April 12, 2012

GREENSBORO, Ga. - Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze and former All-SEC basketball player Sean Tuohy will represent the Rebels and compete for a share of the $520,000 scholarship purse in the annual Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament April 29 - May 1.

The nation's premier head coach and celebrity golf event will be held at the Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee outside Atlanta. In the past five years, the Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge has provided $2.55 million in scholarship and charitable contributions.

Over the three-day event, several tournament rounds will be played in addition to the featured, televised round of coaches and celebrities. The complete field of head coaches, professional golfers, former athletes and celebrities includes four NFL Hall of Famers, two Heisman Trophy winners, 15 national Coaches of the Year, three gold medalists, and professional golfers who have earned eight professional tour majors wins, 151 total tour wins and more than $80 million in earnings.

“As college football’s most charitable bowl game, this event is enormously important to us in terms of what we can give back to our partner conferences and universities,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “At this year’s event, we will surpass the $3 million mark in charity and scholarship donations as we continue to grow the field and donations each year with the help of some of the best college coaches in the nation.”

The 16 university teams will be vying for the $125,000 first-place prize with all teams receiving a portion of the total purse.

The field of competitors for the featured event is scheduled to include:

Alabama: Nick Saban, Johnny Musso

Clemson: Dabo Swinney, Steve Fuller                                                       

Georgia Tech: Paul Johnson, Jon Barry

Florida State: Jimbo Fisher, Terrell Buckley

Maryland: Randy Edsall, Stan Gelbaugh

Miami: Al Golden, Gino Torretta

Ole Miss: Hugh Freeze, Sean Tuohy

Mississippi State: Dan Mullen, Fred McCrary

North Carolina: Larry Fedora, Roy Williams

NC State: Tom O’Brien, Tom Gugliotta

Ohio State: Urban Meyer, Jeff Logan

South Carolina: Steve Spurrier, Sterling Sharpe

Tennessee: Derek Dooley, Stanley Morgan

Virginia: Mike London, Jim Dombrowski

Virginia Tech: Frank Beamer, Dell Curry

Wake Forest: Jim Grobe, Riley Skinner

The Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge main event features pairings that include a university head coach and a celebrity or former athlete from the same school competing in a scramble format against other university teams from around the country.

In addition to the $520,000 scholarship purse, an additional $135,000 charitable donation will be made to Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Homes. The Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge is a significant contributor to the Chick-fil-A Bowl’s overall charitable and scholarship donations. The Chick-fil-A Bowl leads all bowls in the country in charitable giving, including gifts of more than $13 million since 2002.

The tournament is being taped by ESPN for broadcast in the fall. The date of the broadcast will be announced this summer.

For more information on the event, visit www.Chick-fil-ABowlChallenge.com.