Liberty Hires Hugh Freeze

this Liberty sports update is brought to you by Beacon Credit Union I'll tell you one that when I landed the other day I really kind of had my mind set on one or two places that that I thought I would be headed to and and then you know to get the the message that they wanted to visit with me it just immediately started clicking in my mind you know I've always of course I've been a head coach now for the last five six eight out of the nine oh two nine the last ten years and I just I love that position because I get to kind of dictate that the tempo of the and the core values of the program and then truthfully really felt like of the of the opportunities that were presenting themselves that we now really sat down and got by myself and thought about you know this is somewhat in my mind a restart or a reboot the best environment for my wife and kids and myself to do that in and you know is it was pretty clear that this to me and you know a lot of people may not understand why why you do that as opposed to go to another SEC school or something but I've done that before and worked out pretty good for me and so I just like I like coming into places that I think the environment in this case is is good for my family it's somewhere where you're embraced and people understand grace and celebrate you for for for not only you know who you are but who's you are and so it kind of made it to become in the lead pretty quick yeah I've loved challenges my whole life to go from a high school coach to the head coach at an SEC program in seven years you know it's really not the norm and and I've had so many good people around me that helped me you know do those things and then God blesses that when you do it the right way and I just felt like I love a challenge and when I heard that this program had not gone to a bowl game I don't know why that triggered me but it's like like I said earlier not many people remember whose second things but they remember who was the who's first at things and you know and I want to see the look on those kids eyes when they get invited to a bowl game and I want to see the excitement and the fans here along with other things there's a lot of other things that I want to see in this program but that's one that just really that challenge in itself really motivates me very little but I will be as soon as I get through here and get to work on recruiting and on the talent that we have and what our needs are and where our deficiencies are and and go out and find some help in recruiting with those get a staff in place and and go to work on that I did watch them play at least one game maybe a better part of two games and I was impressed with with certain facets of it and obviously coach Gill did a good job when the six games in your first year and FBS is a that's an accomplishment and that sets the bar for me you know and I don't want to let let that down so but I don't I don't know enough to even speak of it at this point yes no I'm not gonna change what we've done offensively it's everywhere I've been this set records and you know we broke all the records at Arkansas State and at Lambeth and then at Ole Miss also in a very difficult conference probably in a conference where you would say on paper that we don't have the exact talent that maybe some of the others do that we play but yet we're able to you know average 30 35 40 points in a given year so I just believe in it's so strong this what I know and won't get away from that at all pretty open defensively minded I know what my strengths are and so I want to play to my strengths which are recruiting and in capturing the hearts and minds of our players and in offense so I've got to find a guy that I believe that can be the head coach of the defense that I don't have to spend time a lot of time on that I want to understand the third down plan and I want to understand the red red zone plan where I can help there but outside of that I've got to have some some trust in that guy because my time is spent on things I know I'm strong at yeah I'm gonna meet with everyone and I'm not gonna be in a hurry because I think that I've been on that end of it and and it's not fun I told my wife this morning as soon as I woke up I said the only thing I'm dreading about today is the fact that that there are families here that of no fault of their own are sitting there wondering you know what is my future hold in my profession and that's tough for me my compassion has grown for people after what I've been through I don't wish ill or hurt on anyone and whether they like me or don't like me I really don't wish that on anyone and it's so it's difficult to know that there's some anxious families right now and I just believe I need to get to know them see what kind of job they've done do do my investigative work into their body of work and then make decisions but obviously being a coach for as long as I have I have some guys that I really trust in that I know can help us win and and that's reality of this profession man you know the core values I've had are the right ones and when I abided by those blessings and success followed and and even when when I wasn't totally you know I don't know anyone can ever go through a period of time and say man I got it right every time but but for a large person in my life that that was the case I really never experienced any downward turn that was a rock-bottom experience or difficulty and boy when I did I really did it and did it right you know and I think that what you find out about yourself is really a rebranding a refocus or read oh man what is really important to me and how do i model that through adversity and the story Jill and I have been able to tell though over the last two years to so many places we've been invited to we find out quickly that there are husband wives men women that have struggles and they not quite how to handle them and what I really learned about this this part is accepted discipline own own everything and move forward now there's a part of the world that didn't want you to move forward and they want you to live in the past for whatever reason I don't get that mentality but that that's just reality but many my's the past is the past and it's time to move forward and I think that the story that I have is really going to be beneficial to me in the recruiting homes because look you go into those homes that they're all going to experience death disease disappointment I mean there's something there and now I've got a story to tell well let me tell you how I handled it let me tell you what came around me and now not only that but I work for a university and an administration here that believes in grace and love and mercy now you gotta own it you met some consequences but you know what they're gonna welcome you with open arms and we can move forward together and what family doesn't want that for their young son and I'm a living testament of that indirectly yes I didn't look at it like that what I looked at it is it's an opportunity to be a head football coach again in the college in the collegiate level and to the environment which I guess indirectly comes from people's beliefs here but I just thought the environment was something that got me out of the arena that that sometimes can be pretty brutal to your family and I can handle it now I get it I mean people you know I gave them some ammo and people can say what they want about me and whether they know me or not is is that that's the disappointing thing is I can't get to share my story with everybody and they can hear my heart but this place man there was just never never a check it was just man go go go go go green light green light green light green light I never got anything that was a check from the administration or anyone that made it feel like this wouldn't be the safest environment to bring my family and to get that restart yeah I can't you know the most I look forward to going on a practice field first I think that's where where the great coaches get it done you know I've great respect for Nick Saban and Gus Malzahn or two of my good friends and and one thing I know about those guys and others as men it's every day that mental grind that stressing of your team and the practice makes that game pretty easy but sure there's gonna be able to extra juice on that on that game day because I've been out but it's also giving me a time to really go through every facet of my program of the way I ran it to if I get the other opportunity what would I change what worked what didn't work as well and and I didn't pay enough attention to this one or this one and I need to do better I think I'm better prepared offensively I think I've had one of the great systems and I think it's even better now I can't wait to try some things that I've been dueling on notepads for the last two years man my dad who's here led me to the Lord when when I was 12 years old and you know I was blessed to be to be raised in a family of believers and you know from my grandparents down and and to to be in church Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night like good Baptist did back then you know one thing I didn't get though is you know religion at that time religion I say was was you know or list of do's and don'ts and you didn't really talk about the don'ts a whole lot in in my upbringing and that in that arena and what I found with my kids is men this thing is relational the relationship you have it's not about the do's and don'ts it's about loving someone that's given his life for you enough that you want to obey and that you want to and you know godly sorrow when you don't and so the the justification comes with my salvation and that happened many years ago the the sanctification process is ongoing for all of us and I'm thankful that that I have a God inside me now that that if I just listen he won't leave me astray so thankful that I was raised in that for my salvation but boy since then there's someone to learn about this relational following of the man code Jesus well what we're going to give them on the field is going to be the encouragement but I think there's enough passion here already I called before I accepted this job I called a coach that coached here this year as a visiting team I wanted to know tell me you know what's the sense you know cuz they're not in a league and give me a sense of what it's like he said without a doubt that student section was the greatest one that they experienced all year long and so that that tells me and I'm sure it's not just the students there there's other people but the passion that I've being here and having spoken with Jill and a chapel touring the place getting to know the people hearing that about the student section there's one thing that I don't have any doubt of and that's the fact that there's passion here and so if we just give them a reason to have to believe which we will we've done that everywhere we've been the the ticket sales will be fine what what my only plan is right now I'm bringing two guys in next week maybe a third but two for sure and we've got a week to be on the road to see kids I'll use some of the staff here that are that have ties with those guys and get to know them some and so after the early signing period over the 19th is when you should look for that the staff to really be rounded out and gotten put all together it was the same message a few more you know maybe in detail about kind of our offense if you had our defensive it and special teams did and and kind of how we want to be viewed and and how we want to love on every one that touches our program but it was the same there's about our core values I want that stressed and I won't by the time the season rolls around for fans media and our players alike to all know this is who we say we're going to be and hopefully we modeled those the first year was incredibly difficult year two I found more joy in trying to just learn watch observe and so it wasn't as bad obviously Saturdays are the worst days and the first year I would go in the tank on Saturdays and go to church on Sundays pick me up a little bit and then Monday morning start kind of gradually getting back up to who I normally am but it was better this year but still is I mean you do something for 26 years and it's taken away from you it's very very difficult to not miss it a lot so it definitely renewed my passion and knowing that the gifting I have to do this is I just couldn't wait to get back in it I don't know yeah but I look forward to watching some film over the next three days hopefully I can take some on the road and watch it while I'm on the plane and at our next gathering with you I'll be better able to address that but I would be speaking out of ignorance right now if I tried to address that so I'd rather wait and see it I'm sure there's some about strengths and weaknesses we all have them so we'll try to address the weaknesses and enhance the strings there's no question that I think are calling is football coaches is mentors of young men first and men the things that the players that I've coached have gone through or they need some advice and they haven't witnessed maybe somebody handle what they're going through and it doesn't come natural for them to just ask for help and so I think communication Brees great trust and great confidence and so we've got it somehow through our game plan to to mentor them they've got to get the feeling of men I can talk coach Frese about anything that's one thing I told the team there's nothing that you can talk to me about that I haven't heard or seen and and and you're not gonna get some reaction of oh my gosh you can't do that it's gonna be more about we got to dig in and find the wise and and then help you through it thanks guys so much look forward to meeting each one of you really do thank you

Channel: Liberty University Flames

Views: 2,101

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

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Id: dZ1eVdqiXhE

Length: 15min 30sec (930 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 10 2018