Hugh Freeze Issues Statement After Allegations, Says “I Own It”

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI Sports) – Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze said Monday to ESPN that he accepts responsibility for the recent NCAA allegations. He also denied that he or any member of his staff knowingly violated any rule.

Ole Miss, in part, self-imposed a reduction of 11 football scholarships over a four-year period last week after receiving an NCAA Notice of Allegations. The NOA mentioned 28 rules violations in football, women’s basketball and track and field. Of the 13 alleged violations in football, nine were committed during Freeze’s tenure and four were the more serious Level I violations. Below are some of the statements from Freeze to ESPN:

“The first thing I would say is that I own it. That’s part of it when you’re the head coach. You take the good with the bad, but there’s a big difference between making mistakes in recruiting and going out there with the intent to cheat. I don’t have any information that anybody on my staff has been involved in any illegal payments to players or offering any inducements to players, and if I did have that information, I would fire them.”

“I feel confident with the report we do have from the NCAA that our staff is not involved in any purposeful breaking of the rules. Have we made mistakes in recruiting? Yes, and we’ve taken steps to make sure we don’t make those same mistakes again. But to say me or anybody on my staff is out there cheating to gain advantage just isn’t true.”

“We’re not going to terminate a guy who makes a mistake and didn’t have any intent to go out and cheat. There is no charge in these allegations of a staff member being involved in a payment or offering extra benefits. There’s none of that in there.”