UM Hires KSU’s Burns As Safeties Coach

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The University of Mississippi announced today the hiring of Kansas State’s Keith Burns as the Rebels’ new safeties coach.  Burns is a former defensive coordinator at Southern Cal and Arkansas (1998-99 with Houston Nutt) and a former head coach at Tulsa.

“Keith brings a wealth of knowledge to our secondary,” Nutt said.  “He has coached a lot of great college players to reach the NFL level.  He has coordinated defenses at several schools and been successful at every stop.  Keith will provide a lot of energy and experience for our coaching staff.”

Burns replaces Kim Dameron on the Ole Miss staff.

For those who believe Nutt is feeling pressure in Oxford, it doesn’t appear that coaches in the profession agree.  Things change fast in the SEC, but for now let’s do a little reading between the lines:

Auburn — The Tigers have held on to all of their coaches this offseason.  If aides were worried about possible NCAA sanctions wouldn’t they have left?

Georgia — Stacy Searels is a Georgia native who’s turned down job offers in the past.  Wouldn’t he have turned down a lateral move to Texas if he still believed Mark Richt standing was on solid ground?

Ole Miss — The Rebels have added Gunter Brewer from Oklahoma State, Keith Burns from Kansas State and David Lee from the Miami Dolphins.  Wouldn’t those first two aides (from solid, secure college jobs) and Lee (from the NFL) have turned down Nutt if they thought they were going from a safe zone into a danger zone?