Rebel Roundup - 12/11/09 - A Fisking!

More Names Surface at KU | KSALLink dot com
The most prominent of those names?  Why, none other than Jimmy Sexton's Tommy Tuberville!

In football coaching circles, Nutt is a wanted man | The Vicksburg Post
I think a light fisking of Steve Wilson is in order here.  Steve, here's what I got for you:

For all of the Ole Miss fans frightened by the rumors of Houston Nutt departing for Kansas, worry not.

You published this yesterday, a good while after the Nutt to Kansas rumors were "officially" dispelled, and still feel the need to tell people to "worry not."  You're like me when I pick up on a television show.  "Hey guys, this 'The League' is pretty funny, right?!"  "Yeah, ummm, we've all been saying that for a while now..  Did you just now start watching it."  "Ummmm..."

Did Nutt even consider the Kansas job? Doubtful.

Other than Nutt's open admission to having some interest in the position, you're spot on.

Kansas is the classic example of a basketball school that also happens to have a football program. Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Indiana and Kentucky are also great examples of this phenomenon.

A "phenomenon?"  Sure, Merriam-Webster says the word can simply mean "an observable fact or event," but you were most likely using it in the "exceptional, unusual, or abnormal person, thing, or occurrence" sense.  I posit this because you described Kansas as a "basketball school that also happens to have a football program."  Also happens to have a football program!?  Really!?  Can schools in major D1 conferences--schools like North Carolina, UCLA, and Kentucky--really just so happen to have football programs? 

If an entity "just so happens to have" something, that would suggest it to be unexpected.  "Excuse me sir, but does your restaurant serve camel?"  "Well, it just so happens that we do!"  Don't denigrate other schools' football programs simply because they play second fiddle to powerhouse basketball programs in the minds of fans.  That doesn't make their programs undesirable anomalies.

Hoops rules the roost at these places, getting the lion’s share of attention and money. Bill Self is just two years removed from a national championship at Kansas.

And Mark Mangino is two years removed from an Orange Bowl victory.

One only has to look into the past to see what happens to a great football coach at a basketball school.

Back in the late 1940s, Paul Bryant was the football coach at Kentucky and was doing well, having led the school to its only SEC football championship and several bowl berths. Despite that success, Adolph Rupp, the legendary basketball coach who won four NCAA championships and 27 SEC titles, was the big man on campus in Lexington. After successful seasons by both programs, the two were given gifts. According to legend, Rupp received a Cadillac, Bryant got a cigarette lighter. Bryant left Lexington in 1954 to coach Texas A&M.

Sure, Bryant didn't like being second fiddle to Rupp, but he also didn't like the fact that Kentucky wasn't willing to integrate its football team.  The same happened to him at A&M and, initially, at Alabama.  To reduce Bear Bryant's decision to leave Kentucky to a cutesy anecdote about how Adolph Rupp got a fresh new whip while Bryant got a zippo really does reduce the significance and impact Bryant had on football.

The other problem with Nutt heading to Lawrence is recruiting. At Ole Miss, Nutt can cast a wide net over the state of Mississippi and go into Tennessee, Alabama and Florida to get recruits. Per capita, our state produces some of the best football players around.

Kansas? Not so much. Just a glance at Mangino’s last roster showed that the majority of his talent was from Texas. The Jayhawks were successful under Mangino, but they had to do it on a roster built from the scraps passed on by Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.

Agreed.

At Ole Miss, the Rebels have excellent facilities and have an excellent "brand name" when it comes to recruiting.

The Jayhawks? Again, not so much. When it comes to facilities, the football program plays second fiddle to basketball. Mention Kansas to anyone and basketball is the first thing that comes to mind.

This is a two-parter.  Yes, our IPF is fantastic, but Kansas is doing an great job of amping up their facilities (at least, this is according to our amigos at Rock Chalk Talk).  And anyway, you didn't so much support your claim here.  You say "Kansas doesn't have excellent football facilities" and then back that up by re-hashing the "football is second fiddle to basketball" argument you had made previously.  That is illogical.  The argument does not support the claim.  Just because a sport is a secondary or even tertiary priority amongst university administrators and fans alike doesn't automatically disqualify said sports program from having excellent facilities at their disposal. 

And our "excellent" brand name is about as excellent as Kansas' with regards to conference standing.  The weight the "Ole Miss Rebel Football" brand carries nation-wide is, at best, seventh in the conference behind Alabama, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, and Auburn.  That really is debatable though when considering Arkansas, South Carolina, and even Kentucky.

Now if Notre Dame had gotten Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, that would have been a different situation. Nutt played quarterback at Oklahoma State and would have been a natural fit in Norman with his personality, coaching acumen and recruiting abilities.

Conjecture regarding a situation which we all know to now be impossible?  Awesome.

The Sooners would likely have gone after Nutt. Would he have accepted? Who knows?

"It would likely have happened, but who knows right guys?!  Am I right or what?!"  A perfect weasel tactic, sir.  Say something outlandish and impossible to prove, but say it with limited certainty (would likely have) before dismissing it altogether as just a cutesy thought or observation (who knows?).

Nutt has done a great job bringing Ole Miss back to relevance after the aimless years of Ed Orgeron. Back-to-back Cotton Bowl berths show that progress is being made in Oxford. Nutt is 17-8 in two seasons at Ole Miss and has led Ole Miss (8-4) to consecutive eight-win seasons for the first time since 1989-90.

But as a result of that success, Nutt will continue to be a name mentioned in every high-profile coaching search.

That, and Jimmy Sexton.

Yeah, I'm being mean.  But it's not a terriblepiece, just a bit flawed in its structure, logic, and rhetorical tactics.  Hey, what else are we bloggers for aside from player hatin' mainstream sports media, right?