Mike Bianchi is a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel and writes about the Florida Gators all the time. He has been covering the teams for decades and has a lot of inside information many others wouldn't. So back in 2014 when Florida was looking to find Will Muschamp's replacement, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze was a popular name for the vacant coaching spot.
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Florida obviously ended up going with Jim McElwain and it worked out well for both schools in 2015 as Florida won the SEC East and Ole Miss won the Sugar Bowl. However, it seems that after some bad behavior by Freeze and Laremy Tunsil, that hire turned out to be better than envisioned.
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In fact, Bianchi says Tunsil's murky situation with the NCAA is "essentially why the Florida Gators never considered hiring Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze."
After Florida hired McElwain, UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley told me that some potential coaching candidates had been eliminated because of character issues. Although Foley never mentioned Freeze by name, it's quite clear now why the Ole Miss coach was never a candidate to coach the Gators.
We'll never know if that was truly the reason Florida didn't hire him because the school will likely never reveal that. They wouldn't also want to reveal if they had offered the job to the coach and he just turned it down. Freeze ended up getting a contract extension with the Rebels after that.
[h/t Saturday Down South]
