Rich Rod interested in Ole Miss
Thought i would share - insider rumor quotes RR, says he is interested in the job at Miss.
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/features/rumors?date=20111112
Did mention one thing about Michigan:
"I think I have 10 to 15 years left in coaching and I'm hungrier than I've ever been. We didn't get a chance to see it through at Michigan for various reasons."
Kind of a jab, but doesn't give the full context, so I don't know.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:09 AM ^
He would be a great fit at Ole Miss
November 13th, 2011 at 9:28 AM ^
you don't need defense to win in the SEC...
/s
November 13th, 2011 at 9:57 AM ^
If I remembered correctly, RR's Offense got shutdown in the Gator Bowl by Mississippi State and Defense can barely stop anything given 3 weeks preparation.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:01 AM ^
Mississippi players for some reason stay in Mississippi. With that, that state is loaded with raw athletes, the ones that could really make the spread a very dangerous offense...At this time, I don't even want to comment on how that would look or if it would work due to previous sentiment
November 13th, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^
There is talent in Mississippi, but even more in surrounding states - which helps to explain why Ole Miss has historically been a second-tier SEC program.
November 13th, 2011 at 2:15 PM ^
Actually, per capita, the state of Mississippi produces more NFL players than any other state. Ole Miss's struggles are, in my mind, attributable to everything but a lack of talent.
November 13th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
Actually, I was wrong. Louisiana has now overtaken Mississippi in per-capita NFL players.
http://www.usafootball.com/news/press-box/st-thomas-aquinas-hs-fort-lauderdale-has-most-nfl-players
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_state_has_the_most_active_players_in_the_NFL
November 13th, 2011 at 2:59 PM ^
Per-capita doesn't matter. The state of Mississippi has a small population. The total number of D-I prospects coming out of Mississippi is lower than those for Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.
November 13th, 2011 at 2:36 PM ^
Freep and Memphis CommApl news mentioned this two days ago, and brought up under RR on Illini game and wanting to coach thread.
Rich Rod likes him some Ole Miss
Freep article has Rich Rod saying he's interested in Mississippi:
“Ole Miss seems to me like it’s always been a special place,” Rodriguez said. “… I’d certainly be interested in talking to Ole Miss.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal states would a good fit he'd be for the Mississippi job.
commercialappeal.com/news/2011/nov/08/ole-miss-list-should-start-with-leach-rodriguez/
He would be great @ OleMiss, close to the recruits in FLA, and would latch onto many that are slipping out to LSU/BAMA/GA
November 13th, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
Alabama and LSU agree
November 13th, 2011 at 9:11 AM ^
November 13th, 2011 at 9:18 AM ^
LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi State. Nobody is ever going to win consistently at Ole Miss.
No thank you.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:19 AM ^
There have been a ton of great athletes to come through there in the last decade. i think the right coach could do really well there.
It has some of the better academics in the SEC and it is a nice college town. The right coach would out recruit Miss St for sure. Starkville is a horrible compared to Oxford.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:44 AM ^
both towns and the possibilities. Starkville is scary.
November 13th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^
which is a nice town. And before you ask for my basis of comparison, I was raised in Northville and have lived in Ann Arbor and Athens, GA. In my ten years here, there has been a huge increase in the number of street festivals and civic activities. Mississippi State's enrollment has swelled from 12,000 to over 20,000 during that time and this has resulted in an increase in local restaurants and businesses. The steady growth of the university has kept this area recession proof. There has been no increase in unemployment or drop in housing prices here.
The people here are kind to my son with special medical needs. Where else could I live and take my family to the stadium gate on a golf cart and watch teams like LSU, Alabama, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas (to name a few visitors in the last few years) for a reasonable price.
As a resident of Mississippi, I have an active dislike of Ole Miss. The school's nickname is the name for a plantation owner's wife. Until recently, their mascot was a confederate general. Their band still plays "Dixie" which was the official Confederate song. Many U.S. Marshall were shot when the school was intergrated. Mississippi State was peacefully integrated. Starkville has a tradition of being more tolerant of social differences than Oxford.
I would hate to see RichRod in Oxford. It has a nice downtown, but negative tradtion. Starkville is a nice place. Leave my town alone!
November 13th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
November 13th, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^
November 13th, 2011 at 8:21 PM ^
I don't know about that. They talked Dexter McCluster out of his commitment to his local school, USF, after one visit. They must have done something to make him feel at home, and they must have wanted him pretty badly.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:51 AM ^
That assumes RR would be the right coach ... I'm not "all in" on that.
November 13th, 2011 at 1:20 PM ^
As true as that is I don't think you have to win consistently at Ole Miss to be worshipped there. Just stay above .500 90% of the time, challenge for the SEC title 1 out of 4 years and then have 1 or 2 seasons where you challenge for the Mythical NC.
November 13th, 2011 at 1:23 PM ^
David Cutcliffe did those things (except challenge for a national title, which no Ole Miss coach has done in decades) - and got canned.
Every SEC fanbase (except Vanderbilt) has lofty expectations, no matter how unreasonable.
November 13th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
Mullen isn't long for Starkville... he'll be a great consilation prize in the Urban Meyer sweepstakes. And did I mention he's from Pennsylvania?
November 13th, 2011 at 9:13 AM ^
SEC West, right now that is murderous.... 5 programs that are just good, with bama, lsu, arkansas, auburn and miss st......walking into that mess, wow, esp with oversigning rules taking effect in the sec......
That said, Rich likes a challenge, have at it.....just hope he knows the sec like the bigten is a defense first conference, if you can't play it you will not in in it.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:06 AM ^
Ole Miss looks like the Minnesota of that division - historically decent to good program, but bound to be buried with 3-4 autolosses each year given who is in their division.
Not only the division, but Ole Miss also plays Texas at home in the nonconference next year, as well as Florida. Throw that on top of the steaming pile of poo (attrition, crummy recruiting) that Houston Nutt has accumulated the past two years (Decimated Defense, The Grove Edition), and the absolute best he can hope for is 4-8 in year one.
November 13th, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^
Come on man, everyone knows Rich Rod needs 4-5 years, so a 4-8 start wouldn't be that bad.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:14 AM ^
I could see that. I think he would be a decent fit there as well.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:18 AM ^
"I think I have 10 to 15 years left in coaching and I'm hungrier than I've ever been. We didn't get a chance to see it through at Michigan for various reasons."
<br>
<br>Welll one major reason was your teams stunk. His system may work at a place like ole miss. Hope he gets the chance.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:54 AM ^
comment, his system has worked everywhere--including here. So ya, it should work there as well.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^
We lost our league games handily. We got garbage stats at the end of blowouts. We barely beat Umass three years into his system. We were a joke. Did i eliminate enough subtext for you? You are delusional.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^
And I"m sure you're the type who supports punting on 4th and 1 from the opponents 45.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
whether he does or doesn't fails to change the fact that he accurately described the reality of RR third season here
November 13th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
Meanwhile bloggers who have never coaches game mock them. Oh, the delicious absurdity that is the internet. It is where those who have never done know more than those who have done.
November 13th, 2011 at 12:35 PM ^
So it's possible to make stupid decisions and still win a football game. How illuminating.
November 13th, 2011 at 11:29 AM ^
Yeah, THIS argument again!
November 13th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^
you are simply not knowledgeable. If you knew more and bothered to explore before you made your talk radio quality notions public you would understand that we lost because we had a defense that was the worst in school history, and terrible by any standards. A simply mediocre defense would have meant 9-3. That is just true.
And specific to the offense, it was good-by any measure, whether tradiontal stats or advanced. Look it up. You must be one of those "the spread doesn't work in the B!0," or other laughable notions. Call it into Valenti, he will agree with you.
We can all disagree legitmately about the merits (or nightmares) of the last three years. I'm quite happy with the staff we have now myself. But it actually is beyond legitimate argument that his offense worked. It is factual, not opinion based.
November 13th, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^
A football team is more than just an offense. The defenses got worse the longer he was here and the special teams weren't very special.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:48 PM ^
But ok. We weren't discussing RR and whether the was the right coach or not (and no, he was not). We were only discussing his "system" which is his offense. And the indisputable fact that his offense worked here and worked, yes, in the B10. Fact. It is beyond legitimate dispute, except to the guys that call into shows and post on the Freep and M live. But they don't have another opinion--they are simply wrong. To your point though-which is the same point I made to the first poster--it was his defense (special teams too but defense in the main) that sunk us. Not the offense. Not even a little.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:19 AM ^
a good Defensive Coordinator, it would be a great fit. He loves to recruit the south and everyone knows the great Mississippi players stay in Mississippi, so he would finally be able to land those guys as well.
November 13th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^
Jay Hopson is available. If he was made DC he could probably get the whole gang back together again.
November 13th, 2011 at 1:48 PM ^
the guy he wanted all along but martin refused to open his wallet for.
November 13th, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^
November 13th, 2011 at 2:23 PM ^
Your recollection is also wrong, strictly speaking. The truth is somewhere between the two points of view you two have just espoused, per Three and Out. Although I guess different people will read the same text and come to different conclusions. I think it IS true that we didn't shell out, period, for assistants until DB came along, and that it IS true that we wouldn't guarantee Casteel a contract, but it is also true that we did probably overspend on Barwis's new weight room and that money could have gone to Casteel. So actually, perhaps you're both correct.
November 13th, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^
November 13th, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^
Lots of schools and HC's fail to land their first choice for a coordinator position. It happens. They hire somebody else and move on.
Why was it so critical in this particular case that failure to do so resulted in a smouldering crater of a defense?
(And yes, I know it didn't, immediately--in fact we did hire a second choice in Shafer and except for the Purdue game it wasn't entirely a disaster.)
November 13th, 2011 at 9:19 AM ^
Rich is a good man. If ends up in the SEC, I wonder if he'll feel the necessity of turning to the dark side with oversigning and phantom medical hardships to compete with those who use them so well (cough-Saban-cough). I like to think not. Regardless, I hope he has a new chance soon. Best of luck to him.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
That's an interesting question and I wonder the same thing. Especially given his Real Sports commentary where he talked about recruiting. Part of me thinks he wouldn't, but at the same time, part of me thinks you have to at least somewhat in order to succeed down there.
November 13th, 2011 at 11:11 AM ^
November 13th, 2011 at 11:10 AM ^
Wasn't RR one of the few coaches that wasn't afraid to speak out against the SEC recruitment practices? I thought I remember him saying he would stop recruiting players that were also being recruited by "certain SEC schools" because he had no shot with the type of recruiting practices they had. But...I could see him coaching at Ole Miss. Houston Nutt does have a similar style offense, so RR would have some decent players in there that would immediately fit his system. Not to mention the philosophical change at Florida would give him a good shot at those smaller shifty Florida recruits now that Muschamp and Charlie are going more Pro Style. I could see this working.
November 13th, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^
I think RR would take a couple more academic risks than he got away with at UM, but otherwise he seems above the fray. Plus, his whole system is designed to work with good athletes that other schools passed over, and Ole Miss has more than enough talent even on down years to be solid. The only issue he will have is on the defensive side of the field, and that all comes down to a DC. I've always said, the next place he goes he will turn into a good program; it didn't work out at UM but he's still a great coach.
November 13th, 2011 at 9:20 AM ^
Rich Rod would do much better In the ACC, If he could just find a team their like NC, Clemson(doubt it now), maybe Miami if golden goes to Penn state.