Ole Miss Rebels

Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze is the latest to hire a coach away from Alabama's staff

Published Feb. 17, 2017 12:06 p.m. ET

Bruce Feldman

Ole Miss has announced the hire of Alabama’s Director of Player Development Freddie Roach as the Rebels’ new defensive line coach. Roach had turned down other Power 5 position coaching jobs before.

https://twitter.com/OleMissFB/status/832399371039825921

The former Tide linebacker has spent the past two seasons on the Alabama staff and before that spent two seasons as the defensive ends and outside linebackers coach at South Alabama.

In his first year with the South Alabama program, Roach helped a pair of seniors earn first-team all-Sun Belt Conference honors. Roach came to South Alabama from Murray State, where he was the Racers’ defensive line coach while assisting with the strength and conditioning program during the 2012 season. The previous fall, he coached the defensive line and was the director of strength and conditioning at East Mississippi C.C., helping lead the Lions to a 12-0 record and the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship.

As a player, Roach was selected to Alabama’s All-Decade Team for the 2000s while helping the program to three bowl appearances. He signed as a free agent with the New England Patriots in 2006.