First, we’re hearing from multiple fronts that a second email was sent out to the affected Ole Miss players today informing them they will have complimentary guest tickets for the Egg Bowl next Saturday in Starkville.
On Thursday, some 35 Ole Miss players received emails from the university saying, in part: Due to failure to meet required study table hours, per athletic department policy, Academic Support notified our office that your guest tickets for the Mississippi State game have been revoked. Please notify any family members or guests that are planning to attend that they will not be able to receive complimentary tickets at the game.
Those emails, as you might imagine, were not well-received. As one former player told me late Thursday, “You wonder why former Ole Miss players (in the NFL) don’t say ‘Ole Miss’ when they’re introduced on TV? Now you know.”
Whoever gets the head coach and athletics director’s jobs at Ole Miss has work to do and bridges to repair.
Ole Miss’ search committee is back in town this weekend, so it stands to reason a little bit of news might begin to leak out by Sunday afternoon. However, to this point, the committee has done a great job, we regret to say, of keeping a lid on things.
That hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from churning. The most recent rumor, and one that has certainly been repeated, is that Texas Rangers COO Rick George has agreed to take the athletics director post at Ole Miss. We’ve even heard from sources that an announcement is scheduled for Dec. 1. Our sources insist, however, that while George is certainly a candidate _ and maybe the leading one _ he has not agreed to take the job. In fact, several sources insist the focus of the search committee is on the football coach and not the A.D. at this point.
The only other names we hear on the A.D. front are Florida assistant A.D. Mike Hill and former Ole Miss linebacker/asst. coach/current Under Armour director of sports marketing Walker Jones.
On to the football search, which should begin to heat up quite a bit in the next eight days or so. We still believe, after talking to people today, that Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora remains a hot name for the Ole Miss job despite last night’s loss at UAB. Coaches close to Fedora believe he’s headed to Oxford, though several sources indicated late this week he’s a candidate at Arizona and could emerge as a candidate at Texas A&M if the Aggies make a change, as many expect.
A coach whose name has picked up some steam in the past 48 hours, for whatever reason, is Louisiana-Lafayette’s Mark Hudspeth. He has ties to Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, head-coaching experience at North Alabama and ULL and he all but campaigned for the job on Oxford radio earlier this week. Ole Miss will have to do quite the sales job on its alumni/fan base if it hires Hudspeth or Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze, but both Sun Belt Conference coaches are strong candidates.
It certainly sounds like Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart’s candidacy has diminished some, though people close to Smart insist he’s in it and remains interested and sources close to Ole Miss insist he is very much on the Rebels’ list. I’m sticking to what I wrote earlier this week, which is Ole Miss is deeply worried about hiring a coach who will live once he has success. If the coaching fraternity is plugged in to what Ole Miss is looking for _ and coaches gossip more than anyone can imagine _ that mandate for a long-term contractual commitment could be problematic for several potential candidates.
If Ole Miss has a chance for Miami coach Al Golden, it was enhanced today when Penn State announced that the NCAA will look into the school’s institutional control in regards to the ongoing sex abuse scandal at the school. Golden, who is a top candidate at Penn State, likely won’t want to get involved in that mess. He’s rumored to be willing to listen to anyone, and there is definitely interest in Oxford in Golden. His is a name to keep an eye on.
We’ve asked numerous people, some close to Ole Miss and some in and around the coaching fraternity, and we’re convinced that barring a change of heart or some sort of unforeseen eventuality, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will not be considered for the Ole Miss job. We believe former West Virginia and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez will draw some consideration, but he’s a considerable underdog, in our educated opinion. Both Leach and Rodriguez are, per sources, assembling coaching staffs, but that’s somewhat normal for this time of the year as vacancies open up and are filled.
It’s our understanding that the search firm the UM hired will be presenting some vetted candidates’ qualifications, thoughts and demands to the committee over the weekend. Most of the coaches on Ole Miss’ wish list have games next week, so we don’t anticipate interviews until after the Egg Bowl.
We’re hoping to learn a little more about what’s going on as the weekend progresses.
On Thursday, some 35 Ole Miss players received emails from the university saying, in part: Due to failure to meet required study table hours, per athletic department policy, Academic Support notified our office that your guest tickets for the Mississippi State game have been revoked. Please notify any family members or guests that are planning to attend that they will not be able to receive complimentary tickets at the game.
Those emails, as you might imagine, were not well-received. As one former player told me late Thursday, “You wonder why former Ole Miss players (in the NFL) don’t say ‘Ole Miss’ when they’re introduced on TV? Now you know.”
Whoever gets the head coach and athletics director’s jobs at Ole Miss has work to do and bridges to repair.
Ole Miss’ search committee is back in town this weekend, so it stands to reason a little bit of news might begin to leak out by Sunday afternoon. However, to this point, the committee has done a great job, we regret to say, of keeping a lid on things.
That hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from churning. The most recent rumor, and one that has certainly been repeated, is that Texas Rangers COO Rick George has agreed to take the athletics director post at Ole Miss. We’ve even heard from sources that an announcement is scheduled for Dec. 1. Our sources insist, however, that while George is certainly a candidate _ and maybe the leading one _ he has not agreed to take the job. In fact, several sources insist the focus of the search committee is on the football coach and not the A.D. at this point.
The only other names we hear on the A.D. front are Florida assistant A.D. Mike Hill and former Ole Miss linebacker/asst. coach/current Under Armour director of sports marketing Walker Jones.
On to the football search, which should begin to heat up quite a bit in the next eight days or so. We still believe, after talking to people today, that Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora remains a hot name for the Ole Miss job despite last night’s loss at UAB. Coaches close to Fedora believe he’s headed to Oxford, though several sources indicated late this week he’s a candidate at Arizona and could emerge as a candidate at Texas A&M if the Aggies make a change, as many expect.
A coach whose name has picked up some steam in the past 48 hours, for whatever reason, is Louisiana-Lafayette’s Mark Hudspeth. He has ties to Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, head-coaching experience at North Alabama and ULL and he all but campaigned for the job on Oxford radio earlier this week. Ole Miss will have to do quite the sales job on its alumni/fan base if it hires Hudspeth or Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze, but both Sun Belt Conference coaches are strong candidates.
It certainly sounds like Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart’s candidacy has diminished some, though people close to Smart insist he’s in it and remains interested and sources close to Ole Miss insist he is very much on the Rebels’ list. I’m sticking to what I wrote earlier this week, which is Ole Miss is deeply worried about hiring a coach who will live once he has success. If the coaching fraternity is plugged in to what Ole Miss is looking for _ and coaches gossip more than anyone can imagine _ that mandate for a long-term contractual commitment could be problematic for several potential candidates.
If Ole Miss has a chance for Miami coach Al Golden, it was enhanced today when Penn State announced that the NCAA will look into the school’s institutional control in regards to the ongoing sex abuse scandal at the school. Golden, who is a top candidate at Penn State, likely won’t want to get involved in that mess. He’s rumored to be willing to listen to anyone, and there is definitely interest in Oxford in Golden. His is a name to keep an eye on.
We’ve asked numerous people, some close to Ole Miss and some in and around the coaching fraternity, and we’re convinced that barring a change of heart or some sort of unforeseen eventuality, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will not be considered for the Ole Miss job. We believe former West Virginia and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez will draw some consideration, but he’s a considerable underdog, in our educated opinion. Both Leach and Rodriguez are, per sources, assembling coaching staffs, but that’s somewhat normal for this time of the year as vacancies open up and are filled.
It’s our understanding that the search firm the UM hired will be presenting some vetted candidates’ qualifications, thoughts and demands to the committee over the weekend. Most of the coaches on Ole Miss’ wish list have games next week, so we don’t anticipate interviews until after the Egg Bowl.
We’re hoping to learn a little more about what’s going on as the weekend progresses.
