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Ole Miss Football: How to approach the coaching search

By John Gillon

BATON ROUGE, LA - OCTOBER 22: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels reacts during the first half of a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - OCTOBER 22: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels reacts during the first half of a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images /

Ole Miss football head coach, Hugh Freeze, resigned last Thursday, so how should the administration go about looking for his permanent replacement?

The five year Ole Miss football roller coaster ride that was Hugh Freeze finally came full circle. He inherited a disaster, and turned that disaster into a top 10 team, finally circling back to a full hot mess.

Make no mistake, Freeze’s tenure in Oxford will never be forgotten. He brought too many stars and won too many big games for that to happen.

Although, one could argue he didn’t do well enough by the biggest stars, as he never got them to Atlanta. Yeah sure, one 4th and 25 away. He was close, unfortunately we weren’t playing with hand grenades.

Also, Freeze didn’t necessarily leave the program in the best place from a future perspective.

So, Ole Miss is tasked with finding a head coach…again. Make no mistake, this hire will be crucial because Ole Miss is at a crossroads right now. The Rebels will either continue being relevant or will fade into obscurity.

Ole Miss actually could be an attractive opening

Many will say why go to Ole Miss with them under an NCAA cloud, those people have a point. Ole Miss needs to wait until after the COI ruling is released before naming their guy.

Let us not be doomsday preppers for a moment. Say the NCAA accepts the bowl ban and only adds a slight amount of scholarships and/or money, that is a win for Ole Miss. The talk about Ole Miss not being able to attract a coach should gone, assuming that happens.

Ole Miss would still have a very talented roster for the 2018/19 season thanks in part to the 2016 recruiting class. Shea Patterson, A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf, etc would still be in town.

However, Ole Miss must get this hire right or all will be nullified. Whomever is hired must recruit at a high level from the very beginning of their tenure. Preferably a little less shady than Freeze’s tenure.

Patience is a virtue

Ole Miss should wait until after the season to hire their next coach for two very specific reasons. Give all the new coaches a chance to prove themselves. Some of them could be the right guy for role on the staff, but we would never know. Finally, the offense and defense have spent all spring and will spend the fall putting the finishing touches on learning their new systems. Remember the new offensive and defensive coordinators?

Hiring a new coach just weeks before fall camp would be insanely stupid. Is he expected to hire an entire new staff in the two weeks before fall camp starts? Should he be forced to coach with a staff he probably doesn’t want, at least in part? No, just no.

I’ve compiled a list of the five coaches I feel could be the right guy for the job. Chip Kelly and Les Miles didn’t make the cut and Chad Morris fell at number six on my list, so who cracked the top 5?

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