Ole Miss Football: Hootie Dale’s Lawsuit has been Dismissed

Former Ole Miss Football coach, Houston Nutt, is nothing if not consistent, as he lost another SEC contest! Houston Nutt filed a defamation lawsuit on July 12th. Well, a federal judge dismissed Nutt’s lawsuit Wednesday.

Antonio Morales of The Clarion Ledger reported a U.S. district judge dismissed the lawsuit.

Ole miss argued it was an “arm of the state” and immune to the suit, the judge agreed. The judge ruled the federal court lacked “subject matter jurisdiction”.

The Order to Dismiss can be found here.

It is worth noting that Nutt’s attorney, Thomas Mars, stated  he plans to re-file the suit in state court.

Houston Actually Helped Ole Miss

Ole Miss Rebels Football

We all know Nutt’s lawsuit, and its public records requests, led to the downfall of Hugh Freeze. I, personally, did not believe the lawsuit would affect Freeze, and, well, I was wrong.

And if we’re being honest, Nutt actually did Ole Miss a favor. Ole Miss saved around $17 Million when Freeze resigned.

There were people who already wanted Freeze gone, but Ole Miss simply couldn’t afford to fire Freeze. This is, in my opinion, the only reason Hugh Freeze wasn’t fired after going 5-7 or after the second NOA was received.

Ole Miss had no choice but to stick by their embattled coach. That is until Houston Nutt, in all of his infinite wisdom, came to the rescue, unbeknownst to himself.

Nutt, in his quest for an apology, got Freeze fired. Of course, Nutt swears he only sought an apology, not money, which is a discussion for another time.

We all know Ole Miss discovered a pattern of personal behavior in Freeze’s phone records. Yeah sure, your head coach calling escort services is embarrassing, but Ole Miss will recover. The scandal is far more embarrassing to Freeze than to Ole Miss.

Anyways, Ole Miss is fixing to have to pay a hefty fine to the NCAA. The university has already imposed a fine, but the NCAA is surely going to tack on to the fine, same with the scholarship reduction. The only unknown is whether or not the NCAA will extend Ole Miss’ bowl ban.

Next: They Are Scared!

So, Ole Miss simply couldn’t afford Freeze’s buyout, while also paying a hefty fine and hiring a good, new coach. Ole Miss was stuck with Freeze. So, thanks Houston, you actually saved Ole Miss money for once!