Freeze’s comments confound podcaster
Days before fall from grace, coach discussed faith
He found out the same day you did.
He found out about Hugh Freeze resigning as head football coach at Mississippi, the phone call to the escort service and the pattern of personal misconduct revealed by the university’s investigation into the rest of Freeze’s phone records.
Jason Romano heard about this last Thursday, just like everyone else in the universe. But, unlike everyone else in the universe, Romano had just done a podcast with Freeze during which he asked the coach how he balanced his life as a coach and a Christian, how his religious beliefs shaped his approach to coaching, how he managed to be a coach at the highest level and also a husband and father.
“Integrity is one of our core values,” Freeze told him. “It’s one of my core values of my whole life. My core values are faith and attitude and mental toughness, integrity and love.”
Romano had posted the podcast less than a week before Freeze resigned in disgrace. His reaction to the scandal? “I was saddened,” he said. “I choose to be saddened.”
There are other possible reactions, to be sure. Romano could have felt angered or disgusted or betrayed. He could have concluded Freeze flat-out lied to him.
Romano, 43, worked for ESPN for 17 years, largely as a behindthe-scenes producer. But he left that job in February because he felt a calling to combine his background in sports with his beliefs as a Christian. He went to work with a group called Sports Spectrum and, as part of his duties, started a podcast focused on athletes or coaches and their faith.
The Freeze podcast was episode No. 23. In retrospect, some of the things Freeze said are cringe-worthy, even painful.
Freeze talked about going on trips with his wife, Jill. He said the key to a healthy family life was being “intentional.” He said all he really wanted to do was “live and model” to his players.
“One of the things I hope that they would see, and that they would say about me, and that my wife and kids would say about me, was that the guy was consistent,” Freeze said.
So, yes, Romano could have felt hoodwinked, at the very least. Sports Spectrum actually did take down the podcast before putting it back up Monday. But the challenge Romano faced is not unlike the challenge faced by other people of faith who have struggled to make sense of the recent debacle.
Does the contrast between Freeze’s words and deeds mean he’s a complete fraud? Is the entire episode evidence that public figures should not talk openly about their beliefs?
Think about the thousands who crammed into Memphis’ Bellevue Baptist Church in 2015 to hear Freeze testify before the congregation. Are they — like Romano — supposed to feel ridiculous?
“After we released (the podcast), I did get a few people who reached out to me personally who felt bad for me, because of everything he had done,” Romano said. “But who am I to judge? I don’t feel betrayed, because I think what he was saying to me, I think he genuinely believes, even if he has that secret.”
Indeed, sections of the podcast support this interpretation, or at least hint at Freeze’s internal conflict.
“It took me a lot of talking to my mentors to understand the battle with the sin nature will never go away,” Freeze said. “It’s by God’s grace that we can overcome that and, with grace, surrender to that.”
Here’s more: “I take a lot of criticism for being outspoken in my faith. I don’t know if it’s that people think that I use that to say that I’m perfect in some way or better in some way. It’s far from that, it’s the exact opposite, really, saying that I needed someone who was perfect.”
None of this excuses the deeds themselves, of course. Freeze got what was coming to him. But for Romano, Freeze’s fall doesn’t invalidate all the things he said or tweeted.
It reminds him that people will fall short, sometimes spectacularly so.
Romano says he doesn’t know if Sports Spectrum would be game to do another interview with Freeze, by the way. But he has thought about what he’ll say if he runs into the coach again.
“I’d probably at some time refer back to the podcast and say, ‘Was that all an act, or was that how you genuinely felt?’ ” Romano said. “But I think I’d try to be compassionate. I’d try and be human. ‘How are your wife and kids? Are they OK?’ I think I’d probably tell him I’m very sorry for all that’s happened.”