Liberty Football

Liberty football head coach Hugh Freeze suffered a potentially life-threatening staph infection and underwent emergency surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center on Friday, according to ESPN's Chris Low. 

Per Low, the infection "entered his bloodstream and complicated what was already severe pain he was experiencing from a herniated disk in his back."

"The doctors told me if it had been another 24 hours, that strand of bacteria could have gotten to my heart and that I would have been fighting for my life," Freeze told Low. "It's the way God works because there's no doubt that bacteria would have killed me if President Falwell wasn't so quick to make sure we got the right people involved."

Liberty originally said Tuesday (via Chris Vannini of The Athletic) that Freeze had "severe back spasms" that had forced him off the practice field since Sunday, Aug. 11. The school stated that "Freeze is currently undergoing medical treatment to relieve the spasms and will return to practice when they subside."

Freeze gave some background information on what led to him sitting out practice, per Low:

"I pushed through the day and watched film with the staff and players and walked through that night, and it was getting tighter and tighter. By the time I got home, I could barely get up the stairs. And by mid-morning the next day, I couldn't walk or do anything, and we had to call the ambulance to come get me."

Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr. called U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and neurosurgeon Ben Carson to seek his opinion.

Carson then discussed the matter with Liberty professor Anthony Nobles, who the Liberty website lists as having "invented and developed more than 155 medical devices, as well as leading electronic technologies, including the portable electronic book and endoscopic imaging systems."

Eventually, Freeze was moved from a Lynchburg, Virginia hospital to the University of Virginia Medical Center. Dr. Falwell flew in Dr. Dilan Ellegala on the Liberty plane from Scottsdale, Arizona to perform the surgery.

Freeze will coach from a golf cart when he returns to practice and may lead the team from a booth when the Flames open their season against Syracuse on Aug. 31.

Former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze was named as Liberty's new head coach on Friday. 

USA Today's Tom Schad and Dan Wolken were first to report Freeze would be hired.

Freeze has been away from the sidelines since resigning as Rebels coach in July 2017 amid a scandal.

Per ESPN's Mark Schlabach, he stepped down after Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork found a "pattern of personal misconduct" with the coach, including phone calls to a number associated with a female escort service. Freeze denied purposefully making those phone calls.

"We call the wrong numbers all the time," he said.

Freeze ultimately took responsibility and agreed to resign. Had he not, he would have been terminated, per USA Today's Kevin Spain.

Although Freeze helped Ole Miss return to relevance by going 39-25 during his five years in Oxford, he did not leave the program in good shape. Among other charges, the Rebels were alleged to have provided impermissible benefits and to have made recruiting violations.

Ole Miss self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2017 season, citing a lack of institutional control. The NCAA later added an additional year on the postseason ban and placed scholarship restrictions on the program.

The NCAA also handed Freeze a two-game suspension for failure to monitor his staff. That ban only took effect if he was hired for the 2017 or 2018 seasons.

Liberty is coming off a 6-6 season. Former Flames head coach Turner Gill retired earlier this week after seven seasons on the job, going 47-35 and winning four Big South championships.