OXFORD — On Dec. 20, Matthew Murrell’s heave at the buzzer didn’t hit its target, sending Ole Miss into the Christmas break with a 66-65 loss to North Alabama.
That loss sent Ole Miss’ basketball season into irrelevancy.
Again.
A year earlier, it was a home loss to Samford on Dec. 21, 2021, that killed any and all momentum that season had.
Like the team that lost to Samford, this year’s Ole Miss team never recovered, either. A year after finishing 4-14 in the Southeastern Conference and losing in the first round of the league tournament, the Rebels ran it back. Ole Miss lost at Auburn, 78-74, Wednesday night at Neville Arena, moving the season mark to 10-18 overall and 2-13 in the Southeastern Conference.
It was more losing, obviously, than Kermit Davis’ tenure could survive. Davis, per sources, was informed on Thursday that he would not be retained as Ole Miss’ coach next season. He was offered the chance to finish the season but declined. Assistant coach Win Case will finish the rest of the season, starting with Saturday’s home date versus LSU.
Now, Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter faces a daunting task. It’s Carter, a former Ole Miss star who played in three NCAA Tournaments during his playing days, to hire a coach who can make his alma mater relevant again.
Yes, Carter would love to hire a coach who makes Ole Miss a title contender, but first, the program has to become relevant. Carter needs someone who can bring a style of play that’s entertaining. He needs someone who knows who to recruit and work the NCAA Transfer Portal. He needs someone who can work the campus, community and alumni base and create some excitement around basketball.
First, though, Ole Miss hoops need a return to relevancy.
For five of the last six years, the product has been sleepy, of no real interest to fans by the time the calendar turned to February. Good programs don’t play on Wednesday night in the conference tournament, certainly not annually. Ole Miss has now done it four of the past six seasons. In that time frame, Ole Miss has played in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals one time. The Rebels haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since beating BYU in Dayton, Ohio, on March 18, 2015. The Rebels haven’t played in the tournament since losing to Oklahoma in Columbia, S.C., on March 22, 2019.
It’s easy — and possibly a bit unfair — to use hindsight and question Carter’s decision to give Davis another year last March. However, Carter certainly knew then it was possible this season would go poorly and he’d have this decision in front of him. When North Alabama left Oxford with a win four days prior to Santa Claus’ annual journey, Carter had to have known the clock was ticking.
So Carter has had plenty of time to think about how he plans to conduct this search. He has choices. He can go with a big name with major baggage, a Power-6 head coach looking for a fresh start or roll the dice on an up-and-coming mid-major head coach looking to move up the ladder.
Since the season fell apart so early, we all have a decent idea regarding who’s in the pool for Carter to consider. Former Texas coach Chris Beard was fired in early January after a December domestic violence arrest. The charges against Beard were dropped in February, but his hiring — at Ole Miss or elsewhere — would bring a lot of nasty public relations, much of it deserved. However, Beard wins. He won 30 games and took Little Rock to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He guided Texas Tech to the Elite Eight and then the national championship game in consecutive seasons. He was assembling a very talented roster at Texas before his personal life led to his professional life unraveling.
Former LSU coach Will Wade is available, though he won’t know his NCAA fate until sometime in June. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was in Dallas for Wade’s IARP hearing, so he’ll likely be able to provide some insight into a likely verdict should Carter decide to go down that path,. Wade won at Virginia Commonwealth and LSU and is considered an elite recruiter, though it was recruiting allegations that led to his dismissal in Baton Rouge.
A year ago, Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann was interested in the Ole Miss job if it opened. A year later, Holtmann is embattled a bit. It’s believed he’d like a reset. He’s guided Butler and Ohio State to seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances, though the Buckeyes are among the worst teams in the Big Ten this year.
Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes wanted the Ole Miss job last time around and there are rumblings Carter would like to explore that avenue again. Former Xavier and Louisville coach Chris Mack is available, and though things ended badly at Louisville, he’s highly regarded in the coaching industry.
A coaching source told RebelGrove.com Saint Louis coach Travis Ford would be interested. Like Holtmann, Ford is a Kentucky native in his early 50s. Ford has guided Eastern Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma State and Saint Louis to the NCAA Tournament, never advancing past the Round of 32.
And there are young coaches whose names will certainly pop up. There’s FAU’s Dusty May, College of Charleston’s Pat Kelsey, Utah State’s Ryan Odom and Samford’s Bucky McMillan. One of those could be the sport’s next big star. Or they could be unprepared for a jump to a league that is sporting coaches such as Kentucky’s John Calipari, Alabama’s Nate Oates, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, Arkansas’ Eric Musselman and Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams.
It’s a big-boy league with a lot of NBA-caliber talent. It’s a buzzsaw, as Ole Miss knows all too well.
It’s also a fun league, but only if you’re relevant. Otherwise, it’s miserable.
Carter knows both of those facts. Now that this nightmare of a season is almost in the history books, it’s his job to end the misery and make Ole Miss relevant again.
