Coaching comparison: Freeze vs. Mason battle of offensive, defensive experts

In anticipation of Saturday’s SEC showdown between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, Saturday Down South’s Ethan Levine compares the teams’ head coaches: Hugh Freeze and Derek Mason

Hugh Freeze

• Record as FBS head coach: 26-13 (16-11 at Ole Miss, 10-2 at Arkansas State)
• Record as NAIA coach: 20-5 (Lambuth College)
• Previous coaching stops: Arkansas State (head coach and offensive coordinator), Lambuth (head coach), Ole Miss (tight ends coach, recruiting coordinator), Briarcrest High School (head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive backs coach).
• Achievements as coach: Sun Belt Conference championship, two Tennessee high school state championships, four-time Associated Press high school coach of the year.

Breakdown: Freeze has been a successful head coach everywhere he’s landed, especially on the offensive side of the ball. His last three teams at Ole Miss and Arkansas State averaged more than 30 points per game by season’s end, and he’s used that success on offense to post a winning season all three years. Freeze has never faced a Derek Mason-led defense, but his Ole Miss teams have scored 65 points against Vanderbilt the last two seasons. He began the 2014 season with a 22-point win over Boise State, and has the Rebels ranked as in the top-15 for the first time in five years, pleasing Ole Miss faithful throughout the southeast.

Derek Mason

• Record as FBS head coach: 0-1 (0-1 at Vanderbilt)
• Previous coaching stops: Stanford (associate head coach, defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach), Minnesota Vikings (defensive backs coach), Ohio University (defensive backs coach), New Mexico State (wide receivers coach), St. Mary’s College (assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator), University of Utah (wide receivers coach, special teams coordinator), Bucknell University (defensive backs coach), Idaho State (running backs coach), Weber State (wide receivers coach), Mesa Community College (wide receivers coach).
• Achievements as coach: N/A

Breakdown: Mason has been a journeyman coach since entering the profession in 1994. He’s coached on both sides of the ball at all levels of the collegiate game, and understands nuances of the game most coaches do not. He became a trendy candidate for a number of head coaching vacancies while serving as the defensive coordinator at Stanford the last three seasons. In three years at the helm of the Cardinal defense, his teams held opponents to under 22 points per game all three years. His defenses played exceptionally well against Oregon the last two years, holding two explosive Ducks offenses to a combined 34 points in two meetings (those Oregon teams averaged 45 points per game in 2013 and just shy of 50 points per game in 2012).

Who has the edge: Mason doesn’t have much of a head coaching history entering this matchup, and the one game under his belt was far from pretty. Freeze hit the ground running upon arriving at Ole Miss, taking a program that went winless in the SEC in 2011 and leading it to back-to-back bowl appearances in 2012-13. He’s 1-0 in 2014 and has his team ranked No. 15 in the most recent Associated Press poll. Mason may turn out to be a tremendous head coach down the line, but Freeze has the clear edge in this weekend’s showdown.

Ethan Levine

A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.