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Hugh Freeze to Florida was a possibility, says Ole Miss AD

Published: Oct 1, 2015 · 1:17 PM EDT

Those rumors circulating toward the end of last season involving Hugh Freeze as a prime candidate to replace Will Muschamp at Florida weren’t so wild after all.

The Orlando Sentinel on Thursday published a story previewing Saturday’s showdown pitting nationally-ranked unbeatens in Gainesville and featured quotes from Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork confirming the Gators’ interest in Freeze.

“There was some reality in all of that,” Bjork told the Orlando Sentinel during SEC spring meetings in May.

Before Florida announced it had hired Colorado State’s Jim McElwain in December, the Rebels and Freeze agreed in principle to a contract extension following the program’s first nine-win season in 11 years.

Ole Miss climbed all the way to No. 3 in the AP Poll — its highest ranking since 1964 — before late-season losses LSU and Auburn ended the Rebels’ SEC Championship hopes.

By then, Freeze had become one of college football’s hottest coaches.

“The thing about coach and I is we have a great relationship, so I knew every step of the way what was happening,” Bjork said, according to the newspaper. “We were able to communicate. I was communicating with his representatives. I was never concerned because I thought we had a great plan. I thought we were proactive.”

Brad Crawford