Hotty toddy, gosh almighty, who the hell are we? Ole Miss is asking itself the question following coach Hugh Freeze's stunning resignation Thursday after school officials found a "pattern" of personal conduct issues that included phone calls to a number associated with a female escort service.
Freeze went 39-25 at Ole Miss and guided the Rebels to a Sugar Bowl win, two victories over Alabama when the Tide were ranked in the top three and several decorated recruiting classes. He also leaves the program in a perilous spot, as Ole Miss self-imposed a postseason ban this season, already is operating with self-imposed scholarship reductions and still faces the outcome of an NCAA investigation that traces back to 2012.
Ole Miss will get through the season with Matt Luke, the team's co-offensive coordinator and line coach promoted Thursday to interim head coach, before pursuing Freeze's permanent successor. It will be no ordinary search, given the timing and the uncertainty around the program.
Thankfully, ESPN.com's search firm is always working, and it convened for a surprise midsummer brainstorming session. Andrea Adelson and Edward Aschoff (an Oxford, Mississippi, native) joined me to break down the Ole Miss job, the strategy for the search and the candidates the school should pursue.
Where the Ole Miss job stands today
Aschoff: Coaches will probably tread lightly, considering the SEC West. I just wonder whether there's going to be a stigma that you can't win unless you cheat. That's going to be on the minds of a lot of coaches who look at this job. You also have to consider there could be some other big jobs around the country coming open, especially in the SEC, so I think it's going to be low on the totem pole for any big-name coach who's available.
Adelson: I still think it's an incredibly difficult place to win and recruit players to. When you look at the way that division is set up and the way it's going to be in the future, how are you going to compete with Alabama and LSU and Auburn? You have to figure out: How am I going to win here while staying clean and changing the image of the program? There's a lot that's unattractive about this job, even if there were no NCAA investigation, because of where the program sits. It's an extremely difficult place to win.
Rittenberg: The benefit here is you get through the season, it's going to be a lost season, and there hopefully will be a resolution from the NCAA. So any coach who wants to take the job will know what he's facing, as far as additional sanctions. That's the big unknown here. Because if the NCAA accepts what Ole Miss has imposed and with Freeze no longer there, maybe it won't take so long to turn it around. If it tacks on additional scholarship penalties, that's going to be a very tough situation.
Aschoff: The facilities are beautiful. That's something not really talked about with Ole Miss a lot, but the school has been pretty proactive the past few years and even before [athletic director] Ross Bjork got there to make sure the football program is taken care of behind the scenes. The Rebels can obviously compete with the look and the feel of the program, but [candidates] are going to have to consider what the administration will look like, too. You have Bjork going up against the NCAA and backing a coach who just resigned. What does this look like for Bjork's future? For other administrators? It's really murky. I don't think any coach is going to look at this school until all of that is done. There's just so many unknowns with this job right now, and with its history, there's going to be "It's going to revert back to old Ole Miss" talk. If the NCAA were to impose a bowl ban [in 2018], players who would be seniors can transfer immediately, without restriction, and others would be able to transfer with a waiver. That's another thing coaches are going to have to consider.
Adelson: I spoke to a coach today who has very strong beliefs about what it takes to win in that conference, and there's this overarching belief among some coaches outside the conference that the only way to win in the SEC is by cheating. I hear that from coaches all the time. If you're looking at other schools around you cheating, how are you going to sit there and try to win with integrity? Do you feel pressured to have to cheat, too?
Ole Miss' strategy for its coaching search
Adelson: The Rebels have to bring in a coach who has integrity or speaks about integrity. The No. 1 thing they have to go after is a coach a lot of people can vouch for as having integrity. Because that has been missing since Hugh Freeze walked in that door. Everybody was waiting for this moment to come from Ole Miss. Nobody thought he was a clean coach. Everybody thought he was dirty from the outset. If you're Ole Miss, you have to project that we're going to do everything the right way with a coach who has integrity. Because nobody believes anything positive about Ole Miss right now. One way to change it is by bringing in somebody who can work at changing that image. I'm looking for a coach who has never been in trouble with the NCAA, who doesn't have any whispers about being a cheater, who doesn't have people saying he's a bad dude. They really need to vet the person because that person is going to be instrumental in changing the way people perceive Ole Miss.
Aschoff: You've got to find somebody with head-coaching experience, who has been able to prove he can turn programs around or has some type of consistent level being a relevant national coach. It's going to be hard, but if they keep the core of that 2016 class and they don't get another bowl ban [from the NCAA], they'll be able to lure a name that they could get and be, "All right, this is something we can build on and get back close to where we were with Hugh Freeze."
Rittenberg: The Matt Rhule situation at Baylor shows that even a program in worse shape, perception-wise, can get a coach who has a pretty good reputation. It has to be somebody with head-coaching experience because he'll be walking into an unusual situation. There are obviously some good coordinators out there, but this person has to know what it's like to run a program and has to have at least the perception that he's above board in terms of how he recruits. It's going to be very difficult, even with Ole Miss' history, to sell that coach if he doesn't have that sterling exterior reputation. Every coach has some stuff in his personal background, but it's even more important that the football side, the recruiting side, is as squeaky clean as possible, while also giving you the chance to compete in that division.
Aschoff: You've got to have SEC experience, especially in recruiting. It's going to be tough to rebuild Ole Miss with an outsider in the SEC. I don't think that's going to happen. Recruiting in the state is always going to be tough, but [Mississippi State coach] Dan Mullen, he was an outside of the state but not the SEC and has done pretty well recruiting. If you can keep that top talent in the state, you're going to be able to do all right. You've got to be able to stretch out into Florida and Texas and Alabama and Georgia.
Rittenberg: Ole Miss fans will love us saying they need a Dan Mullen type there, but I don't disagree with you.
The candidates
USF coach Charlie Strong
He coached at Ole Miss before [wide receivers coach in 1990]. They don't have an internal culture program there, but he's somebody who can be the disciplinarian. He's going to get a team that's down on its luck and can get it back ready to play. He knows how to recruit the South. Everyone in the South knows who he is. I don't think he would have any trouble being able to recruit at a high level at Ole Miss. Also, the first black coach at Ole Miss would go a long way, whether it's Strong or somebody else. This is a program that will forever have that issue of its past. If you're able to bring in a renowned black coach, that would do wonders for the Rebels' recruiting, especially after all this. -- Aschoff
The image of the program would be immediately a little different. It would be viewed as a progressive, different type of hire -- you're hiring a guy who understands how to succeed in that SEC recruiting realm but doesn't have that he's-got-to-cheat-to-win feel about him. -- Rittenberg
People would just point to Texas, honestly. Even though he has great character and has won at other places, people will bring up Texas and say the dynamics at Ole Miss are more similar to Texas than they are to Louisville or USF. So if you're taking a coach who did not have success on the highest stage and put him into what many believe is the best conference and the most difficult division in the country, then what's going to be different? That would be the criticism launched at Ole Miss with Strong. -- Adelson
Memphis coach Mike Norvell
Norvell makes a lot of sense. He's personable, and he runs a similar type of offense, and that's going to be important for the continuity with the way they've tried to win there and the players they have there. The last thing you want to do is bring in a head coach who's going to radically change some of the philosophies, because then you really can't win. -- Adelson
He's a young guy but very close in proximity to Ole Miss. If he has a good year at Memphis, and the Tigers are favored to win the American, that could become very intriguing. -- Rittenberg
I like the idea of Norvell. Ole Miss fans would just have to get over the Memphis ties. -- Aschoff
Former LSU and Oklahoma State coach Les Miles
The only reason he would make sense is he has coached on that side of the division and has won on that side. If he has learned his lesson -- you'd have to be absolutely adamant that we need to run basically the same thing we're doing on offense if you want to have a job here, and make sure he hires a coordinator who can do that. If he has learned his lesson and does that, it's the only way the hire makes sense. He has to be willing to change. -- Adelson
He has a national championship. He has a bunch of 10-win seasons. He has a ton of experience in that Ole Miss-LSU rivalry and recruiting the Southeast. If he's a guy who has changed his philosophy on how to manage offenses, then he's a guy you can bring in to take hold of that locker room. You're not going to have issues with a Les Miles locker room in Oxford. It all hinges on how he sells those administrators on what he would do with the offense. -- Aschoff
I don't trust him. He would be able to lead the program, would be able to recruit and command a locker room and administrate. But it comes down to mismanagement of an offense for years in Baton Rouge. Unless you're trying to hire him as a bridge to the next coach, which is possible, it's not a long-term solution. -- Rittenberg
SMU coach Chad Morris
His background might be so similar to Hugh Freeze's, and this is the case with a couple of the candidates, and SMU would have to have a good season, but he's a guy in position to land a Power 5 job. He runs an exciting offense. He has recruited in the Southeast and in Texas. He would be able to limit the recruiting damage. -- Rittenberg
I don't know if he has proved enough at SMU. Norvell at least had success at Memphis right out of the gate. But I will preface that by saying these are two completely different situations: Morris had to rebuild SMU from basically nothing, and Norvell inherited a great situation when he replaced Justin Fuente at Memphis. Morris has plenty of potential, and a big season will send Power 5 schools his way. -- Adelson
Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield
I don't know whether they would look at him, but he has done a great job there. He's getting closer to a Power 5 job. It would be a big jump for him, but he's very much entrenched in that North Carolina, SEC/ACC territory, so he would be interesting. -- Rittenberg
Another coach who might not be well known among casual college football fans, but he has done a terrific job at Appalachian State. The Mountaineers haven't really missed a beat since moving into the FBS, but I wonder the same as with Blake Anderson -- is he a big enough name? -- Adelson
Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson
I don't know if you want to go Arkansas State again after Freeze, but if he has a good year, he's moving closer to a Power 5 job. -- Rittenberg
He has had great success at Arkansas State and runs a similar offense, but I wonder whether he is a big enough name. -- Adelson
Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin
The drama is obviously there. He has a history of it. But if you want to bring somebody in who's going to rejuvenate that program, Kiffin's going to do it. He's going to immediately spar with Dan Mullen and Nick Saban, which will fire up that fan base. And he's a great recruiter. He would be able to sell Ole Miss. He would be fantastic with QB Shea Patterson. -- Aschoff
He's too risky. There are other options. Ole Miss is going to get hit with NCAA violations, and then it would bring in a guy the NCAA would immediately scrutinize? It's just too hot. I don't think you need to do that, and you shouldn't make this decision based on a quarterback currently in the program. -- Rittenberg
Duke coach David Cutcliffe (coached Ole Miss from 1998 to 2004)
He would be the absolute home-run hire for Ole Miss. He's absolutely what Ole Miss needs right now. His son is there coaching at Oxford High School, but I don't think Cutcliffe would ever go back and coach at Ole Miss. And that's unfortunate because, in this situation, I don't think there's any coach who would help them more. -- Aschoff
He'd be 100 percent perfect for this situation. He checks all the boxes. Every single one. But I would have a hard time envisioning him leaving because he has a perfect situation at Duke. He can be under the radar. He can go 7-6 and people are happy. That's not the case at Ole Miss. Nobody's happy. I don't think he necessarily wants to deal with that again. I do agree that, on paper, he checks every single box. So if they could get a Cutcliffe clone, that's the coach they should hire. -- Adelson
Our recommendation
Charlie Strong would bring discipline and an exceptional recruiting résumé with him, not to mention knowledge and insight into what it takes to win in the SEC. Ole Miss would be foolish not to call him. But the candidate who checks nearly all the boxes is Memphis coach Mike Norvell. He is personable, has a good reputation and credentials, runs a similar offense, and is close to Ole Miss geographically. He is young and has not been a head coach for long, but another successful season and he is sure to have bigger opportunities awaiting him. The SEC has lagged behind other conferences with its coaching hires in recent years. With this job, Ole Miss has an opportunity to hire a rising star in the profession who can make a splash from the start.