With Ole Miss’ season _ and the Houston Nutt era _ just six days from its end, it’s predictable that the rumor mill will heat up.
Sure enough, late Saturday, as No. 1 LSU put the finishing touches on a 52-3 mauling of Nutt’s Rebels in Oxford, the World Wide Web was buzzing with rumors about supposed developments at Ole Miss.
So let’s address them. First, Mike Leach has not agreed to become the Rebels’ next head coach. In fact, according to multiple sources, Leach is not in consideration for the position at this time.
Secondly, rumors began to pop that Ole Miss was in negotiations with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, complete with dollar figures and the addition of Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze as offensive coordinator/coach-in-waiting. When I have run that rumor by sources familiar with Ole Miss’ search and/or in the coaching/agent community, it has been met with a hearty laugh. I’m fairly certain, therefore, that it’s false, though I actually give Dungy more of a shot at the job than Leach has.
So, where do things stand? First, the combination of Mike Glenn and Archie Manning are conducting this search with a very tight lid on top of it. There are likely going to be few leaks, and their goal, I’m told, is to make it to within 48 hours of announcing the new coach without anyone knowing.
They just might pull it off. However, coaches gossip, and there are ways to get nuggets of information that can be assembled to provide some compelling leads. We’re working as many of those angles as possible.
Along those lines, we continue to hear, from talking to people in the coaching/agent community, that Ole Miss continues to focus on established, currently employed head coaches. The one name we continue to hear most often is that of Southern Mississippi’s Larry Fedora. Arizona athletics director Greg Byrne likes Fedora as well, and it is believed by some in the coaching/agent community that Byrne will choose between Fedora and former Oregon coach Mike Belotti. All things being equal, would Fedora choose Ole Miss? I have no idea, though it’s certainly worth noting that Fedora is no idiot. He knows the Pac-10 South is much easier to win than the SEC West, which includes BCS Nos. 1-3 LSU, Alabama and Arkansas.
The other head coaching name that won’t go away, if you will, is that of Baylor’s Art Briles. The consensus opinion, however, of people in the coaching/agent community is Briles will not leave the state of Texas, certainly not for a job as difficult as Ole Miss. Briles is believed to be a strong candidate at Texas Tech once Tommy Tuberville leaves, and he (and Fedora as well) would be real candidates at Texas A&M should the Aggies decide to break with Mike Sherman before making the move to the SEC in July.
A couple of sources believe Ole Miss has kicked or will kick the proverbial tires on Miami’s Al Golden, but it’s believed he likely will either stay at Miami or wait for something else. **A little aside here: There are some whispers that South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier is set to announce his retirement soon, possibly really soon, so if that heats up, the coaching carousel will take a turn or two. Golden would likely be a candidate of interest at South Carolina, and the Gamecocks’ job would likely be pretty attractive.
Some other coaching names have come up in connection to the Ole Miss job. Syracuse’s Doug Marone, one source said Saturday, would love to return to the South. Marone is a Syracuse grad, but he spent time at Tennessee and with the New Orleans Saints and has a summer home in Tennessee that he plans to live in when he retires. A source close to Marone said Sunday he doubted if Marone would leave now, fresh after signing a seven-year deal with the Orange, but he’s one to keep an eye on.
St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ name popped up in some discussions late Saturday, but after checking his name out with a few people in the coaching/agent community, I’ve discounted those rumors, at least for now.
Houston’s Kevin Sumlin, who has guided the Cougars to the brink of a Sugar Bowl bid, is a hot commodity, but several programs don’t believe he’ll be a good fit. Don’t be surprised if Sumlin surfaces as the leading candidate at UCLA if the Bruins decide to move away from Rick Neuheisel.
Additionally, it’s believed from talking to multiple sources that Ole Miss wants whoever replaces Nutt to make a long-term commitment to the Rebels’ program. That is going to scare off some candidates. Inevitably, every discussion about the Ole Miss job, at some point, leads to the candidacies of Freeze and Louisiana-Lafayette coach Mark Hudspeth.
Freeze won again Saturday, defeating Middle Tennessee. The Red Wolves accepted a bid to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., following the game. Freeze grew up in Mississippi and covets the job, according to sources close to him.
Hudspeth’s Ragin’ Cajuns were idle this weekend. They’ll travel to Tucson Saturday to face Arizona. Should Ole Miss hire Hudspeth, it appears he would be a very popular pick among Mississippi high school coaches that don't already have extremely strong MSU ties -- and he would likely at least get a fair shake from most of them.
His recruiting contacts in Mississippi (he once was the offensive coordinator for Dan Mullen in Starkville, Louisiana and Alabama (Hudspeth had a successful stint as the head coach at North Alabama) are extremely strong, and he's done an excellent job of keeping those communication lines open. He signed 15 Mississippi kids in his 2011 class at ULL, and that made an impression. As unique as Mississippi recruiting is, he makes a lot of sense in that area.
This is rumor mill stuff, but we hear pretty consistently that Manning really is intrigued by Hudspeth while Glenn is close to and highly respectful of Freeze.
In the event that the search gets to the Hudspeth/Freeze level, don’t be surprised if Manning and Glenn take a long look at three coordinators on the list ? Alabama’s Kirby Smart, Texas’ Manny Diaz and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn. Smart remains very much a hot commodity, as does Diaz, while Malzahn’s chances at the North Carolina job might be diminishing. Yahoo! Sports national college football reporter Charles Robinson tweeted Saturday night that Malzahn was more interested in Ole Miss than he was North Carolina, adding that the Tar Heels might be focusing now on South Florida coach Skip Holtz. A source close to Malzahn denied part of that tweet late Saturday night, but Robinson’s information about Holtz and UNC appears to have legs.
How this search ends is anyone’s guess. We don’t believe that Ole Miss has focused in on any one candidate exclusively yet. We believe it will be one week from today, at the earliest, before any personal contact is made between Manning/Glenn and a prospective coach. How quickly will things move? Will there be multiple interviews? We don’t know. We do know that several coaches listed above are putting together prospective coaching staffs, but that’s somewhat par for the course for this time of year for two reasons. One, a coach wants to show preparedness in an interview setting and two, when a coach lands a new job in late November/early December, he is immediately behind the proverbial eight-ball on the recruiting trail. The clock is ticking long before the ink is dry.
One source familiar with the process said something very interesting today, however, and it’s worth following as the search unfolds. He said Manning and Glenn have a view of Ole Miss that is not necessarily shared by members of the coaching/agent community on the outside looking in. Their ability to sell their vision of what Ole Miss is and what it can be could prove to be critical in the coming 10-20 days.
Sure enough, late Saturday, as No. 1 LSU put the finishing touches on a 52-3 mauling of Nutt’s Rebels in Oxford, the World Wide Web was buzzing with rumors about supposed developments at Ole Miss.
So let’s address them. First, Mike Leach has not agreed to become the Rebels’ next head coach. In fact, according to multiple sources, Leach is not in consideration for the position at this time.
Secondly, rumors began to pop that Ole Miss was in negotiations with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, complete with dollar figures and the addition of Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze as offensive coordinator/coach-in-waiting. When I have run that rumor by sources familiar with Ole Miss’ search and/or in the coaching/agent community, it has been met with a hearty laugh. I’m fairly certain, therefore, that it’s false, though I actually give Dungy more of a shot at the job than Leach has.
So, where do things stand? First, the combination of Mike Glenn and Archie Manning are conducting this search with a very tight lid on top of it. There are likely going to be few leaks, and their goal, I’m told, is to make it to within 48 hours of announcing the new coach without anyone knowing.
They just might pull it off. However, coaches gossip, and there are ways to get nuggets of information that can be assembled to provide some compelling leads. We’re working as many of those angles as possible.
Along those lines, we continue to hear, from talking to people in the coaching/agent community, that Ole Miss continues to focus on established, currently employed head coaches. The one name we continue to hear most often is that of Southern Mississippi’s Larry Fedora. Arizona athletics director Greg Byrne likes Fedora as well, and it is believed by some in the coaching/agent community that Byrne will choose between Fedora and former Oregon coach Mike Belotti. All things being equal, would Fedora choose Ole Miss? I have no idea, though it’s certainly worth noting that Fedora is no idiot. He knows the Pac-10 South is much easier to win than the SEC West, which includes BCS Nos. 1-3 LSU, Alabama and Arkansas.
The other head coaching name that won’t go away, if you will, is that of Baylor’s Art Briles. The consensus opinion, however, of people in the coaching/agent community is Briles will not leave the state of Texas, certainly not for a job as difficult as Ole Miss. Briles is believed to be a strong candidate at Texas Tech once Tommy Tuberville leaves, and he (and Fedora as well) would be real candidates at Texas A&M should the Aggies decide to break with Mike Sherman before making the move to the SEC in July.
A couple of sources believe Ole Miss has kicked or will kick the proverbial tires on Miami’s Al Golden, but it’s believed he likely will either stay at Miami or wait for something else. **A little aside here: There are some whispers that South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier is set to announce his retirement soon, possibly really soon, so if that heats up, the coaching carousel will take a turn or two. Golden would likely be a candidate of interest at South Carolina, and the Gamecocks’ job would likely be pretty attractive.
Some other coaching names have come up in connection to the Ole Miss job. Syracuse’s Doug Marone, one source said Saturday, would love to return to the South. Marone is a Syracuse grad, but he spent time at Tennessee and with the New Orleans Saints and has a summer home in Tennessee that he plans to live in when he retires. A source close to Marone said Sunday he doubted if Marone would leave now, fresh after signing a seven-year deal with the Orange, but he’s one to keep an eye on.
St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ name popped up in some discussions late Saturday, but after checking his name out with a few people in the coaching/agent community, I’ve discounted those rumors, at least for now.
Houston’s Kevin Sumlin, who has guided the Cougars to the brink of a Sugar Bowl bid, is a hot commodity, but several programs don’t believe he’ll be a good fit. Don’t be surprised if Sumlin surfaces as the leading candidate at UCLA if the Bruins decide to move away from Rick Neuheisel.
Additionally, it’s believed from talking to multiple sources that Ole Miss wants whoever replaces Nutt to make a long-term commitment to the Rebels’ program. That is going to scare off some candidates. Inevitably, every discussion about the Ole Miss job, at some point, leads to the candidacies of Freeze and Louisiana-Lafayette coach Mark Hudspeth.
Freeze won again Saturday, defeating Middle Tennessee. The Red Wolves accepted a bid to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., following the game. Freeze grew up in Mississippi and covets the job, according to sources close to him.
Hudspeth’s Ragin’ Cajuns were idle this weekend. They’ll travel to Tucson Saturday to face Arizona. Should Ole Miss hire Hudspeth, it appears he would be a very popular pick among Mississippi high school coaches that don't already have extremely strong MSU ties -- and he would likely at least get a fair shake from most of them.
His recruiting contacts in Mississippi (he once was the offensive coordinator for Dan Mullen in Starkville, Louisiana and Alabama (Hudspeth had a successful stint as the head coach at North Alabama) are extremely strong, and he's done an excellent job of keeping those communication lines open. He signed 15 Mississippi kids in his 2011 class at ULL, and that made an impression. As unique as Mississippi recruiting is, he makes a lot of sense in that area.
This is rumor mill stuff, but we hear pretty consistently that Manning really is intrigued by Hudspeth while Glenn is close to and highly respectful of Freeze.
In the event that the search gets to the Hudspeth/Freeze level, don’t be surprised if Manning and Glenn take a long look at three coordinators on the list ? Alabama’s Kirby Smart, Texas’ Manny Diaz and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn. Smart remains very much a hot commodity, as does Diaz, while Malzahn’s chances at the North Carolina job might be diminishing. Yahoo! Sports national college football reporter Charles Robinson tweeted Saturday night that Malzahn was more interested in Ole Miss than he was North Carolina, adding that the Tar Heels might be focusing now on South Florida coach Skip Holtz. A source close to Malzahn denied part of that tweet late Saturday night, but Robinson’s information about Holtz and UNC appears to have legs.
How this search ends is anyone’s guess. We don’t believe that Ole Miss has focused in on any one candidate exclusively yet. We believe it will be one week from today, at the earliest, before any personal contact is made between Manning/Glenn and a prospective coach. How quickly will things move? Will there be multiple interviews? We don’t know. We do know that several coaches listed above are putting together prospective coaching staffs, but that’s somewhat par for the course for this time of year for two reasons. One, a coach wants to show preparedness in an interview setting and two, when a coach lands a new job in late November/early December, he is immediately behind the proverbial eight-ball on the recruiting trail. The clock is ticking long before the ink is dry.
One source familiar with the process said something very interesting today, however, and it’s worth following as the search unfolds. He said Manning and Glenn have a view of Ole Miss that is not necessarily shared by members of the coaching/agent community on the outside looking in. Their ability to sell their vision of what Ole Miss is and what it can be could prove to be critical in the coming 10-20 days.
