Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze agrees to contract extension

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze has reached a verbal agreement to sign a contract extension to stay at the school. Freeze had been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant head coaching job at Florida.

Ole Miss and head football coach Hugh Freeze reached an agreement on a contract extension to stay at the school, Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork announced Tuesday.

The length of the new deal and financial details were not announced. Multiple media outlets, including the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, have reported that Freeze's new deal will pay him at least $4 million per year and that his assistants will receive salary boosts that could exceed a combined $500,000 per year.

Freeze had been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant head coaching job at Florida, and it had been reported that he had been offered a contract by the school. But Florida's athletic department released a statement Monday saying it had not offered a contract to any candidate.

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Bjork told the Daily Journal last month that he had already begun discussing a contract extension and raise for Freeze with Jimmy Sexton, the coach's agent.

Freeze signed an extension with Ole Miss after the 2013 season that increased his salary to $3 million per year and added a fourth year to his contract, the maximum allowed by the school.

Freeze took over the Rebels in 2012 and has posted a 24-14 record, increasing the team's win total each season. Ole Miss completed a 9-3 regular season in 2014 after defeating rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Saturday. The team went 5-3 in the SEC this season, its first winning conference record since 2008.

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Ole Miss finished third in the SEC West and will play in a bowl game.

Very blessed to be at THE University of Miss & work for and with great people and fans! REBELNATION, say it with me, I AM AN OLE MISS REBEL

— Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) December 2, 2014

- Ben Estes and Scooby Axson