Since being named Liberty’s new head coach last Friday, Hugh Freeze has made the rounds in the media.

Those opportunities have given him the chance to break down his connection to a handful of jobs over the last few weeks, most notably the offensive coordinator vacancies at Auburn and Tennessee. Freeze did just that during a Monday appearance on Birmingham radio station WJOX, when he was asked what else he had on the table in terms of offers from other schools.

“Yes, there were some coordinator possibilities. They were very tempting because, truthfully, there was a part of me that really just thought, with the things I’ve been through, ‘Man, just take a coordinator’s job and fly totally under the radar other than is your offense doing well or not.’ You don’t have to deal with being out front, so to speak, of a program other than just being accountable for what they did in regard to scoring points offensively. That was very, very tempting. And there were some guys that I certainly would’ve loved to have gone and worked with. I still struggle with — I struggled all the way until the end. Which way to go? Are you doing the right thing? But ultimately, I really felt like I had a chance to — I think I’m a builder. I think everywhere I’ve been from Lambuth to Arkansas State to Ole Miss, the programs have needed somewhat of a turnaround, and I think that that’s kind of the gifting I have. I don’t know if I’m great at sustaining, but I do think I have the gift to turn things around or improve the status of what it was. But ultimately it really came down to — I really thought my wife and kids just felt like maybe this environment was a bit better for our restart.”

He was then directly asked if Auburn had offered him its offensive coordinator job. Freeze said he’d “rather not talk about the specific schools,” though he gushed about his friendship with Tigers coach Gus Malzahn and wished him the best moving forward.

Freeze seems reluctant to go in depth about his discussions with Tennessee and Auburn, so we may never know how close he was to landing those jobs.