If you are asking yourself why are we posting a story on a college football coach getting a contract extension, then you aren't paying attention to the Coaching Carousel season.
Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze got his extension Tuesday morning. Complete with a pay bump--up to $4 million a year per reports.
And it's newsworthy because several blogs/outlets reported that he was the leader for the University of Florida open coaching job.
Those reports were obviously incorrect.
Freeze has gotten results each year with the Rebels, this year the team has been in the Top 10 most of the season and just beat arch rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, knocking the Bulldogs out of playoff contention.
Freeze announced the contract on Twitter:
Very blessed to be at THE University of Miss & work for and with great people and fans! REBELNATION, say it with me, I AM AN OLE MISS REBEL
— Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) December 2, 2014
His boss, Athletic Director Ross Bjork confirmed it:
Proud that we have @CoachHughFreeze leading our program & young men for a long time to come. Agreement is in place & future is bright!
— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) December 2, 2014
And the HQ's reaction is: "Of course, they didn't..."
To recap...
There's a course at Ole Miss, much like Theatre 3000 that we took during our undergrad years, where part of your assignment is to go watch plays- and either write synopses (or "summaries..." for some of you) or answer test questions on what you see... It was an easy "A" course if you paid attention...
Ole Miss football players went to see a play called "The Laramie Project"- based on the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.
Here's the movie based on the play...
The Daily Mississippian, the university's student newspaper, reported that as many 20 Ole Miss football players were among an audience Tuesday. Play director and faculty member Rory Ledbetter told the newspaper that members of the audience were using homosexual slurs while the performance was going on and insulting the body types and sexual orientation of cast members. The behavior of those who disrupted the play made it difficult to even complete the performance.
“I am the only gay person on the cast,” junior theater major Garrison Gibbons said. “I played a gay character in the show, and to be ridiculed like that was something that really made me realize that some people at Ole Miss and in Mississippi still can’t accept me for who I am.”
On Thursday, the University apologized:
...we will meet today with the freshman student-athletes (from various sports) who attended the play and have a dialogue about what happened, about our university-wide commitment to inclusivity and civility, and about the important role they play in representing the university. It is clear that some students badly misrepresented the culture of this university. From there, we will work with Student Affairs and the Bias Incident Response Team to determine the facts and appropriate next steps.
The student newspaper also reported that Ledbetter said a member of the athletic department sent him an email apologizing for the incident.
Ole Miss theater department chairwoman Rene Pulliam told the paper that the football players were asked to apologize by the athletic department as well- yet, apparently, they didn't know what they were apologizing for- according to reports...
From the University:
The task of identifying specific individuals who were purported to have disrupted the performance is difficult because of the dark theatre, and initial reports vary in regard to the frequency, volume and source of the comments or disruption. Although initial reports indicate that student-athletes led the action, it is important to note that this has not been verified and they were not the only students present. Reports indicate that comments were made by student athletes and students but no report has singled out a specific student or mentioned any names.
Lost in the moral indignation about what is happening in Penn State is another somewhat disturbing story about a college football program's response to what appears to be a pretty serious problem as well.
Early Saturday morning in Baton Rouge, Lousiana, Western Kentucky defensive coordinator Lance Guidry was pulled over and charged with DWI. The stop, is apparently the 3rd time it has happened. Western Ky was in town to play the top ranked LSU Tigers.
Guidry was pulled over around 1 a.m and registered a considerable amount over the state limit for DWI.
Read the story of his arrest from LSUrevellie.com RIGHT HERE
According to a statement released Monday from WKY Head Coach Willie Taggart, Guidry was viewing high school games in the area and allegedly met-up with a friend afterwards.
Taggart didn't mention the drinking. He just said "This type of conduct is not acceptable and there will be disciplinary measures as a result, and they will be handled internally."
Athletic Director Ross Bjork (no relation) added this "I am personally disappointed in Lance's actions during our trip to LSU. Lance is a great football coach and has brought great energy to our team and defense since he arrived. He knows better of his responsibilities as a public figure."
Bjork went on to say it would have punished the players for Guidry to sit out the game vs. LSU and since he apologized, it was apparently ok. He also added that since Guidry was apologetic, that he "Owned thismistake" and would learn from it.
He also said a background check when Guidry was hired didn't turn up the previous incidents. (Right)
Ok.
This isn't quite the load of crap that Penn State tried to foist upon everyone, but it still stinks. Really....3 DWI's and that isn't enough to (a) Put you in jail or (b) Get you fired?
Sure, we get the WKU isn't exactly high up on the food chain, but when did it become OK to brush off what Guidry did? Would it have mattered had he hit and killed someone while driving? Something that easily could have happened.
Yes, it appears that Coach Guidry has a problem and needs some help. And he should not be allowed to drive a car again for the foreseeable future. But somehow, we are guessing that won't happen. We aren't going to preach naivety here but.
One DWI is bad. It happens. To a lot of well-intentioned people. If it happened to say...me...when I worked in a Newsroom, I would be fired. The 1st time. On the spot. And there would be no defense.
But if you are a college football coach at Western Kentucky...well, it apparently is alright. As long as nobody was hurt.
You should be as angry about this as we are, but we suspect with the other things going on in the world of College Football and because it is Western Kentucky, nobody will pay attention.
