During his weekly press conference, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) was asked about his former employer hiring Hugh Freeze as its next head football coach.
Freeze's hiring was met with some pushback given his problems with paying players and calling escorts while at Ole Miss, claims of forcing a female student to change clothes in front of him during his high school coaching days, and direct messaging a sexual assault victim at Liberty to defend the athletics director there.
Tuberville, who led the Auburn football team from 1999-2008, acknowledged Freeze's past problems at Ole Miss but said the new coach deserved a "second chance."
"Yeah, there's been some problems," Tuberville outlined. "You know, I've known Hugh Freeze for 30 years. I knew him when he was a high school coach. He had some problems while he was at Ole Miss, but sometimes you have to give people a second chance."
He continued, "Now, there will be a short leash, I'm sure, from the administration at Auburn and from the people at Auburn. They're going to expect things from Hugh Freeze that he's going to have to show that he's going to have to give forward to the Auburn family and to the administration."
In addition to winning games, Tuberville said Freeze will need to show he is "over his past" and a "family man."
"Hopefully, we can get through this and get Auburn football back to where it should be," he emphasized.
"I think Hugh is a very excellent coach, but there's a lot of things that go along with being a head coach, and Hugh knows that," Tuberville added. "And he's had some success in the last few years. ... He'll be judged by what he does at Auburn in a lot of different areas."
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