As Tennessee football searches for a new offensive coordinator, Hugh Freeze is a hot commodity. Here is why the Volunteers should be his top landing spot.
Tennessee football has now gone over a week without an offensive coordinator, and fans are starting to get restless. After all the reports that broke ahead of the weekend about Hugh Freeze being a top candidate, there is legitimate reason to wonder why he hasn’t been named yet.
After all, Dan Harralson of VolsWire reported last Thursday that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey would clear Freeze. It’s also pretty clear Freeze would leave his post as the offensive coordinator under Rick Neuheisel for the Arizona Hotshots in the upcoming Alliance of American Football League to take a college job.
Meanwhile, Chip Lindsey has already left the Auburn Tigers and is heading to the Kansas Jayhawks. Kendal Briles is staying with the Houston Cougars. Kliff Kingsbury is headed to Los Angeles to join the USC Trojans.
So what’s going on in Knoxville? Well, according to what Austin Price of VolQuest said on The Midday 180 on Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone Monday, there appears to be mutual interest. Freeze is Tennessee football’s top choice, and the Vols are at the top of Freeze’s list.
However, Freeze appears to be playing the field. Rumors are circulating of interest from Auburn and, potentially, the Alabama Crimson Tide if the Maryland Terrapins hire Mike Locksley as head coach, to be offensive coordinator for one of those schools. The Florida State Seminoles are now interested as well with Walt Bell taking the head coaching job with the UMASS Minutemen.
And finally, the Liberty Flames could come calling to Freeze to be a head coach with Turner Gill’s retirement. So the Vols have serious competition, and that appears to be why getting a deal done may be difficult.
But there’s a positive. Of all of those positions, none would be better for Freeze than the Vols. It’s clear that he wants to become a head coach again somewhere at a major program. Rocky Top is the best place for him to do that.
Alabama, Auburn and Florida State can’t offer as much. Heck, even Liberty can’t offer him the same chance to move up, even as he takes a head coaching job. Let’s take a look at why. These are the four reasons Tennessee football would be the best landing spot for Hugh Freeze.