Hugh Freeze is not seen as one of the SEC coaches FanSided's Michael Collins trusts to help restore the conference's reputation after two straight years of no championship game participants from the "It Just Means More" conference.
Freeze was perhaps conspicuous by his absence in Collins' plea to the public to stop exaggerating the SEC's fall.
"The SEC still had plenty of teams vying for the championship in the last two seasons, and coaches like Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Josh Heupel, Mike Elko, and Kalen DeBoer are not simply going to roll over and say 'Well, things have changed, we'll just accept it,'" Collins wrote.
"On the contrary, those coaches and others will adjust and evolve. When the spread offense threatened to challenge the dominance of SEC defensive speed, the top coaches in the conference (led by Nick Saban) developed ways to combat that narrative while at the same time incorporating similar offensive schemes.
"The idea that heavy use of the transfer portal, player payments, and having bigger, less top-heavy conferences can't be overcome by the SEC's premier programs is asinine. Look for teams like Georgia, Texas and others to be more hungry, and better prepared in 2025."
Perhaps conspicuous by his absence. But perhaps not.
Every coach Collins named, including first-year SEC head coaches Mike Elko and Kalen DeBoer, have eight-win seasons. Freeze has yet to crack .500. Though he proved himself at Liberty in the NIL era's first two years, there has been an adjustment period as it pertains to on-field coaching. Recruiting has been better than expected on the Plains despite the 11-14 record.
With all that said, Freeze isn't the biggest snub. LSU's Brian Kelly is. Kelly has rallied the Tigers with his "Million Dollar Match Challenge" and produced the No. 1 2025 transfer portal class.
Between Freeze, Kelly, Billy Napier at Florida, and Shane Beamer at South Carolina, unsung SEC coaches could be the ones to restore the conference's reputation next season.