HERE WE GO AGAIN

potential compromise that might have allowed former assistant football coach Joe Cullen to keep his job was nixed when Cullen's attorney balked at the deal, according to a letter written by Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone.In a letter addressed to Cullen and dated March 21, Boone told the embattled coach that Cullen could have continued to work on Ed Orgeron's staff if he resolved his legal problems.A copy of Boone's letter to Cullen was obtained by The Clarion-Ledger Monday night.
Cullen is awaiting a May 4 trial in Oxford Municipal Court on a misdemeanor charge of public drunkenness. Cullen was arrested on March 3 at a Subway restaurant.Cullen, who was dismissed from Orgeron's staff on March 11, pleaded not guilty last Wednesday.
"Coach Orgeron and I discussed the matter after you pled 'not guilty,' " Boone wrote. "We agreed if the court found you 'not guilty' or dismissed the charges against you, you could return to the staff."Cullen would have been suspended with pay, pending the outcome of his case, Boone wrote. Boone said in the letter that Mike Wall, Cullen's Oxford attorney, was informed of the offer last Friday."Your attorney rejected this proposal stating that you no longer wish to coach at Ole Miss."
Wall said the offer came only after he told Boone about Cullen's plan to file a wrongful termination claim against the university. "Once again, he's lying," Wall said. "He writes this after we file our claim."Wall said Cullen, 37, accepts responsibility for his legal issues but believes he was fired unjustly and before he had his day in court.
Wall said Cullen drank "two or three" beers on March 3, but that he "passed out" at the sandwich shop from exhaustion, not alcohol."Personnel decisions are never easy when dealing with issues of personal conduct," Boone said Monday. "Coaches of our sports programs must be held to a high standard of conduct because they are entrusted with the leadership of our young men and women."