The University of Mississippi’s football coach, Hugh Freeze, is catching it from two sides these days.
The NCAA has alleged that the football program under Freeze’s guidance is guilty of cheating in recruiting star players, and Freeze’s critics contend he either knew about it or should have known.
The final verdict is yet to be rendered on how damaging the NCAA charges will be to Ole Miss football and Freeze’s coaching career. The best case scenario — the punishment is no more than what Ole Miss already has put on itself, including a bowl ban this season — is bad but may be something Freeze can overcome.
At the same time that the charismatic coach is being called a cheater by some of his critics, especially those who favor rival Southeastern Conference schools, another group claims he’s too religious.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has previously criticized the role of religion inside the Ole Miss football program, recently sent a letter to Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter questioning what it called “overly religious social media postings of football coaches at the University of Mississippi.”
The group claimed it respects Freeze’s right to tweet his religious beliefs as a private citizen, but it violates the separation of church and state principle if he does it as a public university employee.
Although the group might have a point, we’re not sure, from a practical standpoint, how it can distinguish between when Freeze is acting as a private citizen and as the publicly paid football coach, other than perhaps the smartphone he is using when he sends out the tweets. If the university is paying for the phone, then he should use instead a personal one, which he certainly can afford.
Meanwhile, we suspect Vitter is far more concerned about the NCAA investigation than Freeze’s tweets, as he should be.
