Barnes A Candidate

It appears Rod Barnes is a candidate for the head coaching position at South East Missiouri. I can not tell you much about SEMO, but I believed we played them in the NIT several years ago in Oxford.

A Work In Progress

It was announced on several Ole Miss sporting sites that C.M. "Tad" Smith Coliseum will undergo a major renovation in the next several years. The whole project is still up in the air as far as the details, but ideas being tossed around are: new ceiling, lighting, bathrooms, concourse, and a possible practice facility.

This is not going to be something that is done over night. It is going to take a while to complete this entire project and it will probably be a two phase project. I do not think there are even any blueprints on the drawing table. This project is in the very beginning phases and where the money is going to come from is unsure of also.

All these people that have said the university is not committed to basketball are full of bull. Look at the news coming out of the athletic department the past two weeks and this will prove my point. I am very excited to see we took on the renovation instead of a new arena. I look forward to the coming years of Ole Miss basketball and all I can say is that it is about time.

Stayin Put

Coach Andy Kennedy announced today that Michael White and Tracy Dildy will remain on staff as assistant men's basketball coaches. Kennedy likely still has one more spot to fill on the staff. He is currently on his way to the Final Four, I suspect he will pick up some names and possibly interview some guys in Indianapolis.

I do not have a problem keeping White and Dildy around. I believe that this was Kennedy's hire and this was not forced on him, as you will hear other people say. You now have two top 25 recruiters in the country on staff with Keneddy and Dildy. I suspect Kennedy will go after a more offensive minded person with his next hire. Dildy will coach the big boys, and White will coach the guards. Some people do not like Michael White as a coach. He definately is not a bench coach in my opinion. I think he works the guys hard and is a great practice coach.

This guy knows what he is doing with his staff. He would not hire two coaches he did not like/want for his first career head coaching job. He would not have kept a guy like Wayne Brent as an assistant. Whereas I think these two are good for Kennedy. And there will possibly be changes to the staff next year, but we will wait and see how things play out for this year first.It is all part of building a program. I look forward to seeing his next hire.

Who Else Will Be on the Bench??

New head basketball coach Andy Kennedy is still in Oxford evaluating his talent and talking to the current assistant staff. I heard Kennedy tonight on the radio and I think he is going to keep a couple of the current assistants around. I believe he will keep Tracy Dildy and Michael White if they want to stay. I do not think Grant Pate will be retained as an assistant but could possibly move back to his old role of administrative assistant. I hope Kennedy will go out and find someone that is not around here. Bring in a guy that has connections to other parts of the country and is knowledgeable of the game. Their are plenty of up and coming guys that would love to be an assistant in the SEC. White and Kennedy have connections in the south. Dildy has connections in the mid-west. So someone on the east or west coast would be ideal in my opinion. I feel confident Kennedy will find the right guy for the job.

No Rest For The Weary

On my way to eat tonight, I saw that Coach Bianco was putting it to the Rebel baseball team. I dunno if the team normally does this on Monday's or not, but I saw a good portion of the baseball team running through campus in a drizzle of rain. I have seen them run this route in the off-season and it is a pretty intense run mileage wise. The Golden-Buzzards come in to town tomorrow. This game is always close.

S-W-E-P-T

This is a first for Worldclassglass. For the first time that I know of, I have posted a broom to signify a sweep of the Rebels by their opponent. Ole Miss was defeated by Alabama in all three games this weekend losing 12-2, 9-8, 9-2. Aside from maybe one inning yesterday the Rebels did vey little. On Friday Satterwhite was rocked, Saturday you know the story, and on Sunday Lynn had a good performance before having to be pulled for Bumgardner to take another loss. The production at the plate was minimal.

The only real good was the top of the ninth on Saturday when Cozart hit a grand slam to put the Rebels up 8-7. Then we decide to put in Will "the Thrill" Kline to finish out the day for the Rebels. As many of the readers of this site would agree, this was an awful move. We all knew what the outcome would be when he went in. After several runners got on base, the Tide eventually rolled past the Rebels.

I said the Rebels needed to win 2 of 3 to be competitive in the league this year. Based on the outcome it is not looking good for the Rebels to even make the SEC Tourney. It is still my honest belief some major shakeups need to take place on this team for us to be successful.

Pic of the Month

Nothing made me happier yesterday than seeking a look of shock and depression on Coach "Sleeze" Calipari. Many of you know I sincerely do not like John Calipari and his Memphis State basketball team. I was glad to see the UCLA Bruins defeat the Tigers and send them home without a birth to the Final Four. Yeah I know they beat Ole Miss and they are much better than we are, but that is not an argument with me. I hope Coach Cal has a wonderful trip wherever he likes to go, but it aint gonna be in Indianapolis. So now Coach Cal can go find some more ex-cons to play for him next year.

Did anyone notice how the Memphis team conducted themselves in the final minute when they realized they were going to lose. Their players were fouling the Bruins much harder than most teams do when they foul in the final minutes. They were knocking UCLA players to the floor fouling them. This is the type of coach Coach Cal is and the type players he recruits.

Oh yeah and have fun reporting on this Jarvis Greer.

A New Era

A new era in Ole Miss basketball will begin tomorrow as Andy Kennedy will officially be announced to the Ole Miss family as the new head coach of the Ole Miss men's basketball team. Kennedy comes to Ole Miss after serving this year as interim head coach at the University of Cincinnati. He had a successful season based on the circumstances surrounding the Bearcats team. Kennedy comes to Ole Miss after serving as an assistant at South Alabama, UAB, and most recently Cincinnati. He was the lead recruiter under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati and had several top 20 recruiting classes. Kennedy brings great knowledge of X's and O's to Oxford as well as his strong recruiting ability. These are two things the basketball program has lacked over the past several years.

Kennedy is a native of Louisville, MS and played basketball at both NC State and UAB during his college career. He is the second all time leading scorer at UAB. Kennedy also spent several years abroad playing professional basketball before returning to coach at South Alabama.

I believe this is a very good move by our administration. I think Kennedy brings a great work ethic to Oxford and is also very knowledgeable of the game. His connection to the state is going to do nothing but help the Rebels. He seems to be a guy that is going to be very dedicated to the growth of this program and its return to success.

Where do we go from here? This is all pure speculation. Some of the names that could be headed back to Oxford as assistants are former Rebel great John Stroud as well as Barnes assistant Tracy Dildy. I would like to keep Dildy around because of his connection with the current players. It is also said that Kennedy could possibly be bringing a player or two with him to Oxford from Cincinnati. I do not know if this will happen, but when coaching changes are made players tend to move around a little.

A press conference will be held tomorrow at Tad Smith Coliseum at noon. It is going to be open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend. Unfortunately I will not be in attendance as I am currently out of town. However we hope to have some field reporters in place and I will have a complete report of the press conference sometime over the weekend.

This is a new beginning for the Rebel basketball program. Do not expect immediate NCAA tournament appearances. I hope everyone will support the Kennedy era at Ole Miss. Let's give this guy a chance and support him 100%.

Your New Guy

My sources are telling me that it will be announced tomorrow that Andy Kennedy will be the next new basketball. A press conference will be scheduled sometime tomorrow afternoon with the announcement. Upon landing at the Oxford Airport this afternoon Pete Boone was quoted as saying all interviews are done and they hope to make the decision tonight, with intentions of getting the next coach here tomorrow. Problem is Kennedy's Cincinnatti team is still playing in the NIT that is why I question if an actual press conference with him present will take place tomorrow. More news will be announced later tonight. I am about to be on the road for a couple of hours but will have an update once I am settled.

Update

Several sources are reporting that John Pelphry has removed his name from our coaching search. It appears Pelphry was given an upgrade in his contract and wants to stay at South Alabama. This means the next head coach appears to be Andy Kennedy. Story developing.

Getting Closer

The search for the next basketball coach at Ole Miss is getting closer to being finished. The administration has interviewed Pelphry and Cronin already and will be interviewing Andy Kennedy either tommorrow or Friday.

As stated earlier it appears South Alabama's John Pelphry is the leading candidate for this position as of now. I really hope Andy Kennedy takes an Ed Orgeron approach to this interview and knocks em dead. I will be fine with Pelphry but I like Kennedy alot better.

There have been very few posts that blast Kennedy about anything. I can not say the same about Pelphry. I mean look at the Cincy game last night. There were people in the stands wearing Hire Kennedy shirts and chanting for him to stay. If a basketball school like Cincy has fans saying this then I think it is a no brainer. Here is my list in the order.

1. Andy Kennedy
2. John Pelphry
3. Mick Cronin
100. Tracy Dildy

A Cold One

Few fans braved the cold weather like we did at Autozone Park to witness Ole Miss defeat the Memphis Tigers 8-4 last night. The game at Autozone was fun and the ribs from the Rendezvous were even better. The cold weather kept alot of Rebel fans away, as this is usually a game full of loyal Rebel fans that make the trip from Oxford. After the first couple of innings our bats got rolling and we never really looked back. Pitching was good and Bukvich has rebounded well since his 0-2 start. Once again though our outfield play was not great. As stated many times before Mark Wright does not hustle or pay attention in the outfield. He flat out dropped a fly ball out of his glove that a tee-baller could have made a play on. The same inning Jon-Jon Hancock trotted to a ball in left that caused the Tiger hitter to get on base. Overall though this was a good game for the Rebels and a booster before they travel to T-Town this weekend to take on the Crimson Tide.

Walkin In Memphis

A group of friends and I will be leaving to go to Memphis in the next couple of hours for the baseball game. If anyone is interested in going give me a call. Will have a report when we get back.

Finanlists Announced

This is nothing new, but they officially announced finalist late this afternoon, this is how the Clarion Ledger reports it.

OXFORD — Assistant coach Tracy Dildy is among the finalists for the Ole Miss men's basketball coaching vacancy, athletic director Pete Boone said today.
The other finalists, according to Boone, are all current head coaches: John Pelphrey at South Alabama, Mick Cronin at Murray State and Andy Kennedy, the interim coach at Cincinnati.Boone said he has received permission from each of the three outside candidates' athletic directors to speak to them and will begin interviewing Wednesday. Boone said he will speak to Dildy — who spent the past two seasons on Rod Barnes’ staff — Thursday or Friday.The interview process was scheduled to begin today with Pelphrey, but inclement weather throughout the state grounded Ole Miss’ travel plans. Boone said Ole Miss has readjusted its schedule and plans to meet with its candidates — beginning with Pelphrey — on Wednesday. Boone declined to discuss where Ole Miss would meet with its three outside candidates. However, he said the Rebels would be traveling to interview each coach.Barnes was fired last month after eight seasons. He led the Rebels to three NCAA Tournament appearances in his first four years but posted losing records in each of the last four seasons.

Davis A Candidate

An Indianapolis paper is reporting that Mike Davis has been contacted by Ole Miss as a possible candidate for our vacancy as men's basketball coach. By no means do I think we will hire him, but once again why do we have to read this from some far away newspaper. Can't we learn about this from our local media sources. Here is part of the article.

Davis eager to return to coaching
As he leaves Indiana program, he believes he deserves another shot in Division I

By Terry Hutchens
The for-sale sign will go up in the front yard of Mike Davis' Bloomington home later this week.
He has already been contacted by the University of Mississippi regarding its vacant head coaching position, and he's hoping that other schools will call, too.
During his first full day Sunday as the former Indiana University basketball coach, Davis said in a telephone interview his goal is to be coaching at the Division I level again next season.

Ramblings

Last night opened SEC play for the baseball Rebels. Ole Miss lost to Vanderbilt last night 7-6. Once again Mark Wright was at the plate with a chance to win the game and once again Wright did not prevail. I have been preaching this for a while but I think there are some members on our team that need to sit on the bench for a few games, and see if this will motivate them. As it goes right now this team is not going to make the SEC Tournament.

The basketball search is starting to gain more steam. With South Alabama now out of the tournament, a tentative interview with Pelphrey has been set up with him on Monday.

My choice for next coach Andy Kennedy's Cincinnatti team is still playing in the NIT. He will be interviewed once the tournament is over for them.

Murray State's head coach Mike Cronin will be interviewed sometime next week. Cronin's Murray State team put up good numbers against North Carolina last night, but could not pull it out in the end. In case you did not notice Trey Pearson led Murray State with 18 last night. Pearson was the former point guard for the Rebels that was run off under the Barnes administration.

A new name in the search is Northwestern State's Mike McConathy. Northwestern State upset Iowa yesterday in the tourney. These negotiations are in the very beginning stages and the administration is investigating McConathy's interest in our job, "Coach Mike" as he is called is in his 5th year at Northwestern State, a small school in Louisiana. Before coaching at Northwestern State he was a very succesful coach in the junior college ranks. As many of you know Northwestern State is where head football coach Ed Orgeron received his undergraduate degree.

WORST BRACKET I HAVE EVER HAD

I do not know if it was the plane ride or not, but this is without a doubt the worst bracket I have ever filled out in my entire life. I started reading papers about different teams and all sorts of things and this is what I get in the first session today I went 1-6. Without a doubt the worst in any pool I have entered.

Next year, no papers, just going on instinct.

Updates

Well the NCAA Tournament is under way. So far today I am 0-3, and it does not look good for me for the rest of the day. So my bracket is already shot.

I have already beat this into your heads, but if you have filled out a bracket on Yahoo, please join our group. You can join multiple groups even with the same bracket still and throughout the tourney. So if you are in SNN group you may join ours also.

The Rebels won in baseball on Tuesday 10-8, after being up 10-1. Bianco put in some of the guys that do not play much to give others rest and the game got to be really really close, before Justin Brashear through a runner out on a double steal. The Rebels return to action again on Friday against Vanderbilt. It looks like it could be another weekend of crummy weather for baseball in Oxford, one of these days we will catch a break with the weather.

As Robert Cook stated below. Ole Miss has contacted South Alabama about their coach. This is the only known school that Ole Miss has contacted concerning their next head coach. All I can say is they better not be dead set on one person. They should contact several schools about several coaches before making their decision.

Rebel Report will air tonight on the Big Show at 7:00 you may listen live at www.wlezfm.com.

HURRY UP AND DO IT

I know alot of people are on Spring Break, but this is just a reminder about our bracket pick em group. I would like all the readers on this site plus their friends, plus their friends friends to know about it. So go ahead and do it less than two days left. If you are already in one group it is easy, just join yahoo and fill it out. It is open to everyone.

So here is what you do go to http://sports.yahoo.com and join the NCAA Tourney Pick Em. Upon registering and picking your bracket name click on join group.

Group I.D.#: 31339
Password: worldclassglass

Alex Presley at the Plate

Pitcher Lance Lyn

Final Scoreboard

Bianco Leaving the Mound

Jackie Robinson Stadium

Live L.A. Report #2

I left Jackie Robinson Stadium today in my rented Kia Ria pretty mad, as the UCLA Bruins defeated the Rebels 6-4 this afternoon. This was a day in which the Rebels struck out way to many times. I am not sure if I have ever seen a team strike out this many times looking. For some reason they just could not put together a group of hits all day. I was very mad on their play at the plate. It is my true belief that certain players on our team need to be benched for a couple of games due to their perfomance thus far this season. I think benching them will allow them to reevaluate themselves and then we will see if they really want to be playing. It seemed like it was the players every time were up there striking out or popping it up. Lance Lynn pitched well early but hit a brick wall real quick and struggled before being pulled and replaced by Craig Rodriguez and later Will Kline. Whenever runners would get in position they would get picked off on stupid plays or the Bruins would get lucky breaks.

It was once again a good crowd today possibly more than yesterday. I am really not sure what the UCLA fans think about us. They had never seen anything like us at their ballpark. They even beefed up security after yesterday. The game management staff was there patrolling with a watchful eye all day. Needless to say no one was thrown out of the stands today. I have posted a couple of pictures from the stadium and surroundings from today.

The Rebels travel to Arkansas State on Tuesday, we all know what happens when we play the Indians.

Live From L.A. First Report

Well we have made it to L.A. We made it to the stadium for the game on Saturday and boy was it fun. The first 2/3rds of the game were pretty boring and I was not fired up to watch the Rebels. Then some fans got into the game and we turned it around. There was only one UCLA fan that was yelling the entire game. This guy had to have escaped from the VA Center that was right by the field. He was yelling out every pitch the Bruins were going to throw and just being loud. Many of the Ole Miss fans were wandering what was up with this guy. In the top of the eigth the Rebels turned it on with a shot to right field by Justin Brashear. The Bruin right fielder judged the ball wrong and dropped it. This shot brought several runs in for the Rebels and eventually took the lead. Coach Bianco made a pitching change and brought in Craig Rodriguez and Garrett White in to finish the game. They both pitched great and Rebel fans left the ballbark happy. There is a great crowd out here. There were more Ole Miss fans at the game than UCLA. The police were called to settle down a group of OM students, by the UCLA game staff. Baseball is different out here. At any rate there is a crew of OM baseball fan all stars out here including: Aarron Samuels, John Herzog, Both of the Sidney Allen's, Keith Studdard, Olivia Lusco, Matt Neil and myself. We just returned from a reception at the team hotel. All of the California Rebels were there as well as those who made the trip out west. So far so good, will try to post after tomorrow's game.

Rick Neuheisel Style

As reported last night on The Big Show with Nate and Drew. The Big Show and Worldclassglass have reached an agreement to go host a basketball pick em group. As a joint venture the two media sources have contacted Yahoo media sports group to host this annual free for all. Drew Levanway host on the Big Show says, "it's great to see two different type of media sources come together for the common good. The Big Show and Worldclassglass.com have always had a great relationship and are glad to offer this service to our loyal audience."

Millions of americans blow tons of money on March Madness. However this is all free. A prize package is in the works and the winner will be announced on The Big Show after the tournament is over.

So here is what you do go to http://sports.yahoo.com and join the NCAA Tourney Pick Em. Upon registering and picking your bracket name click on join group.

Group I.D.#: 31339
Password: worldclassglass

Go ahead and register and join the group, that way when selection Sunday comes around all you have to do is fill out the bracket. We are really hoping alot of people join. Updates will be posted on this site and will be announce on the Big Show weekly. Have fun.

ESPN Update

Andy Katz has posted this on his blog. It is ridiculous that we have to get this news from the national media. I do not understand why our local guys(Spirit and Rivals) or someone from the Clarion Ledger can not give us this information.

NEW YORK -- Ole Miss already has done some scouting on South Alabama coach John Pelphrey as it decides on whether to pursue him for its head coach opening.South Alabama athletic director Joe Gottfried told ESPN.com that Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone called to say the Rebels would watch South Alabama play at the Sun Belt tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn., last weekend, and Boone did. Boone and Ole Miss had the freedom to go and attend a game since Rod Barnes had been told he's out as the Rebels' head coach. Ole Miss' season ended Thursday with a first-round SEC tournament loss to Kentucky in Nashville.Gottfried said Boone told him that Pelphrey and Western Kentucky's Darrin Horn were on a short list for the job, but that doesn't mean Pelphrey would take the gig if offered, nor does it rule out the possibility of Cincinnati interim coach Andy Kennedy, a 1986 Mississippi state high school player of the year and former star guard at UAB. Multiple sources say Kennedy has heard from intermediary sources that there is interest, although he won't get a chance to speak to the Rebels until after the Bearcats are done playing.Gottfried said Boone hasn't asked formally for permission to talk to Pelphrey but expects he will after the NCAA tournament.Meanwhile, Gottfried plans on doing everything he can to keep Pelphrey, a former Kentucky player and Florida assistant who took the Jaguars from 10-18 (6-9 in the Sun Belt) to 24-6 (12-3) this season and the Sun Belt's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with a win over Western Kentucky in the title game earlier this week."He should be considered for coach of the year nationally for the job he's done,'' said Gottfried, whose son is Mark Gottfried, head coach at Alabama, who himself has done a coach-of-the-year-like job after leading the Tide to the doorstep of an NCAA berth after losing top player Chuck Davis to a knee injury in the opening week of SEC play in January.

The Big Show and Worldclassglass Reach Another Agreement

Story Developing

Another Chapter Closed

Another chapter was closed on Ole Miss basketball and the Ole Miss career of Coach Rod Barnes this afternoon as the Rebels lost to Kentucky in the first round of the SEC basketball tournament in Nashville. The Rebels put up a good effort for the game, but in typical fashion went on several droughts and could not hold Kentucky back losing 71-57 . Dwayne Curtis got into foul trouble and that is when the drought started for the Rebs. After the game Grant Gannon asked players about next year and what they plan on doing. It appeared that Bam Doyne and Todd Abernathy were the only two that committed to returning. This is not to say that everyone else is going to transfer by all means. But I would think we lose a couple of guys off the team. It was reported alot of the players want Asst. Coach Tracy Dildy to be the coach. Don't look for this to happen. Sorry for the guys, but it is part of it.

Pull It Together

This baseball team is really upsetting me. Somebody on this team has got to show some leadership. Losing to Murray State is inexcusable. The team won one game prior to coming to Oxford. These guys have built a fan base and there is more enthusiasm with the fans concerning baseball right now than any other time in school history. I am not saying people are going to start jumping ship by all means. But these guys have got to pull it together. We know the talent is there, we saw how they performed last year. I do not know if they are cocky, over-confident, or what is going on. But someone on this team has got to step up and get this team to play consistent every time they step on the field.

OXFORD, Miss. - The bats came alive late, but it wasn't enough to push the 19th-ranked Rebels over the top as Ole Miss (9-4) fell 7-6 to Murray State (2-9) on Wednesday to close out a 13-game home stand for the Rebels.
Nick Hetland (1-1) suffered the loss for the Rebels as he gave up one run on three hits, walking three and striking out two. Four other pitchers saw action in the game for the Rebels.

Town-Gown??

The Board of Alderman of Oxford has approved funding for the renoveation of O-U Stadium as you can see below they will continue to give us $200,000 for the next 15 years. I still believe they should give us more, I mean come on they were giving us $200,000 in 1988 to build the original stadium. Think how much Oxford has changed and how much more they could give us. $200,000 now is no where near $200,000 in 1988. Don't like our city government, never have and never will.


Oxford - Officials have announced plans to continue to fund the Oxford-University Stadium through the city’s “2 percent” or “tourism” fund.The university had sought a commitment of $225,000 for 20 years. But Fisher said the final agreement will be $200,000 for 15 years.The Ole Miss Loyalty Foundation will give the initial funding for the expansion. The city’s contribution will add up to about $3 million, reimbursing the foundation for half of the expansion cost without having to bear a bond-interest burden.The 3,500-seat expansion will include seating along the first- and third-base lines, the right field and some additional sky boxes.

It's College

Looks like the new Clarion Ledger beat writer for Ole Miss, Robbie Neiswanger, picked up right where Michael Wallace left off. They love to read the dockett down at the detention center. Both of these arrests were handled by the coaches and the players are fine. UPD is always looking for people to bust in February cause they have nothing else to do, and get bored in the winter months.

OXFORD — Two Ole Miss athletes - offensive lineman Corey Actis and pitcher Nick Hetland - were arrested on alcohol-related offenses last month.According to Lafayette County Detention Center records, Actis, 20, was arrested by the University Police Department and charged with disorderly conduct and public drunkenness on Feb. 19. He was booked int the detention center at 2:15 a.m. and released at 8:45.
Hetland, 21, was arrested and charged by UPD with public drunkenness on Feb. 27. He was booked in at 2:22 a.m. and released at 4:20.

Freshman SEC Pitcher of the Week

OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss freshman pitcher Cody Satterwhite has been named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week by the league office for his performance over the past week that saw him pitch the Rebels to a 10-0 shutout of UIC on Saturday.
The shutout marked the first in the career of the freshman right-hander, and was the first regular season shutout for Ole Miss in 21 games, dating back to a 5-0 win over Mississippi State on April 30, 2005.

Do What?

I like the move of hiring ChampSearch to assist in hiring a coach, rather them than some of the fools inside our deparment. But how about this search committee? I understand having a couple of members from the athletic committee, and I do not know all of their backgrounds. Why not get some people that know alot about basketball. They might be good, but I do not think they know enough about basketball to be looking for a head coach.


OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss Athletics Director Pete Boone announced Monday the process which will be used in the hiring of the next men's head basketball coach of the Rebels.
"We have reached an agreement with ChampSearch to assist in identifying and providing information about potential candidates," Boone said. "The ChampSearch firm recently conducted head coaching searches for Tennessee, New Mexico State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee."

Additionally, a five-person Advisory Committee has been formed to consult with Boone during the search process.

Dr. Robert Weems, who is the University's Faculty Athletics Representative and current chair of the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, will chair the Advisory Committee. Other members include Robert R. Bailess, alumni representative and former president of the M-Club Alumni Chapter of the Alumni Association; Rose Flenorl, athletics committee member and alumni representative; Dr. Tyrus McCarty, athletics committee faculty representative and associate professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Bill Renovich, current president of the Alumni Association. Bailess is a former member of the athletics committee.
"Our advisory committee members are glad to be of whatever service we can be to the athletics director in his efforts to bring to Ole Miss the best coach available," Dr. Weems said.

Another Name At The Top

University of South Alabama men's basketball coach John Pelphry is rumored to be among the top of the candidates for the Ole Miss coaching job. It is being reported that Pete Boone and another athletic department official are currently at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to see Pelphry and his style of coaching. Pelphry played college ball at the University of Kentucky. He then took a job with Oklahoma State and then coached under Billy Donovan at Marshall and most recently Florida. Pelphry has been the coach of the Jaguars for four seasons.

After a 14-14 record in his first season, a 12-16 in season two and a 10-18 record in season three, his team is currently 22-6 and are in the semi-finals of the Sun Belt Tournament tonight. They will probably win tonight and be in the championship tomorrow against Western Kentucky.

I know the infamous Bobby Cook is high on this guy. But I can not say the same. Yes he has performed well this year and that is why he is getting attention form us. I think he has a good background by playing at Kentucky, coaching with Sutton at OK-State and then with Donovan. But his record just does not flatter me. Going into this season he did not even have a winning record as a head coach.

We do not have four years to waste for a guy to turn this program around. I hope Boone and Hartwell will look more places than the Sun Belt Tourney for a coach. You would think they would leave there and head over to our tournament in Nashville and chat it up with John Treloar while at the same time showing interest in Kennedy, who from what I hear may turn down the Cincy job if offered it.

Rebs Give Tigers Fits

A day after learning their head coach would not be back next season the Ole Miss men's basketball team fought hard but came up short to the SEC Champion LSU Tigers. The Tigers defeated the Rebels 55-52 in Baton Rouge. The team was without the services of Clarence Sanders who was not there because of "personal reasons." If this means he quit, I hate that. I looked forward to seeing him play under a new system next year. Who knows what happened.

Ole Miss was led by Londrick Nolen with 14 and Dwayne Curtis added 11. Both teams led multiple time during the game before the Rebels went into their usual slump not scoring for around 5 minutes. This slump is the reason we have not won many games this season, along with many other factors. I was somewhat surprised to see how we played, but was also surprised at how LSU played. I did not think they played very good on Saturday.

Ole Miss will play Kentucky in the first round of the SEC tournament on Thursday. I do not know the statistics, but I would think we have never beaten Kentucky at the tournament. Ole Miss fans will be outnumbered 100000000000000000 to 1 by the Kentucky fans in Nashville. Oh well another one and done. Let's hope a new coach will turn things around and we will actually compete in the league next year. Because I really miss going to the SEC Tournament.

Drawing Lots of Attention

Here is a candidate I do not know much about. However he is apparently drawing lots of attention from the media and fans about the possibility of being the next Ole Miss coach. Andy Kennedy is currently the interim head coach at the University of Cincinnati. Kennedy's team plays hard and is an up tempo team they currently have a 19-11 record. You might ask why he would leave Cincinnati. Well Kennedy and the current athletic director apparently do not see eye to eye on alot of issues and some are reporting he will not be retained as the head coach next year.

Kennedy has Mississippi connections. He is from Louisville and actually played MPSA ball at Winston Academy before transferring to Louisville High School his senior year. After high school he played for the late Jim Valvano at NC State. Kennedy then went to UAB and played basketball for the Blazers. His coaching experience began with South Alabama before coaching at UAB and has been a part of the Cincinnati program since the 2001 season. The good thing is this guy was Bob Huggins recruiting coordinator. He attracted three top ten recruiting classes during his first three seasons as recruiting coordinator. I have never liked anybody with the last name Kennedy, but this guy seems to be a legit candidate. I would like someone with a little more head coaching experience myself.

It's Official

I gotta say it, I am a little shocked. I know as well as anyone how the basketball team has been performing the past couple of years, but I deep down I did not think they would let him go. About two more wins this year and I truly do not believe this would happen.

I like the guy and he has always been nice to me. But business is business, we can not continue to suffer like we have been the past three years. I wish him luck wherever he goes.

Onto a new search. You have seen the names I have posted who I think would be good candidates. I will try probably take a look at a few more names and post them as I hear about them.

Time to move on and turn this thing back around.


OXFORD, Miss. - Athletics Director Pete Boone announced Friday that Ole Miss will be making a head basketball coaching change at the end of the season, which has been communicated to current head coach Rod Barnes. Barnes has served in his present position for the last eight years. "Rod Barnes has been a very positive and important part of Ole Miss basketball history throughout his playing and coaching career," Boone said. "He has always represented the University with the utmost class and integrity. Because Rod means so much to the Ole Miss family, this was a difficult decision. However, due to our lack of success in the Southeastern Conference, I felt a change needed to be made." Friday's announcement came with Saturday's regular-season finale at LSU and next week's Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville remaining. Ole Miss is 14-14 entering Saturday's game with the Tigers in Baton Rouge, including 4-11 in conference play. It's the fourth straight year for Ole Miss to win no more than five regular-season SEC games. During his eight years at the helm of the Rebel basketball program, Barnes has risen to second on the Ole Miss career list for coaching victories, four behind B.L. "Country" Graham's school record of 145. The 2001 Naismith and CollegeInsider.com National Coach of the Year, Barnes has a 141-107 record as Rebel head coach and a 50-77 mark in SEC play. His .569 overall winning percentage is the highest by an Ole Miss coach since 1938, and the best of any Rebel mentor of seven-plus years. In 2000-01, Barnes guided Ole Miss to a school-record 27 wins, the program's first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 berth and a No. 9 final national ranking. Another winning season and postseason tournament followed in 2001-02 -- both were the fourth under Barnes. That success was followed by three straight losing seasons heading into the 2005-06 campaign. A 1988 graduate of Ole Miss, Barnes served as an assistant coach under Rob Evans from 1993-98 before being named head coach of the Rebels on April 9, 1998. Barnes played at Ole Miss from 1985-88 and was an honorable mention All-American selection his senior season. He is the only person in SEC history to earn both All-SEC and SEC Coach of the Year honors. As a player, assistant coach and head coach, Barnes has spent 17 seasons with Ole Miss basketball.

Bring In A Tiger???

My next submission for the head coaching job at Ole Miss is John Treloar. Treloar is currently an assistant at LSU. He has been at LSU for the past two years(remind me how long ago LSU turned things around with their program). Treloar came to LSU from Indiana where he served as an assistant coach for Bobby Knight and Mike Davis. He was the associate head coach from 2000-2004. During his tenure at Indiana he was apart of 6 NCAA teams and coached in the Final Four in 2002. Before getting back in the college ranks he served in many capacities in the C.B.A. He was an assistant and later a head coach with several teams in the C.B.A. His teams advanced to the playoffs seven of the eight years while he was general manager and coach.

This guy has head coach experience and has been a part of succesful programs in the college ranks. On top of that he is a Mississipi guy. He graduated from Bellhaven college where he was a walk on basketball and baseball player.

Another Game, Another Loss

I decided to make my way to Tad Smith Coliseum tonight to see if I could catch any buzz about the coaching search and to also watch Vanderbilt play. Vandy defeated Ole Miss tonight 77-62 in a game the Dores led pretty much the entire time. Ole Miss moved one game closer to a losing season with a 14-14 record. The Rebels continued to play there same old game. They love to go in like 10-12 minute scoring droughts. I am not going to list the number of plays where we have no idea what we are doing or the amount of times we get beat on defense. I do not want to waste my time on that. I will however state that once again only two Rebels scored double digits.

Coach Barnes went far enough in his post game interview to use the excuse of "I have a young, new coaching staff." Do not give me, someone has made up an excuse for every loss since talk began to seriously surface his firing.

I am going to have to agree with Michael Wallace for a change. In Wallace's column today he stated if we are going to fire Barnes then go ahead and do it. We do not need to wait around and drag this thing out. Let the team know what is going to happen and end all the speculation. Missouri did it, Indiana did it, why can't we. If we are going to fire him, why are we waiting?