Maybe it's time to 'celebrate the Ole Miss coaches who stayed'

OXFORD, Miss. — So much has been made of the coaches bolting Ole Miss for LSU and then coming back on loan for the remainder of the playoff.

Really, almost the entire offensive staff, at least the on-field assistants. They flew back to Baton Rouge the morning after Ole Miss’ 41-10 playoff win over Tulane last Saturday and then returned to Oxford on Monday morning, and yes, using the Ole Miss university plane.

Through it all, as one high-ranking Ole Miss official told On3, maybe it’s time to “celebrate the Ole Miss coaches who stayed and have committed to Ole Miss for the long term.” The two on-field holdovers on offense are quarterbacks coach Joe Judge and offensive line coach John Garrison. The entire defensive staff, including newly promoted head coach Pete Golding, stayed put with the exception of Kiffin’s brother, Chris Kiffin, who also went to LSU.

As convulted as it all sounds, Golding is committed to making it work, in large part, because it’s what is best for the players as they continue to make Ole Miss history.

Golding acknowledged that the coaches who left for LSU are “working two different jobs,” and when it’s not game week for the Rebels, who next face Georgia on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl, those coaches will be “working their own job.”

And yet, “fully invested where they’re at” when the Rebels resume practice for the Sugar Bowl on Friday, according to Golden.

That’s a lot easier said than done, the kind of uncharted territory that makes Ole Miss’ run to the quarterfinal round of the playoff all the more fascinating when you go all the way back to the uncertainy of Kiffin’s future in November and then his testy exit.

“It wasn’t really showing that all the noise didn’t matter,” Ole Miss receiver De’Zhaun Stribling said following the Rebels’ first game without Kiffin and all the chaos that followed. “It was more about going out there and doing what we do. We played at a high level all season, so nothing’s going to change. Just because we’re in the playoffs, we’re not going to play the game different or call the game different. We’re going to play our ball, and we play ball at a high level.”

It hasn’t gone unnoticed by anyone in the program that being able to play (and practice) at that level amid all the change is fortified by having someone with Judge’s experience and track record at the center of the upheaval.

A former NFL head coach with the New York Giants, Judge won three Super Bowls as part of Bill Belichick’s staff with the New England Patriots. He came to Ole Miss as an offensive analyst a year ago and moved to quarterbacks coach this season and played a key role in Trinidad Chambliss‘ ascent to one of the top quarterbacks in the country.

Over and above his value on the field, Judge’s willingness to put down roots at Ole Miss has been galvanizing with the staff, particularly the ones who are staying, and the players. A year ago, he had a chance to go with his old boss to North Carolina and stayed. And this offseason, he received head coaching interest from several schools, including South Florida, UConn, Colorado State and Coastal Carolina.

“I told them when all this went down that I wasn’t in the mode to leave,” said Judge, who played at Mississippi State and started his coaching career at Mississippi State as a graduate assistant under Sylvester Croom.

Judge recently signed a contract extension to remain at Ole Miss. He’s always felt a connection to the state of Mississippi, and in particular, these players and the way they’ve endured.

“I love being in Mississippi. I love being in Oxford. I love these players. The university has been tremendous. The fans have been great to me and my family. Why would I want to leave here?” Judge said.

Like Golding, Judge worked under Nick Saban at Alabama and was a special teams assistant on the Crimson Tide’s 2009 and 2011 national championship teams. In Golding’s short time as Ole Miss’ head coach, Judge has been one of the people Golding has consulted on different issues.

“I’m not dumb enough to think I’m the smartest guy in the building,” Golding said. “That’s the first thing I learned from my old man as a head coach, that you better hire people smarter than you. We’re all products of our experiences, and I’ve been around a lot of incredible head coaches who’ve done it an extremely high level. It’s definitely nice to have a guy who’s been in that seat, to be able to bring in the office and get their opinion and see how they see it and all those things. We try to use everybody in the building, whether it’s the defensive room or the offensive room.”

One of the things Judge likes most about this team is its selfless approach and singular focus on taking care of what’s right in front of it and believing in each other. That’s despite some of the chatter that players on this team could be headed elsewhere after the playoff, perhaps even following Kiffin to LSU.

“You see a team that plays for each other,” Judge said. “You see a team that’s very accountable to each other, and they work extremely hard. … They’ve been able to win a lot of big games when they’ve been up, when they’ve been down and closing out games when it mattered, executing in situations, two-minute drives, things of that nature.”

Judge said the coaches bouncing back and forth between LSU and Ole Miss, especially offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who calls plays, also deserve credit for making it work.

“Remember this. It’s not easy for those guys (offensive assistants) coming back in this building,” Judge said. “They were nervous, too, coming back into this building. How were they going to be received? Charlie did a phenomenal job of really kinda connecting with the players, building on that he was here to help them win, that he was all in with this team. Look, there was a lot of leadership he showed the last couple weeks.

“Obviously, it was a smoother transition when the football started, when you let the dust settle on the other stuff.”

Judge has seen and coached enough football, at all levels, to know that the game is about the players. Always has been and always will be.

“You can fire every coach. … Who are you going to coach if there are no players?” Judge said.

And despite the comings and goings over the last few weeks, Judge said what hasn’t changed is the importance of team.

“That’s just the formula that you have to have to have a chance for success,” Judge said. “There’s a lot of talented teams in this country that are sitting home watching teams play right now, more talented teams in a lot of instances.

“But they don’t have a team.”