Michael Oher's Former Football Coach Defends 'The Blind Side' Family Despite Athlete's Exploitation Claims

Michael Oher's former football coach Hugh Freeze seems to have taken Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy's side after the athlete filed court documents on Monday, August 14, claiming they lied about adopting him and instead tricked him into signing a conservatorship at the age of 18 in an effort to exploit his story for the making of The Blind Side.

Freeze, who coached Michael during his time at Memphis' Briarcest Christian School and while he was a student athlete on the Ole Miss rebels, spoke out on Thursday, August 17, to express his hurt feelings toward the situation at hand.

"I think it's sad. I certainly don’t claim to understand all the ins and outs of adoption, conservatory, all of that. I know what I witnessed. I witnessed a family that totally took in a young man and I think without that, there is no story," expressed Hugh, who has been friends with Sean for years, as the patriarch was a booster for the University of Mississippi.

"I know this: If Michael called Sean right now and said let’s work this thing out, Sean and Leigh Anne would be there in a hurry to hug his neck and tell him he’s loved," the famed football coach — who is currently the head coach at Auburn University — continued to tell a reporter.

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Hugh added, "I hope he feels that. Until you walk in people’s shoes, I don’t claim to have all the answers to anything, but I think whatever happens will happen. The facts will come out."

The 53-year-old noted he has "love" for "both sides" of the dispute — despite seemingly taking the Tuohy's side after Michael's intense accusations claiming the family made millions on a falsified story and allowed him to receive zero profit from it.

Knowing this, Hugh still insisted the Tuohy's actions were "admirable."

“Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy did something that probably most families, a lot of us talk about doing things, they actually put the shoes on and pulled the boots up and got in the arena and did something and I think that’s admirable," he concluded.

The Athletic reported Hugh's statements about Michael's recent court filing.