Ole Miss AD says Freeze's misconduct 'a pattern' over several years

The trend of misconduct that led to Hugh Freeze's resignation from Ole Miss took place over the course of several years, athletic director Ross Bjork confirmed to Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal.

Freeze vacated his post as Rebels head coach July 20, after a discovery on his phone records uncovered a call he made on Jan. 19, 2016 to a number associated with a female escort service.

The number he dialed had a Tampa, Fla., area code, and the call occurred the same day Freeze flew into Tampa for a recruiting trip, according to the publication.

Ole Miss has generally been tight-lipped about the extent of Freeze's alleged misconduct, but Bjork acknowledged the ex-coach's activity wasn't a one-time mistake, unbeknownst to the university.

"When we say pattern, we are describing other phone numbers that when you Google them pull up similar type websites, services, however you would describe them," Bjork said. "We took action swiftly."

Bjork noted the school initially chalked up the Tampa call to a misdial, but a deeper inspection of Freeze's phone records uncovered others like it in the past.