Asinine. That is the only way to describe the Ole Miss Chancellor and his support of embattled University of Mississippi Athletic Director Pete Boone.

Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones told the AP, “that he’s committed to athletic excellence and will not succumb to ‘anonymous, malicious and public attacks’ demanding Boone be fired.”

If Dr. Jones is committed to athletic excellence then he has a strange way of showing it. Athletic excellence is incompatible with Pete Boone.

Boone is a disaster. Boone is responsible for chaos within the athletic department. If you need any further evidence than the current disaster then recall Ed Orgeron.

What a brilliant hire!

Or not. Orgeron may be the biggest joke to ever coach in the SEC—even bigger than Lane Kiffin.

Whom should you blame for Ed Orgeron? Pete Boone.

But, the chancellor’s latest remark makes it clear the problem at Ole Miss is much deeper. Perhaps for Ole Miss fans to get athletic excellence then a change at the top is in order—the very top.

If Ole Miss decides it is time to part ways with Houston Nutt, then would Ole Miss fans feel comfortable with Pete Boone picking a successor? After today’s comments would Ole Miss supporters feel good about Dr. Jones picking a new coach?

Probably not.

There is no reason for Ole Miss to be woeful in football. The school has a rich tradition. The school has passionate fans. The school is located in fertile recruiting ground. While Ole Miss is not Florida, fans have every right to expect a program that is competitive.

Building a competitive program at Ole Miss must follow the same roadmap followed at LSU or Alabama. The university must have leadership.

Football coaches always talk about the need for leaders on the field. It is the same for an athletic department.

For years, Alabama wallowed in mediocrity. This mediocrity was a creation of pathetic leadership in the athletic department via failed athletic director Bob Bockrath. What made this worse was the lack of leadership in the president’s mansion.

What was the result of incompetence in a president and athletic director?

At Alabama, the result was Mike Dubose.

That turned out badly.

Alabama’s current run of success was the direct result of a strong leader—Alabama President Dr. Robert Witt. Dr. Witt fired Mike Price for his off-the-field shenanigans. This was painful as Alabama suffered through the Mike Shula years, but Dr. Witt made the right decision in putting the university’s integrity over wins. When it was clear the Shula experiment failed, Dr. Witt required his athletic director to find a winner.

Do Ole Miss fans trust their chancellor to have the fortitude to make the tough decisions? If not, it is time for a change at the very top. It isn’t about wins on the field; if a president or chancellor can’t show leadership in athletics, it is unlikely they can show leadership in other important areas of university business.

8 thoughts on “Ole Miss Chancellor foolish to stand by his Athletic Director”

  1. I agree the Ole Miss AD sucks and has to go, but Jones is in kind of a tough position right now. If he does fire Boone, he loses face because he backed down to all the idiots threatening violence. If he doesn’t fire Boone, the program continues to worsen. Rock and a hard place.

    1. Excellent point.

      So, would letting Boone “resign” sometime later this year be the best idea? That avoids looking like he gave into pressure.

  2. The argument that Jones shouldn’t fire Boone in order to not look like he’s giving into pressure ignores the fact that Jones is the one that kept Boone around long enough for the situation to fester to this point. There should be no sympathy for him having to deal with the consequences of his own failure to act sooner.

  3. A Chancellor’s responsibility is to the entire Ole Miss Community- atheletic, academic, alumni and friends. If the Chancellor will not do what’s best for the university, then the Chancellor should step down.

  4. Pete must go! He micro manages so much he is bordering on undermining the coaches he has hired. His leadership is non-existent. The laughing stock of SEC AD’s, the only reason he keeps his job is he probably has pictures of somebody with a farm animal. Seriously, I agree with everything in the above article. Both men should fall on their swords academic and athletic for the better good of the University.

  5. i would argue that a successful athletic endeavor is more about money than leadership.

    ole piss is what it is for the same reason mississippi state is what it is.

    no money, no money, no money.

    you really want to use alabama as an example???

    i would remind everyone that were it not for paul finebaum, rich rodriquez would have been hired rather than Coach Saban.

    we got lucky. we have leadership now due to that luck. (and the tons of money we threw at Coach Saban – for which i have no problem. no gary neil drummond here!)

    mal moore, god love him, is where he is because he can man the phones, knock on doors, and raise tons of money. could he get a job running a fortune 500 company???

    don’t ask danny sheridan that question if you don’t want a honest answer.

    who’s the most powerful person on campus in tuscaloosa?? who provides the leadership??

    if you say anyone but Coach Saban, you’re kidding yourself.

    (remember the textbook fiasco?? was witt or mal providing any “leadership” in that matter? remember Coach Saban’s comments directly afterwards??? something to the effect of how we couldn’t continue to do these things the way they had been doing them in the past. leadership, not from witt, not from mal, but from Coach Saban. i would submit that the best “leadership” witt and mal can provide is to stay out of Coach Saban’s way!!)

    ole piss is what it is because they don’t have alum willing to pony up the cash for it like alabama, florida, lsu, etc, etc.

    it’s really that simple.

    and it will be proven again with the next hire. the y will settle for a second or third tier coach and the alum will continue to sit on their wallets and kernel reb or the rebel bear or whatever they choose to call themselves will still be the same old, same old.

    old piss or uab, not a lot of difference.

  6. Wow Bama admits it’s all about money.. wow.. i had no idea bama was using money to be successfull.. no idea..

    now let’s talk about officiating and also why the SEC office is in B’Ham..

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