Freeze talked about struggles on podcast
Hugh Freeze talked about the struggle with “sin nature” in a podcast published the week he resigned as head football coach at Mississippi after university officials found a “pattern of personal misconduct.”
Freeze, who stepped down Thursday, said his battle against sin was “a huge struggle” when he was 18 to 20 and it caused him to question his Christian faith.
“It took me talking a lot with my mentors to really understand the battle with the sin nature will never go away,” Freeze told Jason Roma
no Sports Spectrum Podcast in an interview published online July 14. “And it’s only by God’s grace that we can overcome that and with daily surrender to that.”
During the interview, which focused on the religious faith Freeze often speaks about publicly, Freeze noted that he was concerned about his team because the players are subject to less supervision during the offseason.
“Someone can make a poor decision at any moment,” Freeze said, adding that he has taught his players a class in “character traits” that he hopes leads to good decision-making.
“I’ve shown them examples of what is the quality we would like to have and also examples of when we’ve fallen short,” he added. “I use either myself or our coaches or our team as exam- ples, and I think examples are great way of teaching. Jesus taught that way. So we work hard at teaching them a character trait class every year.
“You just hope that the things that you said and the examples that you showed them both positively and negatively will awaken them to a new height of awareness in making decisions in this free time that they have.”
Records and correspondence obtained by USA TODAY Sports show a one-minute call was made on Jan. 19, 2016, from Freeze’s university-issued phone to a number associated with a female escort service. Ole Miss acknowledged last week finding a “concerning pattern” when it looked into Freeze’s phone records.
During the interview with Romano, Freeze said integrity is one of his core values. “Integrity is not every single time doing what’s right, or no one would have it,” he said. “And I’m not sure who could raise their hand and say, ‘ You know, I’ve always, every single time, done everything exactly right.’
“But integrity is when an issue arises and something is wrong, you acknowledge it, you address it and you move forward from it.”
“It took me talking a lot with my mentors to really understand the battle with the sin nature will never go away.” Former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, on a podcast published July 14