Football coaches are typically blind and deaf to derisive comments made by fans as they exit the field, but Hugh Freeze took exception to something he heard on Saturday after a 41-38 loss to Texas A&M and decided to retort.
The Rebels absorbed a tough home loss after losing a 38-31 fourth-quarter lead. They had the ball with the score tied with just more than three minutes left to play, but three incompletions resulted in a punt, leaving Aggies star quarterback Johnny Manziel with plenty of time to maneuver his offense in position for a winning field goal.
See video of the post-game exchange here:
Freeze initially declined to comment on the matter, but he spoke about it in more detail Monday.
"I was asked about that after the game and didn't handle it very well after the game, because I was really shocked after the game we'd just witnessed that that was a part of it. I didn't address it," Freeze said. "There were a lot of factors to that. I don't think it's typical of me. We'd just had a gut-wrenching loss. We had a kid going to the hospital that wasn't moving. We had six kids that were injured and not in the game. There are certain experiences in life that you'd rather your wife and daughter not have to experience. That was one of those. ... Probably, wish I could have kept more composure and still had a conversation with him. At that moment in time ... I will defend our program, I will defend our kids, I will defend my family. If I offended anyone I'm certainly sorry. I don't think I was disrespectful to anyone."
The hospitalized player Freeze referred to was linebacker Serderius Bryant, who suffered a scary head injury after a collision with Manziel. No doubt, the incident affected Freeze's state of mind when he was derided by the fan, although based on his response Monday, he probably learned that's a batle a coach can never win when it comes to public perception.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter *@ChaseGoodbread.*
