George Schroeder

USA TODAY Sports

HOOVER, Ala. — As they passed in the hall, one entourage sliding by another en route to more of the same questions, Hugh Freeze called out to Evan Engram. The Ole Miss tight end stopped.

“Hey ‘Ev,’ just so you know,” the coach said, “they asked me who on the team is most likely to become president. I said it was you.”

Engram smiled. Both guys laughed. And for Freeze at least, it was a rare light moment — the kind of thing we routinely see at SEC media days.

Freeze’s appearance Thursday was anything but routine. Not that anyone expected it to be, with Ole Miss in the middle of a wide-ranging NCAA investigation. Thirteen of the 28 alleged rules violations involve the football program; nine of those 13 since Freeze became head coach.

Which is why Freeze was the coach most likely to become discombobulated, or at least exasperated, at SEC media days. And why he used a portion of his opening statement — traditionally, the spot where coaches provide a bland rundown of how the offseason has gone and what they expect from key positions in the upcoming season — to address the obvious.

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“I remain very confident,” he said, “in who we are and our core values and how we do things. We fully have cooperated with the NCAA throughout the entire process, which has been a long process.”

Freeze went on, saying “as a head coach, I understand that I’m held accountable for the things that happened within our building and even outside the walls of our building.”

Don’t misunderstand. Freeze insists the violations on his watch were mistakes rather than intentional. And what has hurt him most, he admitted, was the implication that he either personally cheated or simply condoned it.

“Everybody’s got a narrative,” he’d said earlier. “You have one, I have one, our rivals have one.”

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The truth, he said, “is probably somewhere in the middle.” But later, he told USA TODAY Sports:

“The idea that I’d be tempted to cut corners at the expense of my family and my name — it sickens me.”

There’s no conclusion coming in this column. By definition, NCAA investigations — and the swirling rumors that accompany them — result in tarnished reputations long before the truth, or at least whatever the NCAA determines it to be, is finally known. Although there’s no timetable for a resolution, that day is coming soon enough for Freeze and Ole Miss.

On Thursday, with the investigation ongoing, there wasn’t much Freeze could say. Which is why over and over and over, from room to room to room on the second floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, he mostly repeated a few simple lines to variations of the same questions.

But even as he stayed on message, he attempted to thread a very fine needle.

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Here’s Freeze’s narrative: Mistakes were made. They’ll be held accountable — he’ll be held accountable, even as he points out that some of the violations were made by boosters, people “outside the building.”

But he also says Ole Miss has been targeted because of a dramatic leap, both in recruiting classes and subsequently on the field. He believes there’s backlash from rivals over the idea that a traditionally mediocre program has moved up in the hierarchy (“People don’t like Ole Miss winning,” he said). He bristles when reporters and others tell him they’re hearing from other coaches that Ole Miss has been cheating. He wants to defend himself and the program, which is why he said:

“The day that really matters is the day we get to share our side with the Committee on Infractions.”

Whichever narrative you buy, it was easy to feel for Freeze on Thursday. Clearly the last few months have taken a toll. When he said, several times, that he had many faults, but “zero interest in cutting corners,” he said it with increasing edge. So there’s Freeze’s personal position, staked out for all to see. And he’s raised the stakes even higher.

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“A good name is to be desired more than great riches,” he said several times, saying he was taught the verse from Proverbs 22:1 by his parents.

“I wish that’s what my name was — it has been for all of my career, for the most part,” he said. “And maybe will (be) again.”

Freeze, who is outspoken about his Christian faith, said he is hurt most because of the damage potentially done to his witness.

“I serve a God that I want to make His name great,” he said. “And so it does bother me with that.”

If the end of an investigation that started four years ago was drawing near, it was extended back in April, when former Ole Miss star tackle Laremy Tunsil’s social media accounts were hacked on the night of the NFL Draft’s first round. Screen shots appeared to show Tunsil texting with an Ole Miss staffer about payments. Later that night the player admitted he’d been given money by coaches while at Ole Miss.

In perception, at least, that’s when the Ole Miss situation mushroomed into something much bigger than it had been before. Whether it actually turned into something more damaging remains to be seen. It’s very possible what's already in evidence will be damaging enough.

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Even if he’s really looking forward to the opportunity, it seemed clear Freeze had not been looking forward to Thursday, that he did not enjoy his appearance at media days much at all. But in a private moment, he said otherwise.

“I couldn’t wait to get here,” Freeze told USA TODAY Sports. “But it’s been a transformation.”

He said he’s come to peace with his tarnished reputation. But it’s also clear that he hopes Ole Miss will be at least partially exonerated when it’s all over. And that his name will be cleared.

“We look forward to the conclusion of this entire process,” he said. “No one looks forward to that more than I do.”

Shortly before noon, the final interviews finished, Freeze made his way down to the hotel lobby, where one of the signature scenes, literally, of SEC media days unfolded. Dozens of fans stood in a roped-off area, as they had all week, waiting for coaches and players.

For almost 10 minutes, watched over by staff members and that state trooper, a smiling Freeze signed autographs and posed for selfies — the very picture of normalcy.