"And he has a fan base that now realizes, once and for all, that Ole Miss probably is always going to be Ole Miss, and that Freeze’s weaknesses as a coach are not going away. That’s not a terrible thing, really. Though Ole Miss is not likely to ever win a national title..."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...an-indiana-penn-state-virginia-tech/74182728/
USA TODAY
On Feb. 6, 2013, the Ole Miss coaching staff went into its recruiting war room anticipating a day that would forever change the trajectory of the Rebels’ historically mediocre program. No longer satisfied with being a bridesmaid in the SEC West, Hugh Freeze had come into Oxford preachin’ and recruitin’, preachin’ and recruitin’, and the results were about to show in a major way.
As the hours went by, almost every pulse of the fax machine was worthy of celebration. Letters of Intent came in that day from four prospects rated as five-stars, only one of which came from Mississippi.
The idea that Ole Miss could pull a Robert Nkemdiche out of the Atlanta suburbs or get a last-second commitment from Laremy Tunsil over Georgia and Alabama or landLaquon Treadwell from Chicago of all places was always viewed as bizarre.
Though Freeze had brought an up-tempo offense to Ole Miss and generated some positive momentum in his first year by going a surprising 7-6, his track record was nothing at all like the established big-time coaches he was beating out for recruits. And Ole Miss, as a program, had no history of being able to land players like the ones they were getting in 2013.
USA TODAY
Memphis stuns No. 12 Ole Miss for 13th win in a row
Suspicions about what seemed to be a significant recruiting anomaly hovered over the Rebels. Rival fan bases and coaches smirked at Freeze’s sudden success. NCAA investigators went sniffing around the state of Mississippi, finding only some old violations that predated Freeze.
Just like that, he was seemingly on the way to a three-year window of guaranteed success with a core of recruits who showed right away that they had legitimate NFL talent.
Only now it’s Year 3, closing time for the vaunted Class of 2013 is coming and what does Freeze have to show for it?
Well, he has two wins against Alabama, which isn’t nothing. But he also now has a loss to Memphis and a season that has gone off the rails just a few weeks after being declared national championship contenders.
And he has a fan base that now realizes, once and for all, that Ole Miss probably is always going to be Ole Miss, and that Freeze’s weaknesses as a coach are not going away.
That’s not a terrible thing, really. Though Ole Miss is not likely to ever win a national title — Who is outside of the bluebloods? — it actually has a marginally better football history than it is usually given credit for. And if Freeze is just a great recruiter and very average coach, that’s probably going to net more wins in the long run at a place like Ole Miss when you have to face Alabama, Auburn, LSU and the rest week in and week out.
USA TODAY
Snap judgments from Week 7 of college football
Still, this era of Ole Miss football is almost certainly going to go down as a missed opportunity. Nkemdiche, Tunsil, Treadwill and Tony Conner are probably all headed to the NFL draft after this season, and others such as linebacker C.J. Johnson, defensive back Trae Elston and receiver Cody Core will run out of eligibility.
In other words, 2016 always was going to be a rebuilding year for Ole Miss. Which meant that Freeze absolutely had to squeeze the most out of 2015.
And so far, he has not proved capable of doing it.
The magic Ole Miss had at Alabama — and despite Alabama's five turnovers, the Rebels looked very much like the better team that night — is gone. Two weeks later, they got handled at Florida 38-10. And now their world is turned upside down having lost to Memphis, a school their effete, mint julep-sipping fan base looks down on like a community college for people who can’t get into Ole Miss.
But Memphis happens to have a pretty good football team this year, and the Tigers fell behind 14-0 before promptly tearing Ole Miss apart in every aspect of the game. Freeze was outclassed on the sidelines by Justin Fuente, and the Tigers quite simply looked like the better team.
(Disclaimer: This isn't a ranking of worst teams, worst losses or coaches whose jobs are in the most jeopardy. This is simply a measurement of a fan base's knee-jerk reaction to what they last saw. The way in which a team won or lost, expectations vis-à-vis program trajectory and traditional inferiority complex of fan base all factor into this ranking.)
(Disclaimer No. 2: By virtue of their upcoming coaching changes, Southern California, Maryland, South Carolina, Illinois and North Texas are hereby excluded from this and future editions of the Misery Index, as fans can look forward to a new regime taking hold in 2016.)
1. Ole Miss: Here’s a story about Hugh Freeze. Back in 2009, he desperately wanted the Memphis job. He had just spent two years at Lambuth, an NAIA school, and was well-known in Memphis because of his background there as a high school coach. He had the backing of the media and some powerful people at FedEx. Instead, the school’s former athletic director chose an alum, Larry Porter, who turned out to be one of the worst hires in recent memory.
Freeze went to Arkansas State as offensive coordinator in 2010 and then head coach the following year, and when he got a chance to play Memphis, he made sure to get his point across. As he settled into his news conference after beating the Tigers 47-3, Freeze asked one of his staff members: “Is the Memphis media coming?” The following week, he went on the radio and made sure everyone knew the score could have been worse had he not let up in the fourth quarter.
USA TODAY
Mississippi star DE Robert Nkemdiche suffers concussion
It was a Tour de Freeze, and as the Misery Index watched Ole Miss’ meltdown, we could not help but wonder whether that ego came back to the surface and got in the way of common sense. Up 14-7 in the second quarter and facing third-and-1 at the Memphis 10-yard line, Freeze used Nkemdiche — the best defensive lineman in America — for a short-yardage carry. It’s something Ole Miss has done several times this year, largely because of deficiencies in the running game and an inability to get push from the offensive line in obvious running situations.
But this time it didn’t work, and even worse, Nkemdiche got a concussion on the play and missed the rest of the game. Then, instead of taking the points for a 17-7 lead, Freeze recklessly went for the fourth down and got stuffed. The game turned from there and Ole Miss was never the same. And that’s a bad, bad, bad thing not just for Ole Miss but potentially the SEC.
If Ole Miss wins out, it will be the SEC West champion — and though that seems highly unlikely after what we’ve seen, consider that the Rebels’ toughest remaining games (Texas A&M, Arkansas, LSU) are all at home. Can you imagine Ole Miss winning the SEC, then missing the College Football Playoff because of a loss to … Memphis? That’s the stuff of an all-time Misery Index.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...an-indiana-penn-state-virginia-tech/74182728/
USA TODAY
On Feb. 6, 2013, the Ole Miss coaching staff went into its recruiting war room anticipating a day that would forever change the trajectory of the Rebels’ historically mediocre program. No longer satisfied with being a bridesmaid in the SEC West, Hugh Freeze had come into Oxford preachin’ and recruitin’, preachin’ and recruitin’, and the results were about to show in a major way.
As the hours went by, almost every pulse of the fax machine was worthy of celebration. Letters of Intent came in that day from four prospects rated as five-stars, only one of which came from Mississippi.
The idea that Ole Miss could pull a Robert Nkemdiche out of the Atlanta suburbs or get a last-second commitment from Laremy Tunsil over Georgia and Alabama or landLaquon Treadwell from Chicago of all places was always viewed as bizarre.
Though Freeze had brought an up-tempo offense to Ole Miss and generated some positive momentum in his first year by going a surprising 7-6, his track record was nothing at all like the established big-time coaches he was beating out for recruits. And Ole Miss, as a program, had no history of being able to land players like the ones they were getting in 2013.
USA TODAY
Memphis stuns No. 12 Ole Miss for 13th win in a row
Suspicions about what seemed to be a significant recruiting anomaly hovered over the Rebels. Rival fan bases and coaches smirked at Freeze’s sudden success. NCAA investigators went sniffing around the state of Mississippi, finding only some old violations that predated Freeze.
Just like that, he was seemingly on the way to a three-year window of guaranteed success with a core of recruits who showed right away that they had legitimate NFL talent.
Only now it’s Year 3, closing time for the vaunted Class of 2013 is coming and what does Freeze have to show for it?
Well, he has two wins against Alabama, which isn’t nothing. But he also now has a loss to Memphis and a season that has gone off the rails just a few weeks after being declared national championship contenders.
And he has a fan base that now realizes, once and for all, that Ole Miss probably is always going to be Ole Miss, and that Freeze’s weaknesses as a coach are not going away.
That’s not a terrible thing, really. Though Ole Miss is not likely to ever win a national title — Who is outside of the bluebloods? — it actually has a marginally better football history than it is usually given credit for. And if Freeze is just a great recruiter and very average coach, that’s probably going to net more wins in the long run at a place like Ole Miss when you have to face Alabama, Auburn, LSU and the rest week in and week out.
USA TODAY
Snap judgments from Week 7 of college football
Still, this era of Ole Miss football is almost certainly going to go down as a missed opportunity. Nkemdiche, Tunsil, Treadwill and Tony Conner are probably all headed to the NFL draft after this season, and others such as linebacker C.J. Johnson, defensive back Trae Elston and receiver Cody Core will run out of eligibility.
In other words, 2016 always was going to be a rebuilding year for Ole Miss. Which meant that Freeze absolutely had to squeeze the most out of 2015.
And so far, he has not proved capable of doing it.
The magic Ole Miss had at Alabama — and despite Alabama's five turnovers, the Rebels looked very much like the better team that night — is gone. Two weeks later, they got handled at Florida 38-10. And now their world is turned upside down having lost to Memphis, a school their effete, mint julep-sipping fan base looks down on like a community college for people who can’t get into Ole Miss.
But Memphis happens to have a pretty good football team this year, and the Tigers fell behind 14-0 before promptly tearing Ole Miss apart in every aspect of the game. Freeze was outclassed on the sidelines by Justin Fuente, and the Tigers quite simply looked like the better team.
- SPANNING THE SEC: Check in for the latest news, notes, scores and more for one of college football's best conferences!
(Disclaimer: This isn't a ranking of worst teams, worst losses or coaches whose jobs are in the most jeopardy. This is simply a measurement of a fan base's knee-jerk reaction to what they last saw. The way in which a team won or lost, expectations vis-à-vis program trajectory and traditional inferiority complex of fan base all factor into this ranking.)
(Disclaimer No. 2: By virtue of their upcoming coaching changes, Southern California, Maryland, South Carolina, Illinois and North Texas are hereby excluded from this and future editions of the Misery Index, as fans can look forward to a new regime taking hold in 2016.)
1. Ole Miss: Here’s a story about Hugh Freeze. Back in 2009, he desperately wanted the Memphis job. He had just spent two years at Lambuth, an NAIA school, and was well-known in Memphis because of his background there as a high school coach. He had the backing of the media and some powerful people at FedEx. Instead, the school’s former athletic director chose an alum, Larry Porter, who turned out to be one of the worst hires in recent memory.
Freeze went to Arkansas State as offensive coordinator in 2010 and then head coach the following year, and when he got a chance to play Memphis, he made sure to get his point across. As he settled into his news conference after beating the Tigers 47-3, Freeze asked one of his staff members: “Is the Memphis media coming?” The following week, he went on the radio and made sure everyone knew the score could have been worse had he not let up in the fourth quarter.
USA TODAY
Mississippi star DE Robert Nkemdiche suffers concussion
It was a Tour de Freeze, and as the Misery Index watched Ole Miss’ meltdown, we could not help but wonder whether that ego came back to the surface and got in the way of common sense. Up 14-7 in the second quarter and facing third-and-1 at the Memphis 10-yard line, Freeze used Nkemdiche — the best defensive lineman in America — for a short-yardage carry. It’s something Ole Miss has done several times this year, largely because of deficiencies in the running game and an inability to get push from the offensive line in obvious running situations.
But this time it didn’t work, and even worse, Nkemdiche got a concussion on the play and missed the rest of the game. Then, instead of taking the points for a 17-7 lead, Freeze recklessly went for the fourth down and got stuffed. The game turned from there and Ole Miss was never the same. And that’s a bad, bad, bad thing not just for Ole Miss but potentially the SEC.
If Ole Miss wins out, it will be the SEC West champion — and though that seems highly unlikely after what we’ve seen, consider that the Rebels’ toughest remaining games (Texas A&M, Arkansas, LSU) are all at home. Can you imagine Ole Miss winning the SEC, then missing the College Football Playoff because of a loss to … Memphis? That’s the stuff of an all-time Misery Index.
