Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze is eager to see the end of an NCAA investigation into his program. The inquiry has been a burden as the Rebels recruit and prepare for next season.Two weeks ago, Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze walked away from an interview at a golf event in Birmingham, Ala., after being asked if he was ready for an NCAA investigation into his program to conclude.
Freeze has been more engaging this week at the Southeastern Conference's spring meetings in Destin, Fla.
"I look forward to the release of our side of things," Freeze said in a news conference, "and I'm looking forward to being able to share that with the (NCAA's) Committee on Infractions when that time comes. And finality. That's what we need to move forward, and that's coming soon."
In late February, the NCAA sent a notice of allegations to Ole Miss, and the university almost instantly announced a self-imposed bowl ban for the 2017 season. The Rebels are the first SEC school ineligible for the league championship and a bowl game since Mississippi State in 2004.
Ole Miss also announced it would forfeit its portion of the league's postseason revenue, which is $7.8 million, and awaiting the unknown has been costly for the Rebels on the recruiting front as well.
"We're in on the right recruits, but it's very difficult to beat the people in this conference when you don't have a final answer," Freeze said. "I'm not going to tell them something that I don't know. I do know it's coming, and I do believe I know what it will be, but I'm not going to tell them that, because I don't know for certain."
The NCAA notice included four Level I violations against former Rebels assistant Barney Farrar, who has been linked to paying recruits and charged with providing false information to the governing body in Indianapolis. Farrar worked at Ole Miss from 2011 to last November, when he was placed on administrative leave, and the university has since cut ties with him.
Farrar's attorney, Bruse Lloyd, told WEVV in Indiana that Farrar has been questioned five times by the NCAA.
"It is as close to a death penalty as you can get without having that actually happen," Lloyd told the TV station.
Whether or not more penalties are added, Freeze knows he must make the most of a 2017 season that has a Thanksgiving trip to Mississippi State as its finish line, and the SEC does have a precedent for such success stories.
The 1984 Florida Gators whipped Georgia, Auburn and Florida State by double digits while finishing 9-1-1 and No. 3 in the Associated Press poll. Auburn went 20-1-1 during the 1993-94 seasons, including an 11-0 mark in 1993 that included wins over the SEC title-game participants (Florida and Alabama). And Alabama went 10-3 in 2002, losing only to teams that won that season's Rose (Oklahoma), Sugar (Georgia) and Citrus (Auburn) bowls.
"This is one of the greatest challenges I'll have in my career, and I'm looking forward to it in a weird kind of way," Freeze said. "I get the opportunity to really try to model for a group of young men what real life can be like when you're faced with something you didn't ask for, and most people in that team room didn't have anything to do with.
"We will look to the blessings we do have, because this doesn't affect their opportunity to get an education. It doesn't affect their opportunity to develop socially or as a player, and they still get to play in the greatest conference in America."
A 'media thing'
Former Auburn football coach Pat Dye recently rekindled the discussion of the Tigers moving to the Eastern Division of the SEC in exchange for Missouri. That would make the SEC more sensible from a geographic standpoint, but the move makes no sense as long as the conference continues to employ eight league games.
Having Auburn in the East and staying at eight SEC games would result in Alabama having to play Auburn or Tennessee annually as cross-divisional foes but not both.
"Is that an agenda item? No," commissioner Greg Sankey said this week. "Do you talk about it in media press conferences? Regularly. There's almost this cycle now. I think the next question is about a nine-game schedule, none of which are on our agenda."
Bama games set
The first three games of Alabama's season have been set from a television standpoint.
Alabama's opener against Florida State in Atlanta on Sept. 2 was previously announced as an 8 p.m. EDT kickoff on ABC. The Crimson Tide will be at Bryant-Denny Stadium for their next two games, against Fresno State (3:30 on ESPN2) on Sept. 9 and Colorado State (7 on ESPN or ESPN2) on Sept. 16.
Longer season?
There is talk of the SEC's regular season in football growing by a week, but not by a game.
Sankey said the NCAA Football Oversight Committee has introduced the possibility of a 14-week season in which every league school would have two open dates. The committee is gauging the interest of each conference.
There have been several seasons in which there have been 14 weeks to house 12 games, most recently in 2014, but this proposal would add a week to the start of each season. Sankey said Wednesday night that several coaches are against the 14-week concept.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.