Tuesday Question - 03/09/10

by Ivory Tower on Mar 9, 2010 12:42 PM EST

Generally, we are the "authors" of "content" around here - "here" being a blog and not a message board. Recognize, we do, that you've come here not to contribute, but to consume. Nevertheless, there is the sporadic occasion where, either for our benefit or for to exercise the thinkifiers of the masses, we ask you a question. Today's question is ...

Who else besides Dan McDonnell has used an Ole Miss assistant coaching position to catapult him/herself to success?

I have been racking my brain trying to come up with an example of a former Ole Miss assistant - in any sport - who moved on to moderate-to-wild success elsewhere. Coaches have certainly used top jobs with the Rebels as stepping stones to more attractive jobs ("Red" Drew to Alabama, Tommy Tuberville to Auburn, Rob Evans to Arizona State, Van Chancellor to the WNBA). We have promoted assistants with varying degrees of success (Jake Gibbs to succeed Tom Swayze, Rod Barnes to succeed Rob Evans).

But when it comes to another school poaching a top-notch assistant from Ole Miss, who goes on to be pretty successful ... I'm drawing a blank.

This is all to say that this weekend's match-up between head coach and former assistant is a rare - if not unique - experience in the annals of Ole Miss athletics.

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Noel Mazzone

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by Rebels7 on Mar 9, 2010 1:29 PM EST reply actions

Bill Parcells left Steve Sloan to be the head coach at Air Force

So if he hadn’t left then, we could count him.

Pig Pen this here's Rubber Duck, and I'm about to put the hammer down.

by JimHalpert on Mar 9, 2010 1:59 PM EST reply actions

Former Strength Coach Johnny Parker

Went on to win Super Bowls with the Giants and Bucs. A real innovator in conditioning in the NFL.

by Drewbacca on Mar 9, 2010 2:58 PM EST reply actions

So basically...

Ivory asked a question that will generate extremely limited response. Good call buddy.

by the_drake on Mar 10, 2010 11:36 AM EST reply actions

Romeo Crennel

He didn’t exactly use his Ole Miss assistant position to catapult himself to success (it took him over 20 years to get a head coaching gig … which he subsequently lost), but the former Cleveland Browns head coach and current Kansas City Chief’s DC was the defensive ends coach at Ole Miss in 1978 and ’79. He had been with Parcells before on the Sloan staff, got poached to be the (entire) DL coach at Georgia Tech for a year, then hooked back up with Parcells in the NFL, which hooked him up with Belicheck, which would lead him to his head job.

Sloan had a crap-ton of talented assistants in his day. Parcells and Crennel went on to be NFL Head Coaches (one is a first ballot hall of famer). Rex Dockery, Sloan’s OC at Vandy and TT, who stayed on to be the head guy at TT, was the Southwest Conference coach of the year in 1978 and, after going 1-10 his first two years at Memphis (which didn’t even have a weight room at the time), led the Tigers to a 6-4-1 record, going 3-1 against SEC teams and playing 4 teams in the Top 10. Memphis averaged 15,000 fans a game before he got there, and 40,000 his last season. He died in a plane crash in the off season, and Memphis football never recovered.

There are other coaches of his who banged around college and the NFL, but its too depressing to research. I guess the moral of the story is everyone gets better as soon as they dump Steve Sloan.

by the ghost of traditions past on Mar 10, 2010 1:51 PM EST reply actions