The Houston Nutt era will come to an end in Oxford November 26 after the annual Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. This announced resignation comes to no surprise to me. Nutt experienced moderate success when he first took over the Ole Miss program but the last few seasons have been no fairy tale while in the middle of a 12 loss streak in SEC games. Why was he not successful? Well, like any other coach in college football one has to be able to recruit. Based on ESPN’s recruiting rankings, Ole Miss’s 2009 class was ranked #22 while his 2010 and 2011 classes were both ranked at #25. One may say that a consistent top 25 recruiting class is pretty remarkable and that person is correct but when you are coaching in the SEC then your perspective of a top recruiting class is slightly modified. In 2009, LSU had the #1 recruiting class while Alabama was #2, Florida #5, Georgia #6, South Carolina #12, Tennessee #15 and Arkansas # 20. Similar numbers are reflected for the ’10 and ’11 classes, but the 2012 class rankings right now do not even have them sniffing the top 25 while Vanderbilt has moved into #25. If you cannot recruit, you cannot win. That is plain and simple. Nobody cares how good of an Xs and Os guy you are if you cannot get the talent into your institution.
Many feel like they had a good head coach under David Cutcliffe. He was the QB coach and Offensive coordinator for Peyton Manning, while being Eli Manning’s head coach at Ole Miss. He was fired because he did not want to fire some of assistants after administration wanted them gone so they get rid of him one year removed from tying the eventual National Champion LSU for the West division lead. They then hired Ed Orgeron who proved to be a bust and was fired. After two firings, Nutt was hired after being let go by Arkansas. This marks Ole Miss’s 3rd firing in a matter of years. Sounds like to me that it is OIe Miss’s administration problem…maybe that explains Athletic Director Pete Boone is scheduled to resign this summer.
Who does Ole Miss hire? Who do they bring in to bail them out? There is a lot of pressure building because they have add a very disappointing past few years while most importantly in state rival Mississippi State has one of the best coaches in the country and has pointed that program in the right direction. I have two thoughts when it comes to this position. They can either bring in a hot shit coordinator with no coaching experience or an up and coming Head coach from a smaller program. Names like Jon Gruden, Urban Meyer and Chris Peterson will arise but those three will have zero interest because they are established coaches that have no business trying to rebuild a program.
Here is a small list that I have composed of each thought.
Coordinators
1) Gus Malzahn. Gus was highly regarded as a star last year as the OC for Auburn but of course he did have Cam Newton to run his offense. He made it to the final round for the Vanderbilt job before he reportedly back out. I feel like he knew Vanderbilt would be struggle not because of recent lack of success but because of the academic standards. Academic standards? This is a problem that can be waived at Ole Miss.
2) Kirby Smart. Kirby is having one hell of a run at Alabama but is that more him or defensive guru Nick Saban? This is a good question. One that has to be recognized if his name comes into discussion. How has Saban’s tree done so far? Fisher, Dooley and Muschamp. You be the judge.
3) Manny Diaz. Diaz is the DC Texas under Mack Brown. He has extensive recruiting knowledge of Texas obviously but he has experience in the area being with Mid-Tenn. He is definitely a wild card to me because he has yet to prove he can stay on one spot for more than a few years for whatever reasons. Why do you hire a guy to build a program when his track record suggests that he will leave for a better opportunity?
Small Head Coaches
1) Bronco Mendenhall. Bronco has experienced a large amount of success at BYU which really impressive because of the academic standards and other things that a coach has to deal with when recruiting. I believe he would be a great fit at Ole Miss. They have a chance of getting him because of the money. Their yearly salary will be much more than what BYU can offer.
2) Sonny Dykes. Though his win/loss record at LaTech is not attention getting, he has lost a few games this season by one score or less incluing the near upset of Miss. St. The reason I like Dykes is because of his offensive scheme. He is a product of Mumme and Leach which is extremely important because Leach is one of the hottest coaches available but nobody wants the baggage he brings. Dykes brings Leach’s high scoring offense (which has worked in the SEC before at Kentucky) and a progressive mindset. I really like this fit.
3) Hugh Freeze. Anyone remember the coach from the Blindside? Not all the college coaches. The high school guy. The one that also got a job at Ole Miss after Michael Oher signed to play for the Rebels. Yeah, he has apparently made some noise in the “Young coaches with huge upside” category. He turned around a traditional loser NAIA program while is experiencing great success at Arkansas state as a first year head coach. He has the success, head coaching experience and most importantly he has ties with Ole Miss and their boosters.
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