ESPN Senior Author
Ole Skip activities coach Hugh Freeze resigned effective immediately toward Thursday nights, on the Rebels’ sports director advising ESPN one university authorities discovered a pattern you to incorporated phone calls to several of the a female companion solution.
Assistant head mentor Matt Luke, in his sixth season as the co-offending planner and you can offending range coach, are called interim lead advisor.
Ole Miss chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, inside the an effective Thursday evening press conference announcing the new move, said Frost, 47, resigned after confirming in order to your and you can athletic director Ross Bjork „a period out of personal misconduct contradictory toward conditions we expect on leader of our 
sporting events group.”
„When you are Coach Freeze supported the college better in many regards during the his tenure, we can’t take on the newest make in his private lives one to i have located,” Vitter told you.
Frost, who had regarding the $2 mil kept to the their bargain because of it season, $5 mil next season and you will $5.fifteen billion for the 2019 seasons, will not be paid back in the years ahead. Bjork said Frost could have been discharged had the guy perhaps not resigned.
Bjork independently told ESPN that when college officials dived greater towards Freeze’s mobile info into the a good university-provided portable, for the last as much as just after he was leased inside the 2012, it come interested in more of a period that have calls regarding the type United states Today earlier stated just after an open-records consult.
„Once we looked at the rest of the cellular phone ideas we receive a cycle,” Bjork informed ESPN. „It absolutely was distressful.”
Bjork, speaking close to Vitter from the news conference, titled it an excellent „sad” and you can „unexpected” go out getting Ole Miss. The guy referred to as Luke good advisor, a leader and „a stone.”
„He’s an Ole Miss Push back,” Bjork told you. „I am also sure — particularly a whole lot more confident immediately following watching your target the group [prior to Thursday] — he have a tendency to direct which party and you will program by this hard time.”
„We spotted particular brains go-down, since you you are going to expect, however, I imagined it treated it really maturely,” Bjork told you.
Phil Longo, this new Ole Skip offensive planner and you will quarterbacks advisor, tweeted an image appearing a team of people hours just after Freeze’s departure is actually established.
Bjork won’t state exactly how many calls have been made so you’re able to wide variety much like the one to designed to the female companion provider, otherwise what lengths straight back the phone calls went. The guy also mentioned that only some of them was in fact connected to other companion characteristics however, that they have been similar in general.
Former Ole Miss mentor Tommy Tuberville, now an ESPN expert, required new Rebels to help you „eliminate the entire administration” and start over.
„However anybody knew that was happening. Simply get back to being Ole Miss and you can brush the latest record, and get members of here that need to find the work over the correct way,” Tuberville told you on ESPN Radio’s „Freddie and Fitz” let you know.
„It is simply an unfortunate day in their eyes, it really is, because people in this county actually want to profit games and you can desire to be aggressive during the Ole Miss. They’ve done a fantastic job until now, and then they’ve got got an awful setback.”
The news appear per week after Frost addressed conjecture on their job upcoming in the SEC mass media months and you may regarding the six-weeks in advance of brand new Rebels start up the entire year up against Southern area Alabama.
Mark Schlabach
United states Now claimed Thursday you to Freeze produced a-one-minute label off a great school-given cellular phone so you’re able to a number of this a female companion services. The amount are receive while in the preparation related to former Ole Skip mentor Houston Nutt’s civil suit up against Ole Skip and you will Frost, which was registered in federal courtroom a week ago.