Liberty has extended the contract of football coach Hugh Freeze through 2030, and the school will reportedly pay Freeze an average of just under $5 million a year over the course of the deal.
That would make Freeze the highest-paid college football coach in the Commonwealth, surpassing the salaries of the state’s two ACC schools – Virginia Tech, which is paying Brent Fry an average of $4.6 million a year on a six-year deal that runs through 2027; and UVA, which is paying Tony Elliott an average of $4.3 million a year on a six-year deal also running through 2027.
But then, Freeze is having more success than either of the first-year ACC coaches here. Liberty is 7-1 in 2022, after posting a convincing 41-14 win over BYU last weekend in Lynchburg, and Freeze, in four seasons at Liberty, has a 33-12 record.
His SEC pedigree – Freeze was 39-25 at Ole Miss before being forced to resign in the face of the revelations that he had used a university-issued cellphone to make calls to escort services, and a subsequent NCAA investigation found the program guilty of numerous academic and recruiting violations on his watch – could make him a target for a big-name job now that he’s somewhat rehabilitated his reputation.
The Liberty administration, with its commitment of money and time, is aiming to keep Freeze in the fold for the foreseeable future.
“We are grateful for Coach Freeze’s outstanding leadership of Liberty Football and the positive influence he has on our student-athletes,” Liberty AD Ian McCaw said. “Liberty Football is realizing the vision that was cast for it decades ago, and we are excited that Coach Freeze will lead the program into the future.”
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Chris Graham
