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Author Topic: WSJ article on Hugh Freeze  (Read 2444 times)
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Coupe De VOL
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« on: August 17, 2017, 07:35:29 EDT »

I post this not to bash the man or OM fans, but I just can't believe this was happening.  It's like some bad HBO TV show.....

I hope Hugh can find a way to make it right - with himself as well as all those he has hurt.



Hugh Freeze’s Ouster at Ole Miss Followed Calls to Escort Services on Recruiting Trips

By Andrew Beaton Biography @andrewlbeaton andrew.beaton@wsj.com
Updated Aug. 16,
2017 1:34 p.m. ET
126 COMMENTS

On the morning of Jan. 19, 2016, University of
Mississippi football coach Hugh Freeze tweeted a quote: “Look not back on
yesterday—so full of failure & regret; Look ahead & seek God’s way—all sin
confessed u must forget.”

Later that day, the coach flew to Tampa, Fla., as part of a recruiting trip
using the school plane, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal. A few hours after the plane touched down at 5:30 p.m. in Tampa, his
school phone registered a call to a number linked to a female escort service in
that city, according to phone records reviewed by the Journal.

Although school officials had previously declined to characterize the alleged
misconduct, Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork said in response to questions
from the Journal about Freeze’s travel that the university’s investigation
uncovered “calls of a similar nature” over the course of several years, often
matching up with travel logs showing the coach’s use of the school plane. The
school said it examined his travel logs from peak recruiting times—often
November, December and January—when Freeze would travel out of state, using the
school plane and other public resources.

“When we say pattern, we are describing other phone numbers that when you Google
them pull up similar type websites, services, however you would describe them,”
Bjork said. “We took action swiftly.”

When the school presented its findings to Freeze, the coach admitted his
misconduct and agreed to resign, school officials said.

W.G. Watkins, Freeze’s lawyer, declined to comment. Freeze couldn’t be reached
for comment and has not publicly addressed the circumstances of his resignation.

Freeze’s stunning departure ended a roller-coaster tenure as coach that included
as many wins on the field as questions off the field. The Ole Miss football
program has been under investigation by the NCAA for a litany of alleged rules
violations related to recruiting, and the school had already imposed a ban on
postseason play for this season.

Ole Miss Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, left, and athletic director Ross Bjork speak
at a news conference about the resignation of football coach Hugh Freeze. Ole
Miss Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, left, and athletic director Ross Bjork speak at
a news conference about the resignation of football coach Hugh Freeze. PHOTO:
BRUCE NEWMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS Throughout the NCAA’s investigation, Ole Miss
officials stood by Freeze, who endeared himself within Oxford, Miss., as a pious
man who restored the program to glory. He beat Alabama twice in the last three
years, giving the sport’s superpower its only losses in those regular seasons.

Freeze was the highest-paid employee in the state of Mississippi, earning a $4.7
million salary.

Even before Freeze got the head post at a big-time SEC program, Freeze was a
national figure. While coaching in high school, one of his players was Michael
Oher, star of the best-selling book turned hit movie “The Blind Side.” Oher went
to play at Ole Miss, where Freeze became an assistant. Later, Freeze became head
coach at Arkansas State and then Ole Miss.

The conduct that led to Freeze’s sudden departure was unrelated to the NCAA
investigation, the school said, though the circumstances that brought the phone
call to light intertwine the situations. School officials were first notified of
the Jan. 19, 2016, call by Thomas Mars, the attorney for former Ole Miss
football coach Houston Nutt, who has been embroiled in a legal battle with the
school. Nutt alleged in a civil lawsuit last month that Freeze and other Ole
Miss officials wrongfully blamed him for the alleged NCAA violations. In trying
to prove that there was an orchestrated campaign against Nutt, the lawyer filed
a public-records request for Freeze’s phone logs, which turned up the call to
the escort service from his phone.


Nutt’s lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last week on jurisdictional
grounds. Mars said in a statement that he plans to refile the lawsuit in state
court, and that the revised complaint will include “recently-discovered evidence
that should put to rest any question about the merits of Houston Nutt’s case.”
Ole Miss has said Nutt’s lawsuit is without merit.

The flight records reviewed by the Journal show Freeze crisscrossing the country
on recruiting trips and other business on the school plane, at a rate of $1,375
per hour. The records show Freeze took at least 103 trips on the plane over
about five and a half years.

On the night of the Jan. 19 call to the number linked to the escort service,
Freeze was in Tampa on a five-day, 13-stop recruiting trip, according to the
flight records. The flights for the trip cost more than $26,000, which was paid
by the state university. Six members of the Ole Miss football staff accompanied
Freeze on the plane at points in the trip.

Experts say if there was misconduct on trips paid for by the university, Freeze
could be subject to questions about whether public funds were used
inappropriately. B. David Ridpath, an associate professor of sports management
at Ohio University, says that is “absolutely” a concern based on the flight and
phone records reviewed by the Journal. Bjork said the school’s investigation did
not go into the potential misuse of funds because it had already concluded
Freeze would be dismissed.

The Tampa trip came just two weeks before National Signing Day, when Freeze
inked one of the country’s most heralded recruiting classes. Two weeks earlier,
on Jan. 1, 2016, the Rebels walloped Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl to cap off
their best season in more than a decade.

The travels began on Jan. 17 and took Freeze through parts of Texas, then back
to Mississippi before continuing to Louisiana and Florida. On Jan. 19, according
to the flight manifests, Freeze and staff members flew from New Orleans to
Orlando and then Melbourne, Fla.

After that, the plane landed in Tampa at 5:30 p.m. and was the last flight of
the day. The call that cost Freeze his job—the number is listed on multiple
websites advertising a female escort service—lasted about a minute. The number
has since been disconnected.

Ross Bjork, left, Jeffrey Vitter and Hugh Freeze at an event for Ole Miss alumni
and athletic supporters, days before Freeze resigned. Ross Bjork, left, Jeffrey
Vitter and Hugh Freeze at an event for Ole Miss alumni and athletic supporters,
days before Freeze resigned. PHOTO: ROGELIO V. SOLIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS When Mars
confronted Ole Miss about the call after reviewing Freeze’s phone records,
school officials said, they initially attributed it to a misdial because it was
the only call to that specific number on his university-issued phone among the
batch Mars requested. The school said its investigation-—which included the
assistance of outside counsel and members in the athletic department—uncovered
the similar calls on other trips.

In those instances, the records inspected by the school showed multiple calls to
and from Freeze’s phone from each of the “services” that raised red flags, Bjork
said.

The alleged behavior “did not meet our expectations,” Bjork said. “He could not
be our coach.”
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Tnphil
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« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2017, 09:33:11 EDT »

Some of the best 'Used Car Salesmen' are football coaches......I know, I (were) one for 30 years.
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Black Diamond Vol
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« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2017, 12:17:56 EDT »

Freeze speaks:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/Q1OXAi7rNMg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/Q1OXAi7rNMg</a>
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BanditVol
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« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2017, 03:37:08 EDT »

Hey, he was just lonely and wanted to talk, I'm sure.   that's all that happened.  These smoking hot (or I dunno, was he a chubby chaser  ) women came up to his room and they had a heart to heart talk.  That's all! 

How could he have been so stupid as to use a University provided phone?   You can get a  flip phone at Wal-Mart for $20-30 with prepaid minutes, anonymity assured!  Really, really dumb.

One thing I don't completely understand is the talk about how expensive his recruiting trips were and whether that was a misappropriation of state funds.  I am sure the AD paid for those trips and in theory taxpayers don't pay for athletics (then again, maybe the plane IS at University expense, and this is a "hidden cost" to the taxpayers?).  I suppose one could still argue, even if all AD revenues were paid by boosters and ticket/merchandising revenue, that in some sense it's still state money. 

Even then, is anyone alleging that he took the trips primarily to hook up with escorts?  I don't think so.  There was a legit reason for the trip.  I am thinking the talk about misappropriation of funds is just the University talking tough to deflect criticism/overcome embarrassment.

Okay...last thought.  Maybe he needed to get a hooker on these trips to feel clean again after going through the recruiting process.  I mean...that's what I'm really saying here.  The purpose of the trip was to recruit college athletes.  You don't need hookers to make that sleazy!  (And if even if you did...Rick Pitino, nuff said!)

 

Sadly, I am only half joking. 

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Coupe De VOL
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« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2017, 09:11:00 EDT »

  Maybe he needed to get a hooker on these trips to feel clean again after going through the recruiting process. 

Man, that is about the size of it these days!
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