LYNCHBURG, Va. — As the video call rang on the television inside the Liberty pressroom, head football coach Hugh Freeze popped onto a TV screen dressed for game day in a white windbreaker and red visor but prepared for hospital care, perched on bed rest inside a coaches’ room above the field.

Freeze, still recovering from a staph infection in his spine which was nearly fatal, coached Saturday night’s season opener from that same room. Throughout the 24-0 loss, he could be seen through the window with a call sheet in hand. Freeze even called plays on first and second downs, he said.

The press conference started normal — as normal as a head coach lying in a bed and speaking through television speakers gets. Freeze talked about how his team had chances early. He went on that if his team finished opportunities in the red zone, Liberty could’ve won the game.

But the topic quickly shifted, and Freeze broke down what he described as a “wonderful idea.”

“It felt different,” Freeze said through the television screen. “It’s odd that I’m not down there to talk to officials and calling timeouts when we need to.”

The loss to Syracuse marked Freeze’s first game as the head coach of Liberty, his first head coaching position since he resigned from Ole Miss in 2017 amid a scandal which involved Freeze calling escorts during recruiting trips.

Refusing to relinquish his first chance to return to college football relevance, Freeze made an even bigger splash than Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr., who traveled to and from the game via helicopter. Falwell Jr. exited early in the second half.

Freeze thanked Falwell Jr. and the entire university for partaking in what he described as “not normal” circumstances. He even joked it was probably a first in college football.

Hugh Freeze conducts a halftime interview on ESPN+ in a hospital bed. Danny Emerman | Asst. Sports Editor

The move came with logistical issues — Freeze didn’t have a game clock in his room, which he said was a challenge as well as not being able to communicate perfectly with players on the field. That was part of the reason why he relinquished play-calling duties for third downs.

That’s a good argument for why Freeze shouldn’t have coached and made his reemergence into the college football world a bit more subtle. But that’s not what Freeze chose. He wanted to be on television.

“It was a pretty remarkable thing,” Freeze said. “And I’m thankful for it.”

Published on August 31, 2019 at 11:20 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44