Hugh Freeze's Meeting With Nick Saban Wasn't Solely About Alabama's Open OC Job
Former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze met with Nick Saban Monday in Tuscaloosa, a source told SI.
Even though Alabama does have an offensive coordinator vacancy to fill with Brian Daboll moving back to the NFL to become the Bills’ new OC, I don’t think Freeze’s meeting was all about specifically replacing Daboll. The hunch here is that Saban promotes from within for that open role, tabbing Mike Locksley, who joined the Crimson Tide in 2016 and was elevated to co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach last winter.
But it’s possible that beyond Saban using the meeting as an opportunity to pick Freeze’s brain, he could still bring the former Rebels coach onto Alabama’s staff. Keep in mind the Rebels beat the Tide in consecutive seasons and averaged 36.3 points per game in Freeze’s final three meetings with Saban. Last year Saban hired Freeze’s former Ole Miss offensive coordinator Dan Werner as an offensive analyst assisting with game preparation and scouting. Werner was hired away by South Carolina last week to become the Gamecocks’ new quarterbacks coach.
Freeze spent the 2017 season away from the sidelines after he was forced to resign as Ole Miss coach in July when a school investigation discovered calls to escort services within his phone records.
