Ole Miss Football: Grove Grinder, Good job or good riddance?

So by now most Ole Miss football fans have learned about the departure of Ross Bjork as AD for Ole Miss athletics and we all have an opinion.

By now, it’s no big secret for Ole Miss football fans. Ole Miss is looking for a new AD for the athletics program in Oxford. Friday morning it was made official when it was announced Ross Bjork had indeed resigned as athletics director at Ole Miss in order to accept the same position at SEC West foe Texas A&M.

While the jury is still out on how good or bad Bjork was for Ole Miss athletics, most Ole Miss fans were delighted with his departure. Regardless of where you fall on the Bjork spectrum we all have to admit he accomplished a lot during his seven-year tenure. He spearheaded a daring financial campaign which saw a number of construction endeavors.

Besides the construction of The Pavilion and closing in the Vaught, he was faced with NCAA investigations in a number of sports programs. The biggest and ugliest was in football which resulted in the subsequent resignation of then head football coach Hugh Freeze due to scandal. Bjork was forced to work under two Chancellors and then an interim Chancellor. Not an easy gig.

Good Job?

Ole Miss Rebels

So did Bjork do a good job? Some Rebels would argue he did indeed while others will believe he simply did what needed to be done. We watched him make several hires which had to be made. The hiring of Matt Luke as permanent head football coach was criticized by many of us but it was a genuinely safe hire for Bjork to make.

Then with the midseason departure of former hoops coach Andy Kennedy, Bjork was forced to go on the hunt for a top-tier coach which saw the hiring of coach Kermit Davis as the new Rebels basketball coach. The success Davis had in his first season points to another good hire by Bjork.

Then there were changes made to the Ole Miss women’s basketball staff. Former women’s hoops coach Matt Insell was relieved of his duties and Bjork made a solid hire in Yolette McPhee-McCuin and we know the women’s basketball program will continue to get better.

So the jury may still be out on whether he did a good job but when you consider the sum of his work he was fighting a battle the best way he knew how. Like him or not he did a lot for the Ole Miss athletics department during his tenure as AD. It still doesn’t mean he will be missed. In fact most Rebels are glad to see him gone. In due time Aggies will understand why. Hotty Toddy!