We appreciate the confident swagger of Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze in most instances, but not in regard to the university’s ongoing case against the program he leads.

He has mostly apologized to date for having assistant coaches who made mistakes — “I am extremely disappointed to learn that any member of my staff violated any SEC or NCAA rules, and as the head coach, I regret those actions,” he said — even though Ole Miss has already investigated and admitted to level 1 NCAA violations under his leadership.

Freeze denies personal responsibility despite the fact that the NCAA makes it clear the head coach is completely responsible. He also made this week an interesting nod on the lack of institutional control charged by the NCAA toward Ole Miss administration, a nod that feels like another deflection of personal responsibility.

“We have administrators that have watched me for five years do everything very closely, and they’ve been so supportive and have been unwavering in that,” Freeze added.

He mentions the assistant coaches. He mentions the administration. He mentions everybody but Hugh Freeze.

But Ole Miss has already investigated violations and found that many in the program did in fact occur. Freeze should take more personal responsibility and show some humility rather than deflecting so much blame.