A CHANGED MAN

This is an excerpt from the Commercial Appeal article. Will this be how our new coach is known. Are we going to hear about this stuff. Just like we heard about the hiring of Sly Croom at STATE. The media praised State for their hire for one reason. They will be digging up dirt on our new coach for a while. Personally I like the fire he will bring. And all of this is in his past.

You know a school has made a delicate hire when the chancellor says, in his opening statement, "Let he among us who is without sin cast the first stone." That's what Ole Miss chancellor Robert Khayat said about Orgeron. He also said this: "He had an unpleasant experience that involved behavior of which he is not proud." In July 1992 Orgeron was charged with second-degree battery -- a felony -- for allegedly head-butting a bar manager. In October 1992 he took a voluntary leave from the Miami "to get some personal things in order." In July 1993 he resigned his position at Miami and remained out of football for a year. That's what most newpapers had reported before the hiring. It didn't look great but it was a long time ago, you know? The guy went through a rough period. He was, as former Miami coach Dennis Erickson once said, "the wild man of the staff." But he paid a serious price by leaving Miami and starting all over again at Nicholls State. Wasn't that penalty enough? And then the Tupelo newspaper got a copy of the restraining order obtained by a woman who worked at the University of Miami. Orgeron was also ordered to participate in a 26-week treatment program. Court records indicate he had completed it by July 1992. Nobody at Ole Miss would go into the particulars, including Orgeron. "I'm completely confident in the steps I've taken to correct those mistakes in my life," he said. "They are no longer a part of my daily life." So is that good enough for you? It has been more than a decade, after all. Orgeron is married with three kids. Should we even be talking about this? Or is the issue of domestic violence different, somehow? Does Orgeron owe the Ole Miss family an explanation, something more? Anyone can be in a bar fight. Heck, some college fans might think it's a qualification for the job. But can anyone be served with a restraining order? Barring them from committing "repeat violence" against a woman? And given all that, can we really be confident Ole Miss got a good man? "Yes," said Khayat, emphatically. "Coach Orgeron had difficulties, we all know that, we talked about it a lot. He has also made major corrections in his lifestyle and his value system. "At least since the early 1990s this man has led a sterling life. He has a wonderful wife, wonderful children. He's a different man." Khayat admits to getting emotional about this subject. He has spent time with Orgeron. He admires him, frankly. He also thinks the scrutiny of public figures has gone too far.