This article was originally published with The Red & Black on July 23, 2015 and can be found here.

The Confederate flag has been a hot topic across the Southeastern United States for the last month. With the pull that college football has on the South, it was no wonder discussion on the flag was raised during SEC Media Days.

The NCAA has long held a stance against the flag and has not allowed South Carolina and Mississippi to host predetermined championship events since 2001.

NCAA president Mark Emmert praised the removal of the flag from South Carolina State House.

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier has spoken against the flag for years, first making it known in 2007 on ESPN’s College Gameday.

“If anybody were ever to ask me about that damn Confederate flag, I would say we need to get rid of it,” Spurrier said to ESPN.

 Spurrier kept that  stance in Hoover, Alabama when he hit the main stage on July 14. The state of South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its statehouse on July 9, and the 70-year-old did not mince his words on the subject.

“I applaud our governor for setting the initiative to remove the flag, and obviously it was received very well by just about everyone in our state and around the country,” Spurrier said. “Obviously, all of us in college sports, we know the importance of equality, race relations and everybody getting along. I know all over South Carolina [people were] happy and glad to see the flag come down.”

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze took a different approach on the matter. Freeze found himself in a huge position considering the racist past surrounding the state of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi itself. Being born in Oxford, Mississippi, Freeze’s words carry a lot of weight in the community.

Freeze said he feels the flag was misappropriated by hate groups and did not symbolize animosity during his youth. That being said, Freeze called for a change to the state flag, which features a Confederate flag in the top left corner.

“No one understands the pride of the people of [Mississippi] and the heritage of that state better than I do,” Freeze said. “That symbol has been hijacked somewhat by groups that have meant ill will towards other people. In the world in which I live in, if something is creating ill will in any way towards someone, it’s difficult for me to support that.”

While Spurrier and Freeze were candid in their opinions, Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen tiptoed through the discussion. It was an odd spot for Mullen; he’s a Pennsylvania native who didn’t start coaching in the South until he came to Florida with Urban Meyer in 2005. He has, however, been the Bulldogs head coach since 2009, which means people were interested in his thoughts.

Mullen noticeably grimaced when the question about the Confederate flag was asked. He applauded Mississippi State’s embracing nature to students and discussed his own hiring six years ago as a sign of progress in the state.

“I don’t see [the flag] very often,” Mullen said. “I do know we’re the most diverse campus in the Southeastern Conference. I know the university embraces that diversity as a whole. We’re so diverse they have a Yankee as the head football coach.”

A couple of veteran head coaches were surprisingly not asked about the flag. Georgia head coach Mark Richt coaches in a state where the Confederate flag was featured on the state flag until 2001 only to be replaced with the first national flag of the Confederacy. Alabama head coach Nick Saban has more followers than any politician in the state and potentially could have dispelled fans from waving the flag. 

Their situations aren’t quite as newsworthy as the ones in South Carolina and Mississippi, but the two have enough experience to get their messages across.

As the flag continues to come down across the United States, the debate continues on what role these football coaches, who are the highest-paid state employees in each state, have on taking political stances.

For every Spurrier, who addresses the situation head on, there will be a Mullen and a Freeze, who do their best to try and focus only on football.