Hugh Freeze
	Hometown: Independence, Miss. Position: Head Coach Birthdate: 09/27/1969 Alma Mater: Southern Miss, 1992

A Mississippi native, inspirational leader and one of the nation's top rising coaches, Hugh Freeze was the first choice to return championships to Ole Miss Football and was introduced as the Rebels' 37th head coach on December 5, 2011.

He certainly is off to a good start.

Inheriting a team that won just two games in 2011 and had lost 14 straight Southeastern Conference games, Freeze led Ole Miss to seven wins in 2012, including three SEC victories, and the team's first bowl berth since 2009.

A month after the Rebels capped the season with a 38-17 win over Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl, Ole Miss was the talk of National Signing Day when Freeze and Co. landed a consensus top-10 class that was ranked as high as No. 2 by 247Sports and No. 5 by ESPN- the highest recorded signing class rankings in school history.

Freeze is the sixth head coach in program history to direct his team to a bowl appearance in his first season. The Rebels' seven wins could have been even more had they not lost three tight SEC games (Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, at LSU) by a combined 10 points.

The Rebel offense saw a dramatic turnaround under Freeze in 2012. With many of the same players, he took a team that had ranked at or near the bottom of the SEC in every statistical category in 2011 to rank top five in the league and top 50 in the nation in scoring, total offense and passing.

The 2012 Rebels soared up the school record books and cracked the top four single-season totals in scoring, total offense and passing.

Under Freeze's watch, sophomore quarterback Bo Wallace and sophomore receiver Donte Moncrief posted some of the best numbers in school history. Wallace became the only Ole Miss quarterback not named Eli Manning to eclipse 3,000 total yards in a season, while Moncrief's 10 receiving touchdowns tied for the school's single-season record and his 979 receiving yards were the second-most in a season in school history.

Freeze has led a resurgence in team attitude and effort that extends to the defensive side of the ball, as well. An undersized, but feisty Rebel D finished first among SEC teams and fourth nationally in tackles for loss (7.9/game) and second in the SEC and 11th nationally in sacks (2.9/game).

Freeze, a noted speaker and recruiter throughout his career, has enjoyed success at nearly every coaching level over the past 18 years, from high school to NAIA to FBS, and each stop has featured a high-scoring offense and the ability to motivate young people. Before returning to Oxford this year, the former Ole Miss assistant experienced a record-setting run at Arkansas State.

With Freeze as head coach in 2011, the Red Wolves captured the Sun Belt Conference championship and became just the third school in Sun Belt history to finish undefeated in league play with a perfect 8-0 mark. The 10-2 overall record marked the program's first 10-win season since 1986, when ASU was a member of the I-AA Southland Conference.

In the best debut season ever by an A-State head coach, Freeze became just the 14th FBS first-year head coach to win 10 regular season games. He also returned ASU to a bowl game for the first time since 2005.

Freeze was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year, while 13 of his pupils earned all-conference honors, including both the Offensive Player of the Year in junior quarterback Ryan Aplin and the Defensive Player of the Year in senior lineman Brandon Joiner.

While dominating the Sun Belt statistical categories, the Red Wolves finished the season ranked top 25 in the nation in total offense (24th), total defense (24th), passing offense (16th), rushing defense (13th), pass efficiency defense (21st), scoring defense (25th), tackles for loss (eighth) and sacks (15th). They were also one of only two teams in the NCAA to lead their conference in both total offense and defense.

Freeze's high-octane offense saw Aplin shatter the school record for career pass completions. He established new single-season standards for total offense and passing yards per game while ranking No. 10 in the nation in total offense. Wide receiver Dwayne Frampton broke the Red Wolves' single-season record for receptions and ranked 13th nationally.

The Freeze defense also impressed in 2011 led by Joiner, who tied for third in the NCAA in sacks and 10th in TFLs. Senior DB Darryl Feemster registered six interceptions and tied for 14th in the nation in that category.

Freeze's first season in Jonesboro saw him serve as Arkansas State's offensive coordinator, guiding the Red Wolves' offense to a record-breaking year in 2010.

He made an immediate impact on ASU's program, leading the offense to a No. 43 national ranking in total offense one year after the Red Wolves finished toward the bottom of the NCAA FBS rankings at No. 95. In just their first year under Freeze's up-tempo offense, the Red Wolves broke nine offensive school records that included 4,841 yards of total offense, which ranked No. 2 in the Sun Belt Conference.

ASU, ranked 42nd in the nation in scoring offense, finished the season averaging 30 points a game and recorded at least 20 points in 11 consecutive games for the first time in school history. Freeze's offense scored 46 touchdowns for the fourth-most in school history and the most since the 1975 season.

In addition to working as ASU's offensive coordinator, Freeze was also the quarterbacks coach for the Red Wolves. Under Freeze's direction, Aplin exploded onto the scene in 2010 to emerge as a Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year candidate as a sophomore. Aplin not only broke the ASU records for total offense, passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions, he posted numbers that rank among the top 10 in Sun Belt history in the same categories.

Prior to his arrival at Arkansas State, Freeze compiled a 20-5 record over the 2008 and 2009 seasons at the helm of the Lambuth University football program.

Freeze was named the American Football Coaches Association's Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 2009 after leading the Eagles to their best regular season in school history with an 11-0 record. Under Freeze's direction, Lambuth won the Mid-South Conference West Division, advanced to the second round of the NAIA playoffs for the first time since 1999, finished the year with a 12-1 mark and ascended to the No. 6 ranking in NAIA.

The Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year oversaw the offense and called the plays for a Lambuth team that averaged more than 40 points per game and ranked ninth nationally in total yards per game (465 ypg). The Eagles also ranked first in the nation in fourth-down conversions, fourth in first downs per game and third-down conversions, fifth in passing offense and eighth in scoring offense per game.

Prior to taking over as head coach at Lambuth, Freeze served on the Ole Miss staff from 2005-07, including the final two seasons as an assistant coach. He originally arrived in Oxford as Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs before being named the Rebels' recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach before the 2006 season.

In his first year as recruiting coordinator, he helped bring in the nation's ninth-ranked recruiting class, the highest recorded rank in the history of the program at that time. Ole Miss' 2007 signing class was tabbed 25th nationally, and he was responsible for nine commitments in the 2008 signing class.

While maintaining his duties as recruiting coordinator, he moved to wide receivers coach in 2007 and tutored current NFL star Mike Wallace to a top-10 SEC finish in receiving yards. Freeze also coached Shay Hodge, who later became Ole Miss' first 1,000-yard receiver, and Dexter McCluster, who went on to become the first player in SEC history with 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in the same season.

Before going to Ole Miss, Freeze served 13 years at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tenn., as a classroom teacher, coach and administrator. He was the Saints' head football coach from 1995 to 2004, running the no-huddle "spread system" for six years that led to six straight state championship games.

Freeze compiled a 99-23 record, which included an undefeated season in 1996 while at Briarcrest and led the school to state championship titles in 2002 and 2004. Briarcrest won regional titles in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002, and Freeze was named the Region 8-AA Coach of the Year five times and Associated Press Coach of the Year four times.

Among his talented pupils during that period were eventual Rebels and current NFL starters Michael Oher and Greg Hardy.

Before assuming the role of head coach at Briarcrest, Freeze served as the Saints' offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach from 1992-94, as the Saints reached the TSSAA state semifinals twice.

A 1988 graduate of Senatobia High School, Freeze received an associate's degree from Northwest Mississippi Community College in 1990 and earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in coaching and sports administration from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1992.

It was while attending USM that he became active in mission projects, serving as a missionary in Houston, Salt Lake City, St. Petersburg, Russia and Australia. Freeze also served as the state president for the Mississippi Baptist Student Union.

Born in Oxford and raised in Independence, Miss., Hugh, 43, and his wife, Jill, are the parents of three daughters, Ragan (14), Jordan (13) and Madison (10).

Collegiate Coaching Record: 36-13 (Four Years)

Previous Coaching Experience:

Arkansas State (Head Coach, 2011; Offensive Coordinator, 2010)

San Jose State (Assistant Coach/Offensive Coordinator, Dec. 2009 - Feb. 2010)

Lambuth (Head Coach, 2008-09)

Ole Miss (Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator, 2006-07; Assistant Athletics Director for Football External Affairs, 2005)

Briarcrest Christian High School (Head Coach, 1995-2004; Assistant Coach, 1992-94)

Collegiate Year-By-Year Record (HC):

2012 Ole Miss, 7-6, 5th SEC West

2011 Arkansas State, 10-2 ,1st Sun Belt

2009 Lambuth, 12-1, 1st MWC West

2008 Lambuth, 8-4, 2nd MWC West

Coaching Awards:

2011 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year

2009 AFCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year

2009 Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year

5-Time Region 8-AA Coach of the Year

4-Time Associated Press HS Coach of the Year