Since the coaching carousel started up again back during the 2020 college football season, Hugh Freeze has been one of the most-mentioned names. Freeze’s Liberty Flames went 10-1 in 2020, winning the Cure Bowl to end the 2020 campaign.

The fact that Freeze is also part of the exclusive club of coaches with multiple victories against Alabama in the Nick Saban era makes him popular with many SEC fanbases. Freeze has ties to the Volunteer State winning two state championships (2002, 2004) at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis and reaching the NAIA playoffs in 2008 and ’09 coaching Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee.

Freeze has been mentioned as a potential candidate as the next UT head coach but many have wondered if SEC commissioner Greg Sankey would let the former Ole Miss coach back in the conference after the way he exited Oxford.

Sankey appeared on Clay Travis’ OutKick The Show and was asked about Freeze.

“Well, I give Hugh credit for his work at Liberty. It was fun to watch their bowl game and seeing him with his family at the end of the game, with a smile on his face,” Sankey told Travis. “Good for him and how he’s turned the page.”

Sankey was then asked about Freeze potentially being hired by an SEC school.

“Our schools make their own hiring decisions,” Sankey told Travis. “I think we’ve been clear that the conference membership established that each school is responsible, for a head coach position or assistant coach position, to fully evaluate the background of the (candidates). They do that through our office. We share information that is publicly available. Then they make decisions.”

Further pressed on a potential Freeze hire, Sankey indicated it’s ultimately up to the school.

“I won’t speak to any one individual,” Sankey said.

He then added, “I get blamed for a lot. So I’ll take the blame. We expect our universities, and they expect each other, to be responsible in their personnel decisions. … Ultimately, our campuses make those decisions.”

[H/T Sam Amico]