Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze was forced to resign last week for what the university described as “moral turpitude.”
Freeze, who is an outspoken believer, was caught calling a female escort service on his university-issued phone. The university said they quickly discovered a “pattern of personal misconduct inconsistent with the standards we expect from the leader of our football team,” Chancellor Jeff Vitter said, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Freeze is asking for prayer.
“I truly believe that Freeze is a good man,” said Mississippi pastor Clarence Cooper, a friend of Freeze’s. “And he has been overtaken with a fault. In his text to me was, ‘I love you. Please pray for me. Please stand by me and pray for my family.'”
Cooper told Baptist Press that the coach is on the road to repentance.
Freeze is seeking “to get his life back together again, get his mind clear and get things right between him and the Lord,” Cooper said.
Mo Baker, director of the Ole Miss Baptist Student Union, also said believers should forgive Freeze, but not excuse him for his actions.
“The tendency is to give a kneejerk reaction of either exceptionally leaning toward free grace or being extreme in our judgment and condemnation,” Baker said. “The Christian community needs to be very cautious, first of all, because we don’t have all the information. And second, whatever he was guilty of … there needs to be evidence of repentance in order for grace to be fully given.”
Freeze served at Ole Miss for five seasons and was 39-25, including a 2016 Sugar Bowl victory.
