On this Tax Day 2012 we thought it might be fun to take a little look at what the 14 SEC football programs are due in terms of returns this year and what each can “deduct” from their past year’s gains.

Here goes…

Alabama’s Due:  A brand new start from scratch.  The Tide lost three games the season after their last national title proving that it’s not as easy to repeat in real life as it is on paper.

Alabama Can Deduct:  The price of some fans’ souls that were sold to insure that Oklahoma State would lose to Iowa State last year.  As crazy as it seems now, if OSU doesn’t lose to ISU, Bama fans would still be grumbling that Nick Saban had lost two years in a row to LSU… ’cause there would have been no rematch with the Tigers and no BCS crown otherwise.

Arkansas’ Due:  A break.  The Razorbacks had everything rolling their way on the football front until Bobby Petrino rolled off the roadway with his mistress.  A nice, quiet week or two would be A-OK for most Hog fans.

Arkansas Can Deduct:  Take your pick — the price of Petrino’s motorcyle, the price of Jessica Dorrell’s Acura, or the price of a brand new football facility that Petrino helped get underway before his crisis.

Auburn’s Due:  A prove-it kind of season.  Gene Chizik’s gang has bookended a BCS title-winning season with a pair of 8-5 campaigns.  Will the real Tigers please stand up?

Auburn Can Deduct:  The cost of new offensive and defensive playbooks.  With Scot Loeffler and Brian VanGorder in, the old systems of Gus Malzahn and Ted Roof have already been scrapped.

Florida’s Due:  A return to the Top 10.  Or else.  Gator fans are used to winning and even though plenty of fans now realize the problems Will Muschamp inherited, UF needs to return to the top of the mountain to silence any grumblers.

Florida Can Deduct:  Bail costs.  There have been double-digit arrests in Gainesville since Muschamp’s arrival, but the vast majority of trouble-makers were brought to Gainesville by Urban Meyer.

Georgia’s Due:  Another SEC East title with that easy schedule.  On paper, everyone says the Dawgs have a cakewalk lined up for 2012.  In reality, the SEC rarely provides a truly easy path for anyone.

Georgia Can Deduct:  The cost of its drug testing program.  UGA’s system is as thorough and tough as any in the SEC and the powers-that-be aren’t planning to change it.  That doesn’t help Mark Richt when it comes to his thinned-out secondary, but it sends the right message about the school.

Kentucky’s Due:  A return to a bowl game.  Joker Phillips has got to have one.  The coach is on the hot seat entering 2012 and it will be hard for him to hang on to his job if he can’t manage a 6-6 regular-season record.

Kentucky Can Deduct:  The cost of winning the NCAA Tournament in basketball.  From the recruiting budget to the travel costs, UK’s hoops program helped put Cat fans in a lot better mood heading toward the fall.

LSU’s Due:  More success.  As crazy as Miles can sometimes be, the guy has proven to be a winner.  Sure he lost that rematch to Alabama in January and that left Tiger fans fuming, but he had toppled Saban in their two previous meetings… including one win on Bama’s home field in Game of the Century Part I.

LSU Can Deduct:  The price of Bobby Hebert’s press pass.  LSU fans were steamed about their school’s offensive gameplan in the BCS Championship Game — They had a gameplan? — but Hebert likely cost himself some love around the Tiger football facility with his postgame peppering of Miles.

Mississippi State’s Due:  A win over any SEC West team other than Ole Miss.  Dan Mullen has brought excitement to Starkville and beaten The School Up North three times, but he’s never beaten any other SEC West foe.  Not one.

Mississippi State Can Deduct:  The price of cupcakes.  In the hopes of securing six regular-season wins and bowl eligibility, the Bulldogs have lined up gimme games this fall against Jackson State, Troy, South Alabama and Middle Tennessee State.

Missouri’s Due:  To prove that they can compete in the SEC.  The program has taken some guff from old-guard fans who look down upon a Tiger program that hasn’t won a conference title since 1969.  Playing in the weaker — at least on paper — SEC East should help.

Missouri Can Deduct:  The cost of their new uniforms.  Some love ‘em.  Some hate ‘em.  But they’re definitely all Nike.  Where you come down on Nike will determine whether you’re part of the love group or the hate group.

Ole Miss’ Due:  For some baby steps to help prove that UM’s decision to go with Hugh Freeze over someone like Mike Leach was a wise move.  If Leach lights up the Pac-12 with Washington State before Freeze makes progress in Oxford, even Archie Manning’s halo might take a dent.

Ole Miss Can Deduct:  The price of halftime entertainment because most Rebel fans will likely be back out in the Grove by the time first halves end at UM this fall.

South Carolina’s Due:  A breakthrough season.  Steve Spurrier has built a program from the ground up.  They’ve won an East title.  They’ve won 11 games.  They’ve thumped a traditional power like Nebraska in a bowl game.  Now it’s time to win the league.  Don’t think that’s not Spurrier’s goal.

South Carolina Can Deduct:  The cost of the Whitney Hotel.  A number of players got discounted rates at the hotel and drew major attention from the NCAA, but it appears the Gamecocks have avoided any major penalties on that front.

Tennessee’s Due:  An 8-win season.  Sources close to Derek Dooley say the coach knows he needs to win at least eight games this year in order to keep the wolves from his door.  His roster is no longer thin or young and the Vols’ schedule is a bit easier.  Eight’s the goal at UT in 2012.

Tennessee Can Deduct:  The cost of interior decorators in the UT football complex.  Seven Dooley assistants out of nine departed after last season.  That’s a lot of redecorating.

Texas A&M’s Due:  A launching pad.  While the school talks about upgrading or replacing Kyle Field, we say go ahead and put in a launching pad.  ‘Cause if Kevin Sumlin turns out to be the right coach, the recruits in the state of Texas plus the SEC’s drawing power will make for a heckuva program moving forward.

Texas A&M Can Deduct:  The pain that Aggies will feel — though they won’t admit it — when Thanksgiving rolls around this year.  A&M made the right move by jumping to the SEC, but the loss of the school’s rivalry with Texas should be a blow to both schools and to college football.

Vanderbilt’s Due:  Forward progress.  James Franklin won six games and reached a bowl game in a year when most expected VU to win just two or three games.  Now he’s recruiting like never before.  The trick at this point is not to backslide.

Vanderbilt Can Deduct:  The cost of Clint Eastwood impression lessons for Franklin.  Vandy’s fiery coach played the tough guy role after losses to Georgia and Tennessee last year.  He’s already made himself a bit of a nuisance to fans around the SEC… and that’s music to the ears of Music City Dores’ fans.

Last night, Ole Miss needed an RPI-boosting homecourt win over Vanderbilt to keep its miniscule NCAA Tournament hopes alive.  The Rebels didn’t get the win.  In fact, they got much worse.

Vandy shredded UM’s defense and rolled to a 102-76 win in Oxford.  Home teams in the SEC are winning at a 72% clip this season (48-18) and that number is even more skewed if you take Kentucky’s many road wins out of the mix.  To lose at home is rare.  To be blown clean out of your home arena… almost never happens.

After the game, however, things got worse for the Rebels.  Teammates Jelan Kendrick and Reginald Buckner had to be separated by coaches and UM staff members outside the team’s locker room.  Kendrick would not enter the locker room “for some time after the game,” according to Hugh Kellenberger of The Jackson Clarion-Ledger.  He also reports that Kendrick was heard complaining about Buckner’s defense against Commodore big man Festus Ezeli.

Parrish Alford of The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal called Kendrick’s outburst “a profanity-laced tirade.”

Andy Kennedy — who likely needs an NCAA bid to save his job — said that the teammate-on-teammate brouhaha began on the bench during the game and that he would determine a disciplinary response:

“I’ll figure it out.  You guys would be amazed at what happens on a day-to-day basis.  You got a little taste of it tonight… I’ve been doing this 16 years and when you’re in practice there’s competition and guys are going to get emotional at times.  Obviously there’s a line that can’t be crossed.”

Making matters still worse, Ole Miss was hit with three technical foul calls, one coming after Rebel fans through debris onto the court… for a second time.

Kennedy is likely NIT-bound again.  He was blown out at home in what amounted to a must-win game.  His fans became so angry they threw cups and debris on the floor.  Two of his teammates had a postgame altercation.  Kendrick — who was viewed as a risk when he transferred in from Memphis — was in the middle of the dust-up.  All this in a season in which the coach has had to dismiss two players — including leading scorer Dundrecous Nelson — because they were busted smoking pot just hours after a game.

Add it up and Kennedy is in serious, serious trouble.  But Ole Miss is still searching for a new athletic director to replace Pete Boone.  So that bit of abnormality has to be factored into the equation.  Hmmm.  Can Archie Manning go find a basketball coach?  (What am I saying?  Rebel fans believe Manning can walk on water.)

Oh, and up next for Mississippi?  A short turnaround and a Saturday afternoon visit to Rupp Arena.  Ouch

While UM appears to be coming apart at the seams, Vanderbilt looks to be regaining form.  The Commodores hit on 17-of-24 shots from the floor (70.8%) and hit nine-of-11 from 3-point range (81.8%) in the first half alone.  For the game, Vandy shot 62.5% from the field and 63.2% from behind the arc.

Jeffery Taylor hit his first seven shots, had 18 points just seven minutes into the game and finished with 28 points and 9 boards for the Dores.

On signing day, Dan Mullen told a Mississippi State video crew that he doesn’t just preach values, he lives it every day in his program.  Ole Miss fans — familiar with Mullen’s many shots at the Rebels over the years — took his comments to be a thinly-veiled reference to new UM coach Hugh Freeze, a man who speaks often of his faith.

Asked about Mullen’s remarks by The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Freeze took the high road… as Houston Nutt often tried to do before him:

“I’m sure that all of us express our faith in different ways.  I have said from Day One that I’m far from perfect and do not claim to be and certainly don’t judge others.  I have said from Day One also that I have great respect for what he’s done there.  I give credit where credit’s due.  I look forward to trying to increase our momentum against them, but whether or not he meant that toward me — I don’t know why he would, because I will never.  I’m not going to talk about something I don’t know, Number One, and have no reason to think anything about me.

We’re not going to enter into negative recruiting.  It’s just not what we’re going to do. … Will we be 100% in that?  Probably not as a whole staff, but I don’t think that’s going to be the practice we adhere to…

I look forward to talking with him.  I do.  I know how we feel about that rivalry and I certainly understand it and I get it.  I’ve lived here.  But at the end of the day, I don’t know that it has to be a rift between the coaching staff because of it.  I’m going to want to beat them as bad as we can and he’d going to want to do the same, but I still think you can have a professional relationship.  I hope.

I don’t think he in any way in recruiting tried to do anything that was hurtful towards me personally or say anything about me.  And I know I didn’t him.”

Mullen is a needler.  He’s got a touch of Spurrier and a dash of Kiffin about him.  (Cue the “he’s a sweetheart” emails from MSU fans.)

We’ll see how long it take for MSU’s coach to get under the skin of UM’s new head man.

(Sidenote — Because MSU fans are already yelping we’ve changed the word “faith” above to “values.”  Mullen was referring to preaching about values, not preaching about faith.  This changes nothing, of course, as Rebel fans still took it as a shot at Freeze who is vocal about his faith, values, beliefs, etc.  And UM fans taking Mullen’s comment as an insult was what led the reporter from The JCL to ask Freeze his thoughts on the remark… and that’s what led us to post it here.

Here’s a link to the web clip.)

Yesterday, Ole Miss officially announced the hirings of three assistants for its football program:


* Former Rebel player Grant Heard will follow Hugh Freeze from Arkansas State where he was the Red Wolves’ passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.  In Oxford, he’ll be the receivers coach.

* Paul Jackson has been hired as UM’s new strength and conditioning coach.  Jackson is moving just up the road from Hattiesburg where he handled the same duties at Southern Miss last season.  From 2007 to 2010 he served on LSU’s strength staff.

* Finally, Mississippi has officially hired Wesley McGriff to be the team’s co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach.  McGriff comes to Ole Miss from Vanderbilt.

* It’s also been reported that a fourth coach — Dan Werner — will be taking over as UM’s quaterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.  Werner worked with Freeze on Ed Orgeron’s Ole Miss staff.  Werner comes to Ole Miss from a private high school where he has been serving as head coach.


Which brings us to the Vandy part of this story.  James Franklin got a lot of people believing on Nashville’s West End this year and nothing that’s happened since the end of the season should change that.  In fact, Vanderbilt’s starting to look like a real, live, honest-to-God SEC football program.

What do I mean by that?  McGriff is the second assistant coach Vandy has lost this year.  Chris Beatty left the Dores’ program to become a co-offensive coordinator at Illinois last week.

Also, Franklin himself has become a bit controversial.  He’s had postgame dust-ups with Georgia and Tennessee assistants (blame whoever you like).  He’s had at least one exiting player accuse him via Twitter of running players off his team.  And today there’s a bit more buzz.

Running back prospect I’Tavius Mathers has re-upped his commitment to Ole Miss because he “just felt like (Vandy’s coaches) weren’t being completely honest with me” regarding playing time.  The player’s father added: “He wanted to go to Vanderbilt.  But they were playing around with him on his playing time.  They were not being honest with me in what they wanted to do.”

So while Ole Miss is adding assistants and a top running back recruit, Vanderbilt is adding street cred.  Franklin has Vandy making the kind of headlines normally associated with the other 11 programs in the SEC.  And that’s a step in the right direction if you’re a Commodore fan.

Houston Nutt made $2.76 million last year in his final season at Ole Miss.  The man who replaced him can actually make more than that.  If he earns a heckuva lot of incentive bonuses.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Ole Miss officials have further outlined the salary structure for the new Revel football coach.  At Freeze’s introductory presser UM chancellor Dan Jones said the coach’s base salary would be $1.5 million with bonus opportunities that could bring that total in “excess” of $2.5 million.

Now UM spokesperson Kyle Campbell has revealed to The Clarion-Ledger’s Hugh Kellenberger that Freeze has “an opportunity to earn more than $1,400,000 in incentive payments.”  He also said the incentives “are based upon performance on the field and in the classroom.”

Do a bit of math — $1.5 million base salary plus > than $1.4 million in incentive bonuses — and you find that Freeze could make between $2.9 and $3 million next season for the Rebels.  Nice numbers.  But we suspect the majority of those bonuses will be awfully darn hard to hit. 

Talk to a hundred Ole Miss fans today and fifty will tell you new head coach Hugh Freeze is the perfect man for the job in Oxford. 

The other fifty will say the Rebels should have aimed higher. 

At a time when the Ole Miss fanbase desperately needed some healing, the school’s new hire has only added to the feeling of consternation.  That’s not Freeze’s fault, of course.  If you could move up the ranks from high school coaching to SEC assistant coaching to NAIA head coaching to low-level FBS head coaching to SEC head coaching in an eight-year span, you’d do it, too.

And Freeze has done well at every step.  You don’t rise like that without winning over a lot of people — a lot of skeptics — along the way.

But are there enough accomplishments on the coach’s short resume to make you believe Freeze is the man to lead Mississippi to its first SEC title since 1963?  That he’s got a better shot of reaching Atlanta than Houston Nutt, Ed Orgeron, David Cutcliffe or Tommy Tuberville had?

The answer, of course, is no.  And for that reason, we understand why the half of the UM fanbase that wanted Mike Leach or another more proven commodity as head coach are disappointed.  “A guy who could’ve at least guaranteed some fun on fall Saturdays wasn’t given a look… but a guy who was coaching girls basketball in 2004 was?”  Yeah, we hear ya.

Yesterday, Freeze was greeted warmly on the Ole Miss campus.  At his opening press conference he thrilled the 1,500 souls who showed up to hear him by announcing, “It’s good to get back to the University of Mississippi.”  Take that, Dan Mullen.

Freeze won the press conference, as they say.  But Nutt won his press conference with his folksy charm four years ago.  Introductory press conferences only go so far.

In the end, Freeze will be judged only by the number of wins he records.  And if that number is less than the number of wins put up by Leach at Washington State — fair or not — the UM fans who are scratching their heads today will be wagging their tongues in the years to come.


Other notes from Freeze’s grand unveiling:

* Mike Glenn, the FedEx executive who led the Ole Miss search committee alongside Archie Manning says Freeze was the #1 choice all along.  “I know leadership when I see it.”

* The search committee told UM chancellor Dan Jones that Freeze “is the best fit for Ole Miss.”

* Freeze — who’ll make $1.5 million per year with bonuses that could bring the package to $2.5 — said yesterday:  “If you want to walk into our offices and meeting rooms after about a week that we’ve been together and ask them what is our ‘it’ here, their answer will be real simple.  Offensively our ‘it’ will be to be a fundamentally efficient scoring machine.  That’s it.  That’s simple.  If you walk into our defensive room and ask our kids what is our ‘it,’ our defense will say, everyone of them will say, it is to relentlessly pursue the football and knock the ever-loving stink out of the ball-carrier.  That’s how it is.”

* Freeze wouldn’t say the words “Mullen” or “Mississippi State,” but he did say of the Egg Bowl:  “It’s not big, it’s paramount.  I have great respect for the job he’s done there and certainly take nothing away from that job, but being raised here, I have a quite good understanding of what that means.  The administration doesn’t have to tall me that. … Again, great respect for what they’ve done, but it’s about regaining the momentum.”

* Regarding his quick ascent in the coaching world, Freeze said:  “It’s a God thing to go from high school to here.  The time I spent here then left, that was devastating for me because of my love for this place.  My whole aspiration was to find a way to get back.”

* Freeze cried openly as he met with his Arkansas State team before leaving.  After a 10-minute talk, his ex-team gave him a standing ovation as he left the room.  That’s pretty impressive in its own right.

* The Rebels’ new coach made it clear that Ole Miss is his dream job:  “This is a destination place for me.  It is not a stop along the path.  It is where I want to live, it’s where I want to be, it’s where I want to retire.  This is home to me.”

* Some UM fans summed up their backing of Freeze’s hire with three words: “I trust Archie.”

* Freeze calls coaching his “ministry” and this long-time Jackson writer says that if the new guy “coaches as well as he preaches” then the Rebs got a winner.

* Freeze’s next big job?  Connecting with Ole Miss’ recruits.

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.

Wanted to catch you up on some of the coaching carousel chatter from around the conference.  Here’s goes…

* Arkansas could lose two coaches from its staff.  As noted here yesterday, offensive coordinator Garrick McGee is a candidate for the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.  An FAU-centric site claims that McGee is involved in “serious talks” with the school.

Meanwhile, special teams coach John L. Smith — a former head coach at four schools including Louisville and Michigan State — is a candidate for the top gig at his alma mater, Weber State.

* Tennessee receivers coach Charlie Baggett resigned his position today and it’s believed that he will return to the NFL next season… though some are calling the move a “retirement.”  There have been rumors and reports that leading receiver Da’Rick Rogers argued with Baggett on the sideline of UT’s loss to Kentucky last week.

* Speaking of Kentucky, receivers coach Tee Martin — a former national championship-winning quarterback at Tennessee — is believed to be high on Derek Dooley’s wish list to replace Baggett.  For Martin, going from Joker Phillips’ third staff to Dooley’s third staff might be like jumping from the frying pan to the fire.

* It looks like Texas A&M will hang on to Mike Sherman after all thanks in large part to his $9 million buyout.  A&M AD Bill Byrne is asking fans for patience.

That hasn’t stopped this writer from The Houston Chronicle from calling for Sherman’s ouster.

* At Ole Miss, the search committee met with chancellor Dan Jones yesterday to update him on the hunt for Houston Nutt’s replacement.  Larry Fedora of Southern Miss continues to be mentioned in connection with the Rebel post — as well as with the opening at North Carolina.  To date, Fedora has not denied interest in the Ole Miss position and his AD, Richard Giannini, has refused to comment on whether or not UM officials have asked to speak with his coach.

Meanwhile, reports suggest West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen — who is in his first year in Morgantown — is in the mix in Oxford.  Given his actions last spring, perhaps Holgorsen likes the idea of coaching near Tunica.

Ex-Rebel aide and current Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze continues to be tied with the Mississippi job as well, though he’s talking only about his team’s upcoming game with Troy.  His school has not given him permission to meet with representatives of other schools until after this weekend’s game.

It currently looks as though UM’s search will stretch into next week. 

* There continue to be conflicting reports regarding Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.  Some sites have claimed that Smart impressed UM search committee members when he met with them.  Other outlets — including The Tuscaloosa News — have said that Smart hasn’t even met with Archie Manning and crew yet.

Regardless, his name remains on UM’s short list.

* Down the road at Mississippi State, Dan Mullen is still being tossed around as a leading candidate to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State.  Yesterday, Mullen’s ex-assistant Mark Hudspeth — now the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette and no longer a candidate at Ole Miss — said his old boss “would do a really good job there.”  (Hudspeth downplayed a Tim Brando question about whether or not he would want to replace Mullen at MSU if Mullen left for Happy Valley.)

Mullen and Mississippi State AD Scott Stricklin continue to shoot down the Penn State talk.  Mullen said today that he has not been contacted by Penn State “or any other school.”  Stricklin went a step further: “I haven’t been contacted by Penn State and Dan hasn’t been contacted by Penn State.  It’s not a story, period.”

MSU’s coach continues to say he’s happy in Starkville and that’s leading more and more people to believe Mullen really is going to be at Mississippi State for the long haul.

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).

The odds of Ole Miss approaching, interviewing, selecting and hiring James Franklin away from Vanderbilt are slim.  Very slim.  So slim that no one is even mentioning the possibility.

But we believe Archie Manning and crew could do worse than lining up a chat with Vandy’s Mr. Turnaround.

In his first season, Franklin has taken a program coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons and already won five games with two to play.  If his Commodores defeat Tennessee and/or Wake Forest, they’ll be bowl eligible for just the second time since 1982.  If he wins both games and then manages a bowl victory, the Commodores would have just their third eight-win season since 1955.

Perhaps more impressive than VU’s 5-5 record at the moment is just how competitive the Dores have been inside the SEC:

Beat Ole Miss 30-7 (think the Archies remember that one?)

Lost to South Carolina 21-3

Lost to Alabama 34-0

Lost to Georgia 33-28 (had a chance to win the game in the final
seconds)

Lost to Arkansas 31-28 (should have beaten the Hogs)

Lost to Florida 26-21 (showed incredible fight to bounce back from previous heartbreaker)

Beat Kentucky 38-8 (destroyed their long-time cellar-mate)

This summer — with nothing to sell but his message and hope — the first-year coach began putting together an eye-popping recruiting class.  Now with the ability to tell recruits, “think of what we can do with you on our team,” Franklin could possibly land a Top 20 signing class.  Mull that one over for a second or two.

He’s also changed the culture inside the Vanderbilt locker room.  After a particularly snippy game with Georgia, Franklin summed up this program’s attitude thusly:

“We’re also gonna fight.  I want to make sure everybody understands that.  We are not gonna sit back and take stuff from anybody.  Anybody.  No one.  Those days are long gone.  And they are never coming back.  Ever.”

To Vandy fans, that’s equivalent of Mel Gibson’s “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom” speech from “Braveheart.”

Frankin would also help the oft-mentioned race issue facing Ole Miss’ recruiters.  While some Rebel fans refuse to acknowledge the obvious obstacle that the school’s Civil War-related nickname and imagery creates for coaches, Manning and the UM administration are certainly aware of it.  Having a black head coach might help to silence the initial “Mississippi Burning” fears of some recruits and their parents.

Would it be wise for Ole Miss to make a run at someone with such a short track record?  Well, if the Rebels are going to wind up with an assistant coach from elsewhere as their new head coach, Franklin would actually bring more experience to the table.

Neither options would be a safe bet, but Franklin’s certainly shown that he has the moxie to lead and the know-how to recruit.

Franklin has also made numerous comments in his first season at Vanderbilt suggesting that he’d like to see better fan support for his players.  He’s gone out of his way to praise other schools’ fans for “arriving early” and “staying late,” something VU fans haven’t often done this season.  So there might be at least some reason to believe he’d bail on Vandy after a year.

More money, less stringent academics, better fan support (if he could lure Rebel fans out of The Grove and into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium) might all cause Vandy’s coach to consider a cross-conference move.  It’s certainly been done a time or two in the past couple of decades (Houston Nutt, Tommy Tuberville, Gerry DiNardo, and while Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban detoured to the NFL, they too have coached a pair of SEC programs).

In the end, I don’t believe Ole Miss will give Franklin serious consideration.  I also don’t think he would make the move from Nashville to Oxford just one year into his current tenure.  He might not see Ole Miss as a step-up, to be perfectly blunt.

But that doesn’t mean UM’s search committee shouldn’t consider him.  He’s proven more as a head coach than frequently mentioned candidates Kirby Smart, Gus Malzahn and Manny Diaz.