Ole Miss is not out of the woods, yet

[Foronce]

I think the big difference between MSU in 2008 and Ole Miss now is "the coach"

1. I didn't feel like MSU could mess up the hire, but with Ole Miss we know Houston had some problems but in-game coach he was pretty good at it. I mean honestly before people started doubting and players left he did go to back to back jan 1 bowls.

2. What does Archie know about hiring a AD or a coach? Ole Miss should look into hiring a the hiring committee to talk to the coaches agents on their behalf like we did when looking for our coach.

3. The image of Ole Miss right now is that Houston Nutt led them to 2 january 1 cotton bowls for the first time in fifty years and one year after it the fanbase divided split and ran his *** out of town with the ad... that is a lot of repairing and fixing that needs to happen... They better go get a top notch AD that can unite the fanbase and let him make the hire to his football program

4. If you list starts with Malzahn or Leach, you need a new list. Who would be a realistic choice you think would go to Ole Miss at this point with all the turmoil surrounding them.

 

[Foronce]

I think the big difference between MSU in 2008 and Ole Miss now is "the coach"

1. I didn't feel like MSU could mess up the hire, but with Ole Miss we know Houston had some problems but in-game coach he was pretty good at it. I mean honestly before people started doubting and players left he did go to back to back jan 1 bowls.

2. What does Archie know about hiring a AD or a coach? Ole Miss should look into hiring a the hiring committee to talk to the coaches agents on their behalf like we did when looking for our coach.

3. The image of Ole Miss right now is that Houston Nutt led them to 2 january 1 cotton bowls for the first time in fifty years and one year after it the fanbase divided split and ran his *** out of town with the ad... that is a lot of repairing and fixing that needs to happen... They better go get a top notch AD that can unite the fanbase and let him make the hire to his football program

4. If you list starts with Malzahn or Leach, you need a new list. Who would be a realistic choice you think would go to Ole Miss at this point with all the turmoil surrounding them.

 

[Foronce]

I think the big difference between MSU in 2008 and Ole Miss now is "the coach"

1. I didn't feel like MSU could mess up the hire, but with Ole Miss we know Houston had some problems but in-game coach he was pretty good at it. I mean honestly before people started doubting and players left he did go to back to back jan 1 bowls.

2. What does Archie know about hiring a AD or a coach? Ole Miss should look into hiring a the hiring committee to talk to the coaches agents on their behalf like we did when looking for our coach.

3. The image of Ole Miss right now is that Houston Nutt led them to 2 january 1 cotton bowls for the first time in fifty years and one year after it the fanbase divided split and ran his *** out of town with the ad... that is a lot of repairing and fixing that needs to happen... They better go get a top notch AD that can unite the fanbase and let him make the hire to his football program

4. If you list starts with Malzahn or Leach, you need a new list. Who would be a realistic choice you think would go to Ole Miss at this point with all the turmoil surrounding them.

 

[Topgundawg]

at Oklahoma State. I don't think a head coach that's any good will want to take on the SEC west little lone us every year.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

We had a president who essentially fired our long-time AD whose main concern was running things in the black and replaced him with a younger and better AD. Our new AD came in and within a year our underachieving (or maybe he was overachieving and we really should have expected worse, I'm not sure) head football coach was gone. Our program was in a position to make a good hire. Ole Miss is having to replace both AD and coach, and it will all come down to their new chancellor and a former football player who may not know anything about making such hires. They will be scrambling for sure.

 

[EClass04]

It would have to be an up and comer from a lower conference looking to take the next step in his coaching career. I just don't see any established coach taking that job. With the right amount of $$$$, I guess anything is possible though.

 

[SyonaraStanz]

I thought that was a joke when I read it earlier. This will probably get really entertaining.

When your plumbing is 17'ed up, you don't call an electrician............ unless you're a bear.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Freeze- Arkansas State Head Coach. First year HC, done well. He was an asst. at UM. Familiar with the area.<div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Rodriguez- People mention Leach wanting to get back in the game, but Rich Rod is a much better fit. Leach lost his job not because of performance so he'll hold out for a better job. Rich Rod would be a better cultural fit at UM than the UM up north.</div><div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Bowden- He has to be itching to get back in the SEC. He has done well at UNA, but I bet he's wanting to move up again. He won't lead UM to any titles, but he might get them back to respectable.</div><div>
</div><div>The bottom two are damaged goods, but these three are seriously about the best UM can do. I would be shocked if they got someone better.</div>

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

at Oklahoma State. I don't think a head coach that's any good will want to take on the SEC west little lone us every year.

holgerson is already gone, maybe look at their new OC, but he may only have 1 year of OC experience to his name. t boone says ole miss has no shot at pulling gundy. <div>
</div><div>
</div>

 

[DavidKellumNicknameGenerator]

3. The image of Ole Miss right now is that Houston Nutt led them to 2 january 1 cotton bowls for the first time in fifty years and one year after it the fanbase divided split and ran his *** out of town with the ad... that is a lot of repairing and fixing that needs to happen... They better go get a top notch AD that can unite the fanbase and let him make the hire to his football program

I think when we fired Cut in 2004 the national story was that little Ole Miss fired a coach who brought them Eli and a Cotton Bowl. I don't think there's anybody who pays attention to college football that thinks we fired Nutt too soon. He earned this one. I mean ****, if losing 14 of 15 SEC games along with losses to Jacksonville State, BYU, and possibly La Tech won't get you fired, what will?

I think the biggest obstacle for us hiring a new coach wasn't going to be us firing a coach too soon, it was going to be that the athletic director is impossible to work with and doesn't know what he's doing. With that (likely) out of the way, I think it will make the search somewhat easier. It will, however, be difficult to sell a program to a coach when he doesn't know who his boss is going to be. I still think no boss is better than Pete in this situation, though.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

4. If you list starts with Malzahn or Leach, you need a new list. Who would be a realistic choice you think would go to Ole Miss at this point with all the turmoil surrounding them.

i think malzahn or leach are realistic candidates for them.<div>
</div><div>word from some bama friends are that ole miss already wants to contact kirby smart too.</div>

 

[RebelBruiser]

I don't seem to recall that. I don't think the wagons really were circled against Nutt until he lost to Vandy by 23 points.

Also, we are firing him after his 12th straight conference loss. Prior to this run of futility, the worst streak of conference losses in our history was 8 by a single coach, 9 overlapping two coaching stints. Nutt made it to 12. I don't think any head coach is going to look at us doing that and think we're asking too much.

As to who is running the search, we're in good hands there. Archie isn't the only one involved. We have a handful of other people involved who all have a lot of experience in hiring people.

Personally, my list starts with Malzahn and Morris from Clemson. I think Hudspeth or Freeze could both be good as well. I also like Butch Jones from Cincinnati.

I'd like Leach, but I know that isn't happening. I don't want Bowden or Rodriguez, and I especially don't want Kirby Smart. I think all of those top 5 on my list are attainable, and I think any of them would be very good hires for us.

 

[windcrysmary]

the coaching search after Cutt made ole miss the laughing stock of college sports for 2-3 weeks....they couldn't even get an up and coming coordinator to take the job...

they lucked up on nutts... plain and simple.. a HC who had taken AR to the ATL twice....

why would anyone think that this time will be any different than what they went thru after they fired cutt? any other "gimme's" floating around right now?....

if there is anyway to guage the attactiveness of the 2 jobs, compare what the ninja pulled off with mullen to what ole miss went thru when they had to settle with O... and what they are getting ready to have to go thru now...

too many downsides to coaching on the plantation... the times they are a changin'....

 

[The Peeper]

(bear) hole?

 

[Foronce]

you don't think their were some people thinking he could/should get fired last season and mad as heck that he got extended to back to 4 years.

I think the whispers started last year before the season was over, because the writing was on the wall ...you had no qb to plan around and players were leaving in bunches

 

[Foronce]

pretty good national reputation... i disagree ...I think you catch some backlash from this

 

[MedDawg]

After 2004, they were just 1 year removed from 10-3 (7-1) and bowls in 6 out of the 7 previous years, and the best they could get was Orgeron.

 

[RipleyReb.sixpack]

buteven you should know that outside of Starkville and State fans in general, everyone thinks OM is a better job than State. You can hate on me all you want, but just ask around. And thenyou act like Mullen was Byrne's 1st choice and it was a masterful job of getting him to come to State. We know better. For the record, I like Greg Byrne and hope OM hires someone similar, but don't fool yourself into thinking Urban Meyer was begging Mullen to stay when he told him he was leaving. Good Luck this weekend.

 

[NashvilleBulldawg]

Let's be rational here (something you obviously aren't being in your comment). People outside of Starkville and Oxford can't even keep up with the fact that MSU and UM are TWO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS!!!!

 

[kired]

First choices:SmartorLeach
Second choice:Malzahn (lot of people don't want him)
Thirdiaz, Hud, Fedora, Freezeare names I've heard... but you could pretty much fill in the blankafter Smart, Leach, & Malzahn. I was surprised at the people that have legitimately talked about hiring Diaz.

I personally don't see them hiringarecentlyfired or currently unemployed coach(other than Leach). They are going to avoid anything similar to Nutt.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

the contents of which are now all over my computer screen....thanks for the laugh....

 

[Hump4Hoops]

Outside of the south, nobody even knows the difference between the 2 schools, and just knows the Mississippi schools from all of ole miss's negative stereotypes (racism, confederate flag, dixie, mascot fiasco, klan on campus, losing to Jacksonville State).

Those from the south but outside of Mississippi (in the SEC land at least) see us as 2 retards fighting over a banana. The only difference is that right now, State's got a better grip on the banana.

Get over yourself and go suck the biggest bag of hot steaming dick meat you can get your hands on.

 

[DavidKellumNicknameGenerator]

and all he did was list off all of the terrible stats associated with this team right now like 100+ in offense and defense, 12 straight SEC losses, loss to Jacksonville State, etc in relation to Nutt being fired.

Nobody that has even remotely been paying attention thinks Nutt still deserves a job here.

 

[spacecataz]

buteven you should know that outside of Starkville and State fans in general, everyone thinks OM is a better job than State.

I have never been able to wrap my brain around this "fact" and how it makes your ilk believe that you're an elite SEC program. Congrats, you're perhaps the tallest midget in this argument. Outside of Starkville, Oxford, and MS in general,nobody truly gives a flying damn which job is better. There isn't a coach on this earth who is standing in line for a shot to come to either school, unless it's a jobless washout or an assistant who can't pass up a promotion.

 

[EClass04]

nm

 

[patdog]

outside of Starkville and State fans in general, everyone thinks OM is a better job than State.

Outside of Oxford and Mississippi fans in general, everyone thinks the two jobs are prettymuch equal.

 

[gdogg]

<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"></span></p>

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</p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">
_________________________________________________
</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">-----clarionledger.com------
</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Speaking on the Rebel Yell Hotline radio show Monday night, Boone said Ole Miss' interest in Petrino was not as strong as it was made out to be. Boone said Petrino's agent called him last week saying the coach might be interested in the job. Boone said he then got another call Sunday from the agent, who said Petrino was no longer interested.</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">

</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">"I said, 'Why are you telling me this? We haven't even talked about a job. You're the one coming to us about the possibility he might be interested,' " Boone said on the radio show. "I said, 'This is all new to me.' We didn't instigate anything. All we did was call back when we were called."</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">

Boone did not return messages left at his office and on his cell phone Monday afternoon and evening.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break"><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">Russ Campbell, who represents Petrino, said Tuesday Boone's comments were "completely off base."</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">

</span><city><place><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">Campbell</span></place></city><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"> said Tuesday that someone "representing Ole Miss' interest" called him last week to see if Petrino would be interested in a "four-or-five year deal worth $1.7 million.</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">"For Pete Boone to say we came to him is just not accurate," said Campbell, who also represents </span></span><place><placename><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">Florida</span></placename><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"> </span><placetype><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">State</span></placetype></place><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"> coach Bobby Bowden. "Look at Bobby's situation at </span><city><place><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">Louisville</span></place></city><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"> and look at other opportunities that were out there. Why would we have to initiate anything with Ole Miss?"</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Boone did not return repeated messages left Tuesday, and Tuesday afternoon Petrino issued a statement saying he was happy at </span></span><city><place><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">Louisville</span></place></city><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"> and not job hunting.</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">"Someone poked their chest out with an offer," </span></span><city><place><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">Campbell</span></place></city><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"> continued. "We weren't interested and now there's egg on someone's face. They can put all the spin on it they want. I have all of the respect in the world for Dr. Khayat. That's about as far as it goes."</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">

</span></p></span>

 

[gravedigger]

Illhangupandlistenku

 

[RebelBruiser]

There are some people probably that would want Mullen fired for only going 6-6 this year if that's what happens. That doesn't make it the pulse of the fanbase.

The majority of the fans and the administration, more importantly, were still in support of him after 4-8 (1-7), even though he'd lost to Jacksonville State. There is no parallel between this and Cutcliffe. This is exactly the way Cutcliffe SHOULD have been handled.

Had we let Cutcliffe stick around, and had he gone 0-8 in 2005, he would've been fired without any media backlash. There will be zero media backlash or even coaching fraternity backlash over this change. You're really stretching to think it will have a similar reaction.

 

[Incognegro]

anyone who's at least followed Nutt within the past decade shouldn't consider this a surprise. Looking at his tenure at Arkansas then comparing it to Ole Miss and seeing the current production on the field, he had to go. When he was forced out of Arkansas, it seemed like the pigs were being absolutely crazy even when they went to the SECCG (which is understandable), but when you look at what he had done to the program while he was there, it's hard to blame them for wanting him gone...although the way it was handled was pretty poorly.<div>
</div><div>When he went to Ole Miss, it seemed like it was a godsend, but then you started to see a lot of the same old habits from Arkansas coming back, but quicker and more blatant. Anyone who thinks giving another year to a coach who's record in the last 2 years of conference play is more than likely going to be 1 - 15 is probably either an idiot or someone that delights in seeing that program run to the ground. There should not be any media backlash for this directed to Ole Miss. I really just don't see it.</div>

 

[RebelBruiser]

and if for some reason we do contact him, I hope he does us a favor and tell us no thanks.

There are at least 20 coaches I'd rather have than Kirby Smart. Just because the media likes him doesn't make him a good football coach. Go work for someone besides Saban and prove you can do anything positive before I'd even consider you.

 

[Incognegro]

I'm being serious. I'm actually pretty curious to know.

 

[jacksonreb1]

heard all these names. problem is none of my friends or your's know jack. the committee looks like a good one and they'll see who's interested and then make a judgement. pick a name and you can pitch it either pro or con. but the important thing is most fans don't have a clue.

 

[therightway]

They will not go with aformer head coach that is just looking for a paycheck.

 

[RebelBruiser]

He's basically worked for Saban for the bulk of his career. He's been promoted from within essentially.

The Saban system pretty much is run by Saban as an iron fist dictator. You can't duplicate the Saban system without Saban.

If we hire Smart, he's going to try to bring the Saban system here, because it's really the only system he knows. If you try to bring the Saban system here without bringing Nick Saban too, it'll fail. For one, we aren't a job that can cherry pick players.

Saban likes to pick his players based on position, size, weight, speed, and if they fall outside of his ranges, he cuts them off his list even if they are good athletes.

You can't do that here.

Saban doesn't take any chances on recruiting, and he gets his program to where he can cut players each year to make room for the newcomers.

You can't do that here.

I don't think the Saban tree is a good place to go coach shopping period, but especially if you're looking at a coach who hasn't even left the coaching tree to learn how other systems operate. I'm very confident Smart would fail here.

 

[gravedigger]

after 6-6 this year. but if you need to believe that, go ahead.

Do not discount that the 4-8 season you experienced last year was on the heels of the massive letdown you had from going preseason # 4 to getting embarassed in the eggbowl in 2009. That really was the genesis of the negative feelings.

Then not making a bowl with a heisman trophy candidate at qb.

There is one very big parallel between this and Cuttcliff. The rest of the nation looks at this as if the expectations of UM fans is unrealistic. Cuttcliff had great success when one considers the conference and the competition. Nutt, while embarassing now, did lead you to 2 new years games.

If you think there will not be a bit of apprehension to take the OM job by an experienced coach after the way those two left, you are kidding yourself.

OMcould get a decent coach I think. Butthat coach will be saddled with not knowing who their boss will be in a year or what his expectations will be.

 

[RebelBruiser]

And it's a good point.

No one thinks we're unrealistic for thinking that losing 12 straight SEC games is unacceptable. You're really a dumbass if you believe that.

If we fired Nutt after 2010, then it's unrealistic expectations. Now, no one is going to chastise us, other than maybe Rick Cleveland, and he doesn't count. Be sure to come back and link all the articles chastising us for firing Nutt too soon.

I don't think there will be any more apprehension about coaches wanting our job than there was when you were looking to hire a coach after every coach since the 50s had failed to put up a career record of better than .500.

I listed off 5 coaches, all which I think are more than hireable, that would be good moves in my opinion. There are plenty of good, young coaches out there in the market this year. If you do your research, you can make a good hire, and no I'm not talking about a "splash" hire. That's a load of crap. I don't want a "splash" hire. I want someone who is going to win. Boone is the type of moron that paints himself into a corner wanting a "name" coach.

 

[SlapDickMcKenzie.nafoom]

who wrote that long, poorly written treatise on how wrong you went in life by smokin' the dope in high school and some recently-deceased MSU player wouldn't have anything to do with you, and how that made him tops in your book?

That was awesome.

 

[Incognegro]

Other than the head coaches they served under...that doesn't sound too different from Mullen. I'm more reluctant to say he'd think exactly like Saban since he's his own person. I see where you're coming from, but I don't know if I'd agree with those reasons as far as him not being a successful coach in Oxford without seeing him as a head coach first, especially since you talked about Saban more than you did Smart. I do agree that he probably shouldn't be one of the first names you guys look at, but I don't think he'd be a bad hire.

 

[RebelBruiser]

and honestly I thought that was a strike against Mullen. It's more of a risk when you haven't seen a coach branch out and have success at multiple places under different head coaches, if he's an assistant.

That said, it's more of a strike against Smart than it was against Mullen, because Meyer's system wasn't simply reliant on hand-picking your players, and Meyer isn't the dictator that Saban is.

Saban shuffles through assistants like they're nothing and keeps his train on going. The secret to his success isn't hiring good assistants. The secret to his success is Nick Saban. The Meyer coaching tree is WAY more impressive than Saban's coaching tree, because Meyer relied a good bit on making sure he had good guys in place to help him out. The secret to the success wasn't all Meyer. Look at what happened when Mullen left and he promoted Addazio. Mullen was actually important to Meyer's success. If Smart leaves tomorrow, Saban's train will keep on rolling without missing a beat.

That's the concern with Smart. Let him go get a job somewhere else, not that he even has to be a head coach, just that he has to go work for another head coach and have success as a DC. Nothing says Smart definitely couldn't be a good head coach. Maybe he can, but there are other assistants out there (Malzahn, Morris) for example that have proven themselves even after moving from place to place and dealing with different personnel groupings. Smart has had personnel change but the overall talent and the pieces he has each year under Saban are not much different even with graduation. They just rotate in the next guy that's just as good and of a similar size and skill set. That makes his job exceedingly easy.