Hugh Freeze discusses maintaining Zoom for recruiting in post-COVID-19 era.
Hugh Freeze enters his third season as head coach at Liberty.
Freeze is 18-6 in two seasons at Liberty and has won two bowl games. Liberty finished 10-1 in 2020. He has 10-win seasons as a head coach at Lambuth, Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty.
Freeze has a history of success in Tennessee. He won two state championships at Briarcrest Christian School (2002, 2004) and compiled a 20-5 record at Lambuth, reaching the NAIA playoffs.
Recruiting and the NCAA transfer portal is a key part of any program in 2021.
During the coronavirus pandemic, coaches were forced to use platforms such as Zoom to interact with recruits as prospects were not allowed to take visits on campus.
The NCAA is now allowing on-campus visits since June 1.
Freeze joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” and discussed how maintaining Zoom in recruiting can be beneficial for programs during the post-COVID-19 era.
“I would be fine with continuing to recruit like that all the time with the exception of, I think we need to be able to go out in the evaluation period in the fall, and obviously the contact period before signing day in December and January,” Freeze said. “I honestly think it would benefit college football, families and coaches if we just did away with the spring evaluations and did that by Zoom because the kids are coming to your campus anyway. When we go to those high schools in the spring, everyone is pulling people out of class, it is a non-contact period anyway — I am probably on the minority on that. I would be fine with us just resuming the Zoom world, all of that time with the exception, I do think we need to go out and evaluate in the fall time where there be a practice or a game, combined with the contact we have in December in January.
“I would love to see our staff be able to stay at home in the spring because you are going to these satellite camps in June and kids are coming to your campus all spring and summer. That is just my opinion and I would love to see Zoom replace that time. Another thing, with this new transfer portal, the relational aspect of coaching is going to be more important than ever and that requires time. I just think the more time our coaches can be on campus with our kids, the more beneficial it would be.”
The entire show with Freeze can be listened to here or below. Freeze discusses Liberty football, recruiting and the College Football Playoff.
The Lady Vols used the long ball to claim a 6-0 victory over Liberty on Tuesday.
No. 21 Tennessee used two-run homers by Ally Shipman and Kiki Milloy to down the Flames, 6-0, in an afternoon game at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
After a scoreless first inning, Tennessee (26-5) broke through when Shipman, a catcher, clubbed a two-run homer in the bottom of the second frame.
The Lady Vols extended their lead against Liberty (21-10) with two more runs in the third as Shipman, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored, came up with a scoring single.
Milloy scored when pinch hitter KK McCrary drew a walk with the bases loaded to make it 4-0.
Milloy, who went 2-for-2 and scored two runs and drove in two more, clubbed a two-run homer in the fourth to provide the final margin.
In the circle, Ashley Rogers (14-4) picked up her third win in two days as she hurled a complete game. She posted a two-hit shutout, while giving up one walk and recording eight strikeouts.
Rogers picked up a pair of wins Monday as she had two scoreless relief appearances in the Lady Vols’ doubleheader sweep of Furman.
Hugh Freeze discusses analyzing Alabama every week, key in defeating the Crimson Tide.
Hugh Freeze has experienced success coaching against three Southeastern Conference head coaches that are playing in New Year’s Six bowl games this season.
Freeze is 18-6 with two bowl victories in as many seasons as Liberty’s head coach.
He was 39-25 from 2012-16 at Ole Miss.
While at Ole Miss, Freeze was 3-2 against Dan Mullen and Mississippi State, 2-3 versus Nick Saban’s Alabama teams and 1-0 taking on Kirby Smart at Georgia.
“I was fortunate to beat people like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart and Dan Mullen, that are in that league and with probably a lesser roster than what they had,” Freeze said during a media availability ahead of Liberty’s bowl game against Coastal Carolina.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Following Liberty’s 37-34 overtime victory over Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl, Freeze was a guest on “The Paul Finebaum Show.”
Finebaum asked Freeze about Alabama’s offense during the 2020 season under coordinator Steve Sarkisian.
The Crimson Tide have two Heisman Trophy finalists this season in quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver DeVonta Smith. Running back Najee Harris is fifth amongst top 10 finishers in the 2020 Heisman Trophy voting.
“I don’t watch many teams on film because I’m obviously pretty consumed with who we are, and would like to think that we know what we’re doing offensively, and I think the stats over my ten or so years in the college game prove that we do,” Freeze said. “I will tell you this, there is one team that my video coordinator will have cued up for me on Sundays when I come in to watch, and it’s Alabama. Sarkisian is great gameday play-caller, and you’ve put together the best of the best – offensive line, tight ends, receivers and quarterbacks – that they’ve had over the last few years, and you see what’s happening because they have expanded their offense to what I consider to be the up to date version of offensive football.
“It is so difficult because you have to put an extra guy accounting to the run, to stop their run game. With the quality of offensive line and tailbacks that they have, and it just forces you to be in too many one-on-one situations with the receivers that they have. It will take an absolute elite defense to slow them down – and really I don’t know if that is really a possibility. My goal, if I were coaching the defense that had to play them, would be to work all week long, on what are we going to do when they get to the 25-yard line because here is the key – we have to hold them to some field goals.”
“I will never change what we do offensively. I don’t know all but what we’ve done, it’s had success everywhere we’ve been. It’s what I am familiar with and what I feel comfortable calling the game with, so we’re doing the same stuff.” — Hugh Freeze on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days”
Liberty concluded its 2020 season with a 37-34 overtime victory over No. 12 Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl.
Liberty (10-1) concluded its 2020 season with a 37-34 overtime victory over No. 12 Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl.
Following Liberty’s victory over Coastal Carolina, Vols Wire spent time at Liberty, taking in the winning program Hugh Freeze has built in Lynchburg, Virginia.
He is 18-6 with two bowl victories in two seasons with the Flames.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Freeze further discussed his success in two seasons at Liberty on “The Paul Finebaum Show” Monday. Freeze discussed what it would take for him to leave Liberty for another school.
“They have given me an incredible offer here — six-year extension,” Freeze said. “It was more than anything I would have dreamed of at a place outside of the Power Five. They have been so good to me and my family, supportive of our staff, our kids, and anything we need to try to make Liberty one of the top Group of 5 programs in the country. That’s where my commitment lies.
“I have been very honest with the administration and with our players more so than I have ever have been, saying to them should something come that makes my heart beat a little faster, and that university feels the same about me that I feel about them, they will be the first to know that — that is the truth as I can put it. To this point, there has been nothing that was mutual enough, either on their side or my side, to make me want to leave the mountain here at Liberty University.”
Hugh Freeze discusses how he prefers virtual recruiting beyond 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic has altered the college football season and recruiting during the 2020 calendar year.
Zoom meetings, press conferences and virtual recruiting have taken over this year throughout the sport.
The inability of going out on the recruiting trail for home and school visits have allowed for coaches to spend more time with their current team.
Second-year Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze met with media Wednesday in preparation for its Cure Bowl matchup with Coastal Carolina.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 21: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Liberty Flames celebrates with his team after defeating the Georgia Southern Eagles in the 2019 Cure Bowl at Exploria Stadium on December 21, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Freeze mentioned he would prefer to keep virtual recruiting going forward when the pandemic concludes.
“This probably won’t be real popular with a lot of college coaches, but I enjoy recruiting from here and not going away from home,” Freeze said. “I think it’s real possible that we could really change the recruiting calendar to where you may not have to go out as much, but that is just my preference.
“I like our coaches being here with our current kids. I don’t think we spend enough time with our current teams and our current schedule. We are always running around trying to get the next guys and we could be really investing into the lives of our kids a little more.”
Hugh Freeze discusses being linked to SEC head coaching jobs.
Hugh Freeze is 17-6 and has won the school’s first bowl game during his two seasons as Liberty’s head coach.
Freeze’s success at Liberty has placed his name in discussion for jobs throughout the Southeastern Conference.
Auburn relieved Gus Malzahn of his head coaching duties Sunday after eight seasons.
Freeze has since been linked in discussion to fill the vacant position.
“You never like to see people lose their jobs, ever,” Freeze said during his press conference Wednesday on the first day of the early signing period. “I’m not made that way to rejoice over anyone doing that. When you’re in this business, you know how much hurt is involved in that for all involved. You add to it, it’s one of your very dear friends, obviously, it’s unsettling and you hurt.
“I’ve been through that and I know what it’s like to lose a job, it’s not much fun, so my initial call was to Gus. I had a great conversation with him. He’s one of the best to do it now. He cares about his kids. He coaches it the right way. He’s the type of coach you want in this business, that was the initial thing, then you want to make sure your friend is okay. He will be fine, but there are a lot of other families that are affected by it.”
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 21: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Liberty Flames celebrates with his team after defeating the Georgia Southern Eagles in the 2019 Cure Bowl at Exploria Stadium on December 21, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Freeze also mentioned why he thinks his name has surfaced for jobs such as Auburn, and also being discussed in Knoxville for what he considers his dream job.
“Then you get to what the national media starts saying,” Freeze said. “Let me say, there are so many people here that the reason that is being said is two-fold.
“I was fortunate to beat people like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart and Dan Mullen, that are in that league and with probably a lesser roster than what they had. Then you come here and have success and all the people that put you into that here deserve so much of the credit — mostly our kids and our players, so that’s a compliment and it’s humbling, but there are so many people that deserve credit for being mentioned and brings some notoriety to Liberty, but it also brings the negative side also.”
Greenfield finished the 2020 campaign 8-2 before losing in the playoffs. It was the first region championship for the Yellowjackets since 1986.
Pitt was part of Hugh Freeze’s coaching staff at Lambuth from 2008-09. He served as offensive line coach. Indiana head coach Tom Allen was also on staff at Lambuth as defensive coordinator and overseeing linebackers.
“He could take a room full of young men and it wouldn’t take long until everybody in the room was bought in, 100 percent and ready to go to war,” Pitt said of Freeze. “He was a great leader that way of getting everybody to believe. It was one of the greatest things that I saw him do.”
“I will never change what we do offensively. I don’t know all but what we’ve done, it’s had success everywhere we’ve been. It’s what I am familiar with and what I feel comfortable calling the game with, so we’re doing the same stuff.” — Hugh Freeze on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days”
“It was a good thing that I got to spend those two years with those good coaches and learn so much,” Pitt said of his time at Lambuth. “I carry things that I learned from them many years ago and we’re still doing them at Greenfield, and I know Coach Freeze is still doing them at Liberty.
“The game has changed a lot, but it is still some principles and sort of the same type of offense, calls and things of that nature that I still see on game day through them, and then things that we are still doing at Greenfield.”
The entire show with Pitt can be listened to here or below.
Hugh Freeze is in his eighth season as a head coach at the FBS level in 2020.
He is in his second season as Liberty’s head coach after being in the same capacity at Ole Miss (2012-16) and Arkansas State (2011).
Freeze guided Liberty to its first ever bowl win last season and has started the 2020 campaign 8-1 with Power Five victories over Syracuse and Virginia Tech. His lone loss was at North Carolina State, 15-14.
Freeze has a winning background within the state of Tennessee.
He won two state championships (2002, 2004) at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis.
The veteran head coach also experienced success at NAIA Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee. During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Freeze compiled a 20-5 record and reached the NAIA playoffs.
After the Knoxville News Sentinel posed the question, Vols Wire looked into where Freeze stands to return as a head coach within the Power Five, Southeastern Conference and in the Volunteer State.
“I will never change what we do offensively. I don’t know all but what we’ve done, it’s had success everywhere we’ve been. It’s what I am familiar with and what I feel comfortable calling the game with, so we’re doing the same stuff.” — Hugh Freeze on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days”
Breaking down Hugh Freeze’s three-man surface offense.
Hugh Freeze started his coaching career at Briarcrest High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
Freeze served as offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach from 1992-94 before becoming Briarcrest’s head coach (1995-2004). He later became head coach at Lambuth (NAIA) in Jackson, Tennessee from 2008-09.
The former Arkansas State and Ole Miss head coach continues to leave his mark with offensive success throughout the sport of football at Liberty.
Freeze is described as an incredible mind by his former players and is always looking for ways to improve.
Hugh Freeze. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
The second-year Liberty head coach has an understanding of how much the run game means for opening up the pass game, however he is adaptable when seeing something that defenses are giving his offensive personnel within a game.
Freeze has the ability to simplify things for his offensive personnel. The more things are simplified, the more difficult it becomes for defenses defending his offense.
His offense centers around putting defensive personnel in conflict. Conflicts can be caused by a zone read on the defensive end, reading the second level and placing linebackers in conflict of their assignment.
Freeze understands how to attack linebackers that are in a run fit and attached to the box. His offense displays a fast read with the quarterback eyeing what linebackers are going to do. This helps the quarterback conduct a pass or a run option.
Freeze demands his offensive personnel to have an answer to a zone blitz, allowing for tempo. This is known as a three-man surface in Freeze’s offense.
His offense can also have three-man surfaces in motion. For instance, a short motion with a tight end against a zone blitz can open up a play against the high safety.
With a tight end in motion, he can block a cornerback, providing a three-man surface. The quarterback can then throw a hitch screen to the outside with a stick screen to the inside.
This also allows for an inside zone run if the quarterback elects to not throw a hitch or screen pass, or attack the high safety. The quarterback must read the MIKE linebacker and see if he decides to play the outside screen or stay within the box.
Freeze’s offense caters to where his offensive personnel can have an advantage numbers-wise.
His offense also has a wide receiver on the outside that is able to have one-on-one matchups once defenses play the run or screen. The quarterback can decide quickly if the defensive personnel has committed to playing the run or screen, and then throw to outside wide receiver for a favorable matchup.
“I will never change what we do offensively. I don’t know all but what we’ve done, it’s had success everywhere we’ve been. It’s what I am familiar with and what I feel comfortable calling the game with, so we’re doing the same stuff.” — Hugh Freeze on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days”
