Ole Miss announced Thursday that head coach Hugh Freeze has resigned, effective immediately.
"Coach Freeze resigned this afternoon after confirming to [Ole Miss athletic director] Ross [Bjork] and me a pattern of personal misconduct inconsistent with the standards we expect from the leader of our football team," Ole Miss chancellor Jeffrey S. Vitter said in a press conference Thursday. "While Coach Freeze served our university well in many regards during his tenure, we simply cannot accept the conduct in his personal life that we have discovered."
According to USA Today Sports, the university learned about "a one-minute call made from Freeze's University-issued phone to a number associated with a female escort service" in its ongoing legal battle with former coach Houston Nutt. Freeze, however, claims it was a "misdial."
"Once we looked at the rest of the phone records, we found a pattern," Bjork said. "It was troubling."
Freeze coached the past six seasons at Ole Miss, compiling a 39-25 record -- including 19-21 in SEC play -- over that span. He spent one campaign as Arkansas State's head coach before his time in Oxford.
Assistant head coach Matt Luke has been tabbed as the interim coach. Luke has been the Rebels' co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the last six years, and has been with the team for the past decade overall.
Ole Miss had previously announced a self-imposed postseason ban for 2017 after the program received a new NCAA notice of allegations that included eight additional rule violations.
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