's going to be hung out to dry by the NCAA. They have no choice.

[jumbo]

Isn't (hasn't) Touhy's daughter marrying Fred Smith's son.

Yes, they got married a couple months ago.