Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Gus Malzahn, Hugh Freeze follow same path to playoff contention

It was only a decade ago that Hugh Freeze and Gus Malzahn were high school coaching pals still riding buses every Friday night to games.

“Wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Malzahn said.

Freeze feels the same way.

“I’m proud of where I came from and my experiences in high school,” Freeze said.

They dared to dream big back in those days, even sharing those dreams with each other as they built powerhouse high school programs. On Saturday, they square off in an epic top-5 SEC battle, both hoping to keep dream seasons alive.

What are the odds?

“I wouldn’t think they’re real good, that’s for sure,” said Freeze, whose No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels are trying to bounce back from a tough loss at LSU last weekend. “I don’t know that it’s ever happened before, two friends coaching high school ball not too long ago, and now, here we are.

“I do know that we both feel blessed and very fortunate to be where we are. I just hate that one of us has to lose, especially with so much at stake, but that’s just the way it is.”

Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers were No. 3 this week when the first College Football Playoff rankings were unveiled. Like Freeze, he understands the loser of this game will probably be on the outside looking in when the four playoff teams are selected in December.

“We talked this past Sunday and obviously know how important this game is,” Malzahn said. “We’ll see each other before the game, coach our teams and try the best we can to beat each other and then be friends again after the game. It’s not easy, but we both have jobs to do and understand that.”

Their careers have mirrored each other in more ways than one. They met when Freeze was coaching high school ball in Memphis and Malzahn was in neighboring Arkansas.

Right away, they hit it off. Both like their offense fast-paced. Both came up through the ranks emulating Steve Spurrier. Both enjoy playing golf and are devout Christians.

If that’s not enough, they both got their FBS head coaching starts at Arkansas State in back-to-back seasons. Freeze coached there in 2011 before landing the job at Ole Miss, and Malzahn came aboard in 2012 before getting the Auburn job.

“I talked to Hugh four or five times before taking that job, and he was a big reason I did,” Malzahn said. “I knew he’d left it in good shape.”

Carlos McCants was a receiver at Arkansas State and played for both Freeze and Malzahn. He still keeps in touch with both coaches and knew both were destined for big things after leading the Red Wolves to back-to-back Sun Belt championships and 10-win seasons for the first time in school history.

“They both had it all; the kind of offense guys want to play in, and the ability to relate to players,” said McCants, who now works as a graduate assistant in athletic administration at Arkansas State.

“Coach Freeze and Coach Malzahn cared for their players as people, and it was real. I still hear from both of them. I think a lot of that goes back to their background as high school coaches. They never forgot where they came from and never will.

“I think everybody knows by now what kind of football coaches they are, but the thing that means the most to me is what they taught me on the football field and how it’s transferred to life.”

Similar in so many ways, Freeze and Malzahn have their own distinct styles.

McCants said music would blare on the practice field under Freeze and that he was “more laid back” than Malzahn. But McCants also came to appreciate Malzahn’s more serious approach.

“We’d be eating lunch or dinner, and I still joke with Coach Malzahn about this, but he’d come by and say, ‘OK, we’re on the 25-yard line, on this hash, what am I thinking on this play?’ ” McCants recounted. “He was always thinking football, and I loved that mentality.”

The stigma of being “just a high school coach” was one that didn’t dissipate easily for Freeze or Malzahn, especially since they both were seen as delivering star recruits they coached in high school to their new employers. Freeze coached Michael Oher, while Malzahn coached Mitch Mustain, Damian Williams and Ben Cleveland. Their idea of spread, no-huddle offense was also a bit revolutionary at that time in the college game.

“I still remember the jokes those first couple of years about ‘high school this’ and how we were running a high school offense,” Malzahn said. “I never took it as anything but being proud to have been a high school coach.

“I also don’t hear it anymore.”

Freeze and Malzahn still get together for golf trips in the offseason, and their wives are close. They played at Sawgrass this past offseason and have played with Spurrier in Destin, Florida, prior to the SEC spring meetings each of the last two years.

They reminisce some about the past, never forgetting their roots. But mostly, they look ahead.

And for a couple of old high school coaches, the future has never looked brighter.

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