Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said he’s in favor of changing Mississippi’s state flag. (AP photo)
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze is in favor of changing Mississippi’s state flag.
Mississippi’s flag features a Confederate flag in the upper left-hand corner and has resulted in the NCAA banning the state from hosting championship events.
"In the late '90s our university made a move to go away from the Confederate flag and being a Mississippian I have a great appreciation for the Mississippi people and the pride we have in the heritage and all those things," Freeze told the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger at SEC Media Days on Thursday. "Unfortunately that symbol has been hijacked by some groups that mean ill-will towards some people.
“While I’m not a political figure, I strongly believe it is time we move in a different direction and change the flag. Hopefully that’ll happen.”
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen didn't take a stand on the issue on Wednesday, saying: "I don't see it very often. We don't have it on our campus."
"We're the most diverse campus in the Southeastern Conference. I know the university embraces that diversity as a whole. I certainly embrace that diversity. We're so diverse they have a Yankee as a head football coach in the Southeastern Conference.
“It’s something that, on a national level, is getting an awful lot of attention right now. People are really looking into how we can make things better in the state of Mississippi. I hope, as a university, we’re out on the forefront trying to make things better with the type of school we have and the diversity we have in our school.”South Carolina was also banned from hosting NCAA championship events in 2001, but that was lifted when the state removed a Confederate flag from its Statehouse grounds on July 10.
