Don’t expect to see Hugh Freeze having dinner with ESPN Radio hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic any time soon.
The veteran radio duo blasted the Ole Miss coach on Tuesday morning during a discussion about the validity of the new NCAA rule about banning satellite camps.
Their major gripe about the new rule, among many others, is the way it takes away the ability for coaches from the Group of 5 and beyond to be in attendance at Power 5 camps, which was the way a lot of players got noticed for scholarships under the previous rules.
“Hugh Freeze’s comment is enough to make you want to smash your head into a wall,” host Mike Greenberg said on Tuesday morning. “One of the reasons he’s happen that satellite camps are banned is as quote: ‘I’m selfish with my time. I’m away from my family enough that I just did not want to go. We would’ve jumped in with the rest of them and gone to work, but I’m glad we can have a camp and sleep at home.'”
Greenberg continued: “Well thank God for that, Hugh. Thank God you and your millions of dollars can sleep in the huge house that you live in while these kids who cannot afford to get to all of these different places– cannot afford to go to Athens, Georgia to get to your camp– could previously have gone to one spot near where they lived and had the opportunity to work out in front of a whole lot of coaches. But thankfully you can sleep in your bed while those kids may not get a change to get a college scholarship. I’m so relieved by that. I am so glad the NCAA took that into account when making these decisions.”
Greenberg then went on to challenge NCAA president Mark Emmert to call the show and tell him how the new rule benefits a single student-athlete.
First of all, Ole Miss is in Oxford, Miss. Not Athens, Ga. Get that straight, Mike.
Second, Freeze is aware of the unintended consequences of the new rule, and he may not hold the exact position that Greenberg paints him to hold.
According to a report from Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples, Freeze said he’d like to continue hosting camps that allowed coaches from other schools to attend, just not guys like Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
“I would love to continue that,” Freeze said Monday. “I just don’t want satellite camps for the Power Five. I am for non-Power Five schools being able to attend and evaluate.”
Freeze agrees with the intention of the rule—just not the unintended consequences. He does not think his coaches should be able to work a camp in Houston, smack in the middle of Texas A&M’s recruiting territory. He does, however, think South Alabama coaches should be allowed to work the Ole Miss camp.
While that’s just a snippet of Mike and Mike’s complaints about satellite camps, and there may be some validity to those complaints, it seems unfair to make such harsh public judgement against Freeze without presenting his complete position (or knowing the location of his school).
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
