After the NCAA announced new allegations against head coach Hugh Freeze and the University of Mississippi football team, the school has announced a self-imposed bowl ban for the 2017 season. In addition, the school will forfeit its share of SEC postseason revenue, which can reach values upward of seven million dollars. Even with these punishments, the NCAA can still enforce other penalties, and judging on precedent, the NCAA will add more penalties.
The allegations against Freeze and his staff are not overly serious according to ESPN. The allegations include a booster allowing a recruit to hunt on the booster’s property, a staff member paying nearly three thousand dollars in improper lodging and transportation to two recruits, both of whom were enrolled at different schools, a former staffer not fully cooperating with an NCAA investigation, two recruits and one person associated with a recruit receiving free merchandise from a store owned by an Ole Miss booster valued at almost three thousand dollars, and an Ole Miss booster provided free meals to recruits totaling between two hundred and six hundred dollars in value. All told, the NCAA has accused Ole Miss of fifteen Level I (Severe Branch of Conduct) violations. Level I violations are considered the highest violations and include, among others, academic fraud, failure to cooperate in an NCAA investigation, and lack of institutional control.
In a situation like this, the blame will always fall on the head coach. For Freeze, these allegations could mean the end of his tenure in Oxford. If you have ever watched “The Season” on YouTube, you understand that Hugh Freeze is a coach that truly cares about the young men playing for him, and is actually a pretty cool guy. Unfortunately, as both CBS Sports and Fox Sports have speculated, it will be tough for Freeze to remain in control after this. In his five seasons at the helm of the Rebels, Freeze has managed just one season with double-digit wins. This past season, Ole Miss limped to a 5-7 finish after injuries to key players Chad Kelly, D.K. Metcalf and John Youngblood. The nail in the coffin for Freeze may be the allegations that a staff member connected a recruit to a booster who eventually paid between thirteen thousand and fifteen thousand dollars to the recruit before he eventually signed with another school.
If you are going to cheat, at least cheat in a helpful way, like the Patriots. I think rule number one of committing recruiting violations is to only spend money on recruits who will actually come to the school.
