Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something

By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#648114
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:56 pm
JK37 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:35 pm Agreed on JB. But again to HF’s credit, he never GAVE the job outright to anyone except Charlie at the beginning of the season coming out of Fall Camp. Seemed to me week by week it was always, “We’ll see who looks the best this week getting ready for____________.”

JB was solid. But he had plenty of his own terrible moments. Salter is the most talented with the most upside, but has no clues how to protect the ball. All things considered, the state of that QB room could’ve kept us at 5 wins. And once Dae Dae went down, they were all screwed. Didn’t matter who lined up behind center.
JB did nothing to get himself demoted. Salter and Brewer did nothing to earn the starting spot or backup spot once he season started ahead of him. Yes JB is solid. Not flashy, but gets the job done. He doesn’t have the ceiling Salter does but doesn’t have the floor as low either.
It seems he treats his QBS like a cog in the wheel as opposed to an individual. It’s a by product of Analytics, where if you do A then B happens. It’s one of the things I don’t like about it.
Once Dae Dae went down, JB got exposed. Nobody did enough to keep that job outright. We probably need to agree to disagree about JB on that. I feel bad for him, but once Dae Dae went down, LU became losers. And they haven’t won since regardless of who the QB was.
By Tothehoopyall1
Posts
#648115
As I posted earlier, the timing of this has been absolutely horrible for all involved. However, I am not in favor of HF remaining as coach after the debacle of the last 3 weeks. He has shown that Liberty is not where he wants to be and we need a coach that wants to be here and loves what this place is all about. Freeze has done great things for us but he's DONE here as far as I'm concerned. He is DONE! At this point I truly believe we can find a coach that WANTS to be here and will be EXCITED to be here. It is time to cut ties and move on.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#648116
LU 57 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:39 pm
JK37 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:31 pm
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:26 pm
He saw the Social Media Posts. He knew the buzz. He needed to address it FIRST not wait for his players to approach him. That is if he wanted to be transparent

His press conference answers were absolutely BS. Someone should have asked if his lawyer had been negotiating with Auburn. Which would be different than ‘being offered’ or ‘signing a contract’.

He answered that by not acknowledging it. I’m not salty about anything he did or did not say. Social Media? Really?

He said he hasn’t been offered the job. What else can he say? He wasn’t asked if his agent or lawyers had been approached? And talking numbers does NOT equal being offered. I’ve been asked about numbers for anion without being offered it. “What would it take to get you here? Would ________ be enough?”

That’s not an offer.

I’m disappointed in the team’s performance the last 3 weeks. I don’t see an issue with the handling of the potential Auburn offer, EXCEPT how/if he allowed it to affect his preparation the last 3 weeks.
Fair enough regarding the particulars of negotiations.

Regarding the performance the last 3 weeks, seems pretty clear he allowed the negotiations to affect his preparation, although I guess we will never know for sure.
Why does everyone seem to be forgetting that this timeline ALSO coincides with when Dae Dae went down?

I’m not saying HF doesn’t deserve to answer for the performance of the team the last 3 weeks. Especially yesterday.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#648117
JK37 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 1:31 pm
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:56 pm
JK37 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:35 pm Agreed on JB. But again to HF’s credit, he never GAVE the job outright to anyone except Charlie at the beginning of the season coming out of Fall Camp. Seemed to me week by week it was always, “We’ll see who looks the best this week getting ready for____________.”

JB was solid. But he had plenty of his own terrible moments. Salter is the most talented with the most upside, but has no clues how to protect the ball. All things considered, the state of that QB room could’ve kept us at 5 wins. And once Dae Dae went down, they were all screwed. Didn’t matter who lined up behind center.
JB did nothing to get himself demoted. Salter and Brewer did nothing to earn the starting spot or backup spot once he season started ahead of him. Yes JB is solid. Not flashy, but gets the job done. He doesn’t have the ceiling Salter does but doesn’t have the floor as low either.
It seems he treats his QBS like a cog in the wheel as opposed to an individual. It’s a by product of Analytics, where if you do A then B happens. It’s one of the things I don’t like about it.
Once Dae Dae went down, JB got exposed. Nobody did enough to keep that job outright. We probably need to agree to disagree about JB on that. I feel bad for him, but once Dae Dae went down, LU became losers. And they haven’t won since regardless of who the QB was.
I agree you are wrong :D JB did better than any other available option LU had. Taking him out against Tech was a huge mistake. Drops against UCONN didn’t help either

We will agree that Dae Dae going down was devastating
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By Liberty22
Registration Days Posts
#648120
Tothehoopyall1 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 1:33 pm As I posted earlier, the timing of this has been absolutely horrible for all involved. However, I am not in favor of HF remaining as coach after the debacle of the last 3 weeks. He has shown that Liberty is not where he wants to be and we need a coach that wants to be here and loves what this place is all about. Freeze has done great things for us but he's DONE here as far as I'm concerned. He is DONE! At this point I truly believe we can find a coach that WANTS to be here and will be EXCITED to be here. It is time to cut ties and move on.
Regardless, he’ll still be our coach so it’ll be interesting how this is handled. Does he apologize for anything? Does he have anything to apologize for? Does IM say anything? How does Coach win back the locker room? Fans?
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By willflop
Posts
#648121
JK37 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:50 pm
willflop wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:47 pm The thought that IM would try to move on is an impossible notion, imo. IM already knows HF would take a top SEC job when or if it comes, that's the very reason they continue to extend him and do all they can for him to stay. So if he doesn't get the Auburn offer, literally nothing has changed other then bad timing of a leak. If he loses focus in November every year and we keep going 0 and 3, that's a valid concern, but something a little different.
Speaking of this, just going off memory: what was been HF’s record after the last two times he was extended. Did we lose 3 in a row last year?, too?
Probably, but I'm not saying they aren't related. If HF always seeking an SEC job is too much of a distraction for him, the team, or recruiting, then that's a problem. Just saying there's no way IM was surprised HF would try and leave. He extended him anyway, so he's apparently okay with the situation at the moment.
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By Ill flame
Posts
#648122
I remember an almost identical situation happening with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan last off season and now they seem like a lock for the CFP. Hugh freeze can sell ice to an Eskimo, he will win back the locker room and we will continue to rise if Auburn doesn't take him. If he doesn't win the locker room back and we start being mediocre again then that is when we should pull the plug on him.

We all know if he stays and we are 11-1 at this time next year everyone will forget this whole thing ever happened and he will be the most loved person on the mountain.
Liberty22, AATL, JK37 and 2 others liked this
By stokesjokes
Registration Days Posts
#648126
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 1:25 pm
stokesjokes wrote: November 27th, 2022, 1:24 pm So let me get this straight- Auburn successfully made themselves look like idiots by doing zero due diligence and also successfully torpedoed our season and our coach’s reputation and relationship with his team and recruits all in one fell swoop.

I’m honestly kind of impressed.
Never underestimate the incompetence of Auburn.
I’m sure Freeze will pass any due diligence. But he’s getting a look at the environment he WANTS to go in to.
Due diligence includes saying “hey boosters, would you pull funding over this?” Apparently Auburn didn’t ask and Freeze didn’t pass.

Of course this could all be smokescreen at this point while they work out the details.
By willflop
Posts
#648127
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 1:09 pm
willflop wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:47 pm The thought that IM would try to move on is an impossible notion, imo. IM already knows HF would take a top SEC job when or if it comes, that's the very reason they continue to extend him and do all they can for him to stay. So if he doesn't get the Auburn offer, literally nothing has changed other then bad timing of a leak. If he loses focus in November every year and we keep going 0 and 3, that's a valid concern, but something a little different.
I’m going to take a different look at it. If Auburn pulls from this and Hugh stays …that’s it. There are no other ‘Special’ jobs out there he’d be interested in that would be willing to hire him. He will always be a bridesmaid but never a Bride at that point.
It does seem that way. If we define special as Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, and maybe a few other blue bloods, he can just call it what it is. I love it at Liberty, but if one of these 4-7 schools give me an offer, I would probably take it. Now that I've been rejected by Auburn, do the math of my chances of getting one of the others...there's a good chance I'll be at liberty for the next few years at least. Knowing that he wouldn't run to another G5 or a middling P5 is pretty high vote of confidence.
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By Turtleman
#648130
1. Losing Hunter hurt and made us one dimensional

2. Anyone who actually believed freeze was staying at liberty is delusional. The dude visited sec stadiums with his wife for his honeymoon, this job was always going to be a means to return to the sec. I was surprised he stayed after the coastal win, but we will look back at his hiring years from now as the most important moment in this programs history. Both sides got what they wanted and that’s not a bad thing.

3. JB getting pulled is not the reason we lost to tech, he’s a great kid but does not have FBS talent. Hugh was a magician to win the games we did with that kid and should be given most of the credit. There might be a better answer than salter in the program’s future and salter showed that he probably wasn’t ready yet this year but talent wise JB doesn’t hold a candle to him.
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By thepostman
#648131
I don't think that the issue is people thought Hugh was a lifer. I don't think I've seen a single person say that.

My question is this, do you guys think there is a chance this is the last straw for SEC schools and they just won't bother anymore? To me, it seems like more trouble than it's worth. But who knows.
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By jack_sparrow81
Registration Days Posts
#648132
What's the difference between what McKay did and what Freeze did if he returns? Some of y'all referred to him as Richie Betray and Curry as Baby Judas. I'd be willing to take him back, seeing how the whole McKay scenario has turned out.
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By flameshaw
Registration Days Posts
#648133
I for one, hope he stays. From my perspective he has nothing wrong. Employment negotiations at this level are handled much differently than your ordinary jobs. I welcome him back with open arms if Auburn is usual Auburn and doesn't hire him.
Still think it is a bad situation for HF at Auburn. It is a dumpster-fire and a s-hole job in a great conference.
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By rtb72
Posts
#648134
jmclaughlin wrote: November 27th, 2022, 11:27 am The emotions that have been stirred in this will he /won’t he debate are all a result of the great job Freeze has done with this program. LUs coach is the head candidate for the top, open SEC job. Just have that realization as your baseline of thought. Don’t miss the Forrest for the trees here.

Another factor worth mentioning here is HF’s agent, Jimmy Sexton. That dude is a master manipulator and has already leveraged 2 pay raises for both “top candidates” in Freeze and Kiffin. Sexton is the one pulling the strings here, not Freeze. Freeze is interested in the Auburn job because…why wouldn’t he be interested? I am not convinced that he has made up his mind.

I would agree with PH’s take that the optics of preparation for yesterdays game were not good. HFs demeanor seemed jaded both during and after the game. That points to a wayward move but I still think reality of being Head Ball coach at Auburn, is not as sexy as the title sounds. He has a great gig on the Mountain. Auburn is a hot bed of lunacy.

Last thought: nothing is lost if he stays. Sure, the optics look bad in the moment but the spin will be that he chose to stay. The anxiety displayed in the LU chat rooms goes away immediately.
I would welcome him back and continue to praise his efforts, so long as they're genuine. Don't even mind him seeking future aspirations as time goes on. However, I'm not sure "nothing is lost". I could be wrong...but I think there is trust issue he would have to deal with in his locker room. Fans are one thing...but those young men under his leadership are the ones that deserve something if he stays. Not sure how he goes about that. I certainly wouldn't want to face it. Just my 2 cents.
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By rtb72
Posts
#648135
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:11 pm If Auburn doesn’t hire Freeze now…..wow….just….wow. He’s gonna need some whip cream on that humble pie
I'm not sure I understand why we would have to hire him? Wouldn't the contract he still has with LU just continue to be binding? I thought if he didn't leave...he just picks up where he left off?
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By BlueBlood
Posts
#648136
I’d gladly welcome him back if he was 100% re-committed to the job in front of him.

That will take some convincing though, as I think most of us believe LU received far less than that from him the past few weeks.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#648137
rtb72 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 4:04 pm
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:11 pm If Auburn doesn’t hire Freeze now…..wow….just….wow. He’s gonna need some whip cream on that humble pie
I'm not sure I understand why we would have to hire him? Wouldn't the contract he still has with LU just continue to be binding? I thought if he didn't leave...he just picks up where he left off?
I never said LU would have to hire him. I’ve said repeatedly that he’s still under contract at LU. But if he were to return now he’s exhausted about all of his stored up good will
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#648138
thepostman wrote: November 27th, 2022, 3:25 pm I don't think that the issue is people thought Hugh was a lifer. I don't think I've seen a single person say that.

My question is this, do you guys think there is a chance this is the last straw for SEC schools and they just won't bother anymore? To me, it seems like more trouble than it's worth. But who knows.
Absolutely. What SEC school would take the shot at him now? One that he’d want to go to?
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#648139
jack_sparrow81 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 3:26 pm What's the difference between what McKay did and what Freeze did if he returns? Some of y'all referred to him as Richie Betray and Curry as Baby Judas. I'd be willing to take him back, seeing how the whole McKay scenario has turned out.
McKay left o go coach with his best friend in the Premiere conference in the Sport. That’s such a super unique opportunity and I know I never faulted him for it. He also didn’t do and say a lot of the things Freeze did either during his tenure
Now if Freeze went to work for his good friend Nick Saban (I don’t think they are but let’s say they are) at Alabama for a few years then the LU job came open I’m sure he’d have the same reception RMK did
Curry? Dude got to play at Duke. Has had a pretty lucrative NBA career. I begrudge him nothing
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By rtb72
Posts
#648140
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 4:10 pm
rtb72 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 4:04 pm
Purple Haize wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:11 pm If Auburn doesn’t hire Freeze now…..wow….just….wow. He’s gonna need some whip cream on that humble pie
I'm not sure I understand why we would have to hire him? Wouldn't the contract he still has with LU just continue to be binding? I thought if he didn't leave...he just picks up where he left off?
I never said LU would have to hire him. I’ve said repeatedly that he’s still under contract at LU. But if he were to return now he’s exhausted about all of his stored up good will
Misread it. You're right on both counts.
By Dalegarz1
Registration Days Posts
#648142
Getting the locker room back would require the same SINCERE kind of emotional talk that he gave at the press conference when he was hired. (unless that was an act too)
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By Tnobes
Posts
#648143
JK37 wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:18 pm
thepostman wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:15 pm I'd be curious to see if anybody transfers out if Hugh ends up staying. The players were clearly hurt by his lack of transparency that he has always promised to them.
Honest question: how was he not transparent? When they asked him, he answered honestly.

He could’ve BS’ed it for one more win. He told them the truth when they asked him. What more can be asked for?

(If he wasn’t all-in the last 3 weeks, that’s not a lack of transparency. That’s…..something else.)
I didn't tell my work about how I've been embezzling money for the last year and a half, but when they asked me about it yesterday, I told them. I'm nothing if not transparent :D
User avatar
By Tnobes
Posts
#648144
willflop wrote: November 27th, 2022, 12:47 pm The thought that IM would try to move on is an impossible notion, imo. IM already knows HF would take a top SEC job when or if it comes, that's the very reason they continue to extend him and do all they can for him to stay. So if he doesn't get the Auburn offer, literally nothing has changed other then bad timing of a leak. If he loses focus in November every year and we keep going 0 and 3, that's a valid concern, but something a little different.
Top SEC job? Lol Auburn is a dumpster fire that will NEVER have sustainable success, a great year every once in awhile but nothing like an Alabama or Ohio State or other helmet school.
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