Report: Sankey Encouraged Alabama To Pass On Freeze
By The SportsRadio 930 Team Apr 16, 2018
Former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze resigned from his position as the Rebels' head coach in July following a scandal involving prostitutes surfaced. Despite that, Freeze garnered the interest of a few SEC schools who were considering him to be part of their programs, most notably, Nick Saban and Alabama.
However, according to AL.com, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey reached out to Alabama and Nick Saban in an attempt to dissuade them from hiring Freeze:
Sankey informed both Freeze and Alabama that it would look bad for the SEC for Freeze to be back coaching in the league while Ole Miss suffered from NCAA penalties incurred under his watch. The SEC preferred that Freeze, who resigned in July following a "pattern of personal misconduct," go off the radar for at least a little while before trying to return to work at one of its schools. - John Talty and Matt Zenitz, AL.com
Saban would later hire Penn State's Josh Gattis to be the co-offensive coordinator and WR coach, the former of which is one of the positions Saban desired Freeze to have. Saban also hired former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones to serve as an "intern" on his staff.