Hugh Freeze wants Ole Miss to enjoy 2017 anyway, and so do I
The coach is trying to put a positive spin on the whole situation.
I don’t know how many more things the Ole Miss head coach can possibly have to say about his program’s sanctions-clouded 2017 season. (A couple of weeks earlier, he literally sidestepped a reporter after someone hit him with question No. 25,973 about his team’s NCAA scandal.) This is about as pleasant an attitude as one could have though.
Ole Miss has chosen to forego the postseason in 2017 as part of its concessions to the NCAA for various broken rules. We’ll see what else the NCAA piles on the punishments list.
I do like the idea of Ole Miss having a great time out there all season long, celebrating touchdowns like they’re Playoff touchdowns, and hugging, and chest bumping, and wrecking some team’s title shot and carrying on and such. Nothing would more infuriate those who think NCAA rules are actual laws.
Players, coaches, and staffers who didn’t break any rules should get to experience the fruits of their labors, even if it’s only after regular season wins. And anyone who was involved in facilitating impermissible snacks, or hype videos for recruits, or letting players sleep on couches should get to have fun at some point this year as well. Life is short! They might get fired because of all this anyway!
This isn’t the first time Freeze has used the word “joy” in the face of his somewhat self-imposed NCAA tribulations:
He’s referenced it amid trying on-field circumstances as well:
And he even turned to it in the face of the most difficult adversity known to humanity: being hired as the Ole Miss head football coach:
So yeah, let’s see Ole Miss enjoy as much of its 2017 as it can.
