After turning down Vanderbilt last year and being named in connection with Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas, Southern Miss and Ole Miss since, Gus Malzahn has agreed to become the next head coach at Arkansas State.

Read that again.  Arkansas State.

Now mull this one over: Malzahn will reportedly make about $850,000 a year at ASU… as opposed to the $1.3 million he makes each year at Auburn.

Four things may be at play here:

1.  Malzahn — a Fort Smith native — wants to get back to his Arkansas roots.

2.  Malzahn truly believes ASU gives him the best chance to win and further his career.

3.  Malzahn realizes that his stock has fallen since Cam Newton departed and he’d better get while the getting is good.

4.  Malzahn just wanted the heck out of Auburn for some reason.

Whatever his reasons for leaving, Malzahn is now the second coordinator Gene Chizik must replace on his staff.  Defensive coordinator Ted Roof saw the writing on the wall and left for Central Florida last week.

This latest move seems to be a fitting end to a year that left so many fans on The Plains disappointed.  Their Tigers went 7-5, were blown out in the Iron Bowl, and now go into the Chick-fil-A Bowl without their best player (Mike Dyer), their defensive coordinator, and possibly their offensive coordinator (if Malzahn jumps to ASU ASAP as expected).

Of course, we tried to warn folks back in August that AU would struggle with so many young, inexperienced players taking over so many key positions.  Remember when Tiger fans were so angry over “disrespect” from preseason pollsters who only had Auburn ranked around #15?

In our view, 2011 shouldn’t have been disappointing, it should have been expected.

At any rate, here’s what’s being said about Malzahn’s move:

Gus Malzahn leaving Auburn

Malzahn leaves Auburn

Auburn’s Malzahn moving on

When the Ole Miss head coaching job came open, one of the first names mentioned as a potential candidate was that of Gus Malzahn.  But the Rebels tabbed former Arkansas State head coach Hugh Freeze instead.  Now Malzahn is being mentioned in connection to the job Freeze left.

Auburn’s offensive coordinator obviously has Arkansas ties.  He’s also been tied to openings at Vanderbilt, Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas, Southern Miss and Ole Miss in the last two seasons.  So it’s no surprise he’s getting some pub when it comes to the Red Wolves’ current search.

But would Malzahn — after being considered (reportedly) by so many larger schools — seriously entertain thoughts of taking over at Arkansas State?  We doubt it. 

But never say never.

Ready for a pun?  I started to headline this post: “Ole Miss To Announce Hiring Freeze.”

Hugh Freeze of Arkansas State will be introduced today at 3pm ET as the Rebels’ next head football coach.  As the school put it in a press release:

“A Mississippi native, inspirational leader and one of the nation’s top rising coaches, Hugh Freeze was the first choice to return championships to Ole Miss Football and will be introduced as the Rebels’ 37th head coach today…”

The whole “first choice” part might not be exactly true as a few reports have claimed Southern Miss’ Larry Fedora — who’s being listed in connection with several higher-profile jobs, including Texas A&M — turned down overtures from Archie Manning’s search committee.

Freeze may well turn out to be the right choice for the job, but he certainly isn’t the splashy choice.

Fedora has turned Southern Miss into arguably the best program in the state of Mississippi.  He’s also lived in the state for four years and knows every dusty Delta backroad when it comes to recruiting inside the Magnolia State.

Mike Leach and Rich Rodriguez were available for pursuit as well.  Manning and crew decided to look elsewhere.  Now Freeze will be held up to the successes (or failures) that Leach and Rodriguez have at Washington State and Arizona respectively.

Also, we do not believe Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart — despite several reports to the contrary — was ever given a serious look by the UM search committee.

If Fedora, Leach, Rodriguez and/or Smart flourish elsewhere while Freeze becomes the umpteenth UM coach to flame out by The Grove, it might just put a tiny dent in ol’ #18′s halo.

We have no problem with Manning and crew deciding not to pursue an assistant like Smart.  The Rebel program needs a proven head coach at this point.  Unfortunately, Freeze is hardly proven.

As you’re sure to hear time and again in the coming weeks, months and years, Freeze was coaching high school football and girls’ basketball in 2004 at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis.  His star player there was Michael Oher of “The Blind Side” fame.

Ed Orgeron plucked Freeze from the high school ranks — and landed Oher, too — when he made the coach an assistant AD for football external affairs in 2005.  In 2006 he became Orgeron’s recruitng coordinator and tight ends coach.  He then became the team’s receivers coach as well.

When Orgeron was ousted in 2007, Freeze headed to NAIA Lambuth University as head coach.  He went 20-5 at Lambuth in 2008 and 2009.

In 2010, he moved to Arkansas State as offensive coordinator.  The team finished 4-8 and head coach Steve Roberts was replaced by Freeze last offseason.  In his first year as head coach of the Red Wolves, Freeze led the team to a 10-2 record and a Sun Belt Conference title.

While his rise has been impressive, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this is a mighty big gamble or Ole Miss.  Freeze may eventually prove that he was indeed the best choice the UM search committee could make.  But there’s not much on the resume — at least not on the BCS level — to suggest that will be the case.  It’s a long way from coaching girls basketball to competing with Nick Saban, Les Miles and Bobby Petrino in the toughest division in college football.

Archie Manning released a video on UM’s official website today announcing the hire.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger has more here.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has more here and here.

Before we sign off for the night, we wanted to bring you some of the news and rumors surrounding the head coaching job at Ole Miss.  We’ll start with the fan favorites.

Though Mike Leach and Gus Malzahn are likely at the top of most Rebel fans’ wish lists, we don’t believe either man will wind up in Oxford.  We’ve crossed Leach off the list because we don’t believe Ole Miss will even consider him for the job.  And we don’t believe Malzahn will have more interest in Ole Miss than he did Vanderbilt and Maryland last offseason.  Many people believe he’s ticketed for North Carolina anyway.

So where might UM turn?

* Mike Herndon of The Mobile Press-Register believes Archie Manning’s search committee should act boldly.  In his view Leach or Charlie Strong or Malzahn or Kirby Smart should be on the Rebel list.

* Art Briles of Baylor is starting to get some mentions in connection with the Ole Miss job.  Mac Engel of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that BU should toss Briles a raise in order to keep him in Waco.

* Doug Segrest of The Birmingham News believes Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians could wind up in the Ole Miss mix as well.  Arians has previously served as an assistant in the SEC and he was Peyton Manning’s quarterback coach during his rookie year in Indianapolis… thus the connection to Archie.

* Meanwhile, Louisiana-Lafeyette’s Mark Hudspeth says he’s “not been contacted” by UM officials and that he’s happy with the Ragin’ Cajuns.  Hudspeth is a Magnolia State native and a former assistant to Dan Mullen at Mississippi State.

* Hudspeth and fellow Sun Belt coach Hugh Freeze both have their programs — UL and Arkansas State, respectively — headed to bowl games this season.  Freeze is a former Ole Miss assistant under Ed Orgeron.

Among the names our sources continue to mention in connection with the Ole Miss job are: Briles from Baylor, Freeze from Arkansas State, Hudspeth from Louisiana-Lafayette, Sonny Dykes from Louisiana Tech, Larry Fedora from Southern Miss, and assistants Malzahn (Auburn), Smart (Alabama), and Manny Diaz (Texas by way of Mississippi State).

Defensive back Kivon Coman from Florence (Ala.) High School has committed to Mississippi State.

Coman considered scholarship offers from South Florida, Arkansas State and South Alabama before committing to Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs have 17 commitments for the class of 2012.

Arkansas picked up its fifth commitment for 2012 this morning.  Offensive lineman Cordale Boyd of Memphis is the latest to publicly pick the Hogs.

Boyd had offers from Vanderbilt, Memphis and Arkansas State.

Last week, I was receiving kudos from Auburn fans because we at MrSEC.com had remained “objective” in our coverage of the Cam Newton.  Specifically, I personally had written that despite everyone’s suspicions and suppositions there had been no proof whatsoever that Auburn had done anything wrong in its recruitment of Newton.

I was hailed as a true Journalist!  Capital J, baby.

Well, yesterday, I quickly scanned the NCAA’s statement on Newton and posted what amounted to a quick “Thank God this mess is over” piece.  But then I finished up a couple of radio/TV hits and re-read the NCAA’s release.  And then I re-read it again.

At that point I posted two facts:

1.  The investigation isn’t over, after all.

2.  The NCAA has set a bizarre precedent with its ruling.

Predictably, Auburn fans then emailed to say that I was mad things didn’t turn out the way I’d wanted.  That I’d been against Newton all along.  That I’m not a reporter… I’m a sleazy “blog guy.”

So to be fair and objective one must come down on the same team’s side every time on every issue? 

I write this only to point out one thing: If you’re looking for a homer website, look elsewhere.  At MrSEC.com, this football season we’ve pulled for and against every single team in the conference.  Our job is to cover these teams.  We like upsets, we like feel-good stories, we like heroes.  So we really don’t care — we can’t care — who wins the SEC. 

If you want a site that’s going to be 100% pro- or 100% anti- a certain SEC squad, buy a Rivals.com subscription and suckle at the teat of your own institution.  We just give you facts and objective opinions.

And Auburn fans, sometimes that means we have to state facts like these: This investigation isn’t over and the NCAA set a bizarre precedent.

Now the Newton fall-out from across the web…


1.  ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski writes that the NCAA has exposed a loophole in its rulebook.

2.  SI.com’s Stewart Mandel says the NCAA has set a new precedent.  (Damn all these anti-Auburn people!)

3.  SI.com’s Andy Staples says the NCAA’s ruling was sound… but a loophole now exists.

4.  Southern Cal — like a lot of schools — has to be wondering why Newton and Auburn got the benefit of the doubt while they themselves did not.

5.  Kalani Simpson of FoxSports.com says that the NCAA simply decided not to cancel Auburn’s party.

6.  Dave Curtis of The Sporting News says that Newton’s eligible, but the case isn’t closed.  (The nerve of these hacks.  Not a journalist in the lot!)

7.  Tony Barnhart of The AJC writes that the NCAA got it right in the Newton case.

8.  The website SportsByBrooks writes that Damon Stoudamire’s situation at Arizona in 1995 was very similar to that of Newton… but the NCAA suspended Stoudamire for a game.

9.  Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News believes the NCAA’s ruling exposes a loophole.  (Stop me if you’ve heard this…)

10.  Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News says Auburn and the NCAA got things right.

11.  Gene Chizik said yesterday that he’s “glad to get all that behind us.”


And we here at MrSEC still have a few views (and questions) to share about the Newton ruling, too:


1.  This ruling and it’s timing are great for the SEC.  Yesterday’s release by the NCAA basically clears Newton for Saturday and lifts a mighty big cloud from over the Georgia Dome.  The story leading up to the SEC Championship Game won’t be “Will Newton be declared ineligible?”  Instead the story will be “Game on!”


2.  If you don’t believe Mike Slive has power, look only to the timing of this announcement.  It’s almost as if the SEC’s commissioner called the folks in Indianapolis and said, “Guys, hurry this thing up… we’ve got a pretty big game to play.”  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  That’s his job.  Slive is employed by the SEC’s member institutions to lead the sporting side of things.  Sometimes that means he’s a traffic cop.  But it always means he’s working in the best interest of the conference’s schools.  To push for a quick Newton clearance is no different than his recent attempts to fend off a lengthy NCAA suspension by dropping eight games on Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl.


3.  Auburn fans hoping that this story will go away need to step back and ask themselves what they would be saying if this same situation had played out at Alabama.  They’d be kicking and screaming and crying and yelping that the SEC and the NCAA were lookin’ out for Bama.  So please save us the “Why won’t you let it end?” comments.  The NCAA’s investigation is continuing.


4.  Fans of other SEC schools who can’t believe the NCAA’s ruling — and that includes you Alabama fans who are furious today — cool it.  If you’d like for some NCAA investigators to start snooping around your campus, just raise your hands.  Yeah.  I didn’t think so.  You want “justice” like William Wallace wanted “Freedddoommmmm!!!!’”  I know.  But if you were in an Auburn fan’s shoes, you’d be grumbling about a press that’s out to get ya, too.


5.  Personally, I wish the NCAA had been able to wrap everything up yesterday.  I’m tired of the name “Cam Newton.”  I find myself typing it over and over like Jack Torrance at the Overlook Hotel.  No one would have been happier to see the NCAA come out with definitive “nothing happened, move along” statement.  Unfortunately, it did not.


6.  If Newton didn’t know what his father was doing, then I am glad that the young man wasn’t declared ineligible moving forward.  However, didn’t Joe Schad of ESPN report that a source told him that Newton phoned a “recruiter” for Mississippi State and told him that “the money was too much” elsewhere for him to go to MSU?  Who was that source?  Perhaps Schad ran with bad information, but that tidbit has been forgotten.  Joe, you got anything to say about that one?


7.  For Newton’s sake — as I said — I’m glad he wasn’t ruled ineligible.  He’s the best player I’ve ever seen at quarterback and he’s handled this mess with incredible composure and focus.  But for the sake of college athletics, I think the NCAA should have taken some action to discourage parents and guardians from asking for money.  The Damon Stoudamire ruling would have been sufficient.  Newton should’ve been retroactively suspended for the Arkansas State game.  AU should have been made to forfeit that game.  With that ruling, Auburn would still be in the SEC Championship Game and it would be up to BCS voters to decide how much to penalize what would be a 1-loss Auburn squad for a forfeited game against Arkansas State.  That would have sent a message to other people to not ask for cash.  You know, as the rulebook states.


8.  Tony Barnhart contacted the SEC office to determine why the following league bylaw does not render Newton ineligible.


“If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student-athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career.”


The response?  The Newtons did ask for money but they did not necessarily agree to take money if it had been offered.

We’ll pause for Auburn fans to cheer.  And for everyone else on earth to roll their eyes.

No, from what we know, Cecil Newton did not agree to take $100,000 to $180,000 dollars.  He only asked for it.  And if MSU boosters had forked over a check I guess we’re supposed to believe Newton would have said:

a)  I’ve had a change of heart, no thanks.

b)  Fellas, I was just joshing around.  I didn’t mean I really wanted that cash.

c)  No, no.  I wanted the money in Swedish Kronors. 

Auburn fans, I only ask you if you’d be okay with that ruling if Mark Ingram were the player in question and not a Tiger. 

I understand the ruling, but I think it’s fishy at best. 

Finally, both Clay Travis of Fanhouse.com and SportsByBrooks.com have tackled the legal side of this thing. 

Travis spoke with Slive. 

SportsByBrooks looks as the legal definition of criminal solicitation.