SwagK

"...his separation agreement stipulated that several key members of the university and its athletics foundation wouldn’t harm Nutt’s reputation." So were Hugh Freeze and Ross Bjork included as "key members of the university"? That's highly unlikely since NEITHER OF THEM WORKED FOR THE UNIVERSITY WHEN NUTT'S AGREEMENT WAS SIGNED. Are we to believe that this so called non-disparagement clause was include all future head coaches until the end of time? How about this scenario...Freeze comes on board late 2011. In the summer/fall of 2012 as he is preparing his first Rebel team to take the field he says something to reporters along the lines of, "our depth chart is no where near SEC caliber so we have a lot of work to do there." Doesn't this statement reflect poorly upon the previous coaching staff? Would this be a violation of the non-disparagement clause? THE MAN WENT 2-10 AND LOST EVERY SEC GAME HE COACHED IN HIS FINAL YEAR. Come on, people. Nutt is a fraud. The man was unable to get a job for FOUR complete football seasons before Freeze or anyone else allegedly said anything about his staff committing NCAA violations. (Side note: FOUR level 1 allegations are directed at Nutt's staff) This lawsuit is frivolous at best. Any competent judge, friendly or not, will throw this thing out quickly.

You do realize that it was the investigative team that responded to Ole Miss and deemed Leo a credible witness? What did you think they would say, "oh yeah the guy who appears in FOUR Level 1 Allegations may not be believable after all"? The investigative team saying he is credible is not the same thing as the COI believing he is credible. After all, the COI has asked him to appear at the hearing. They obviously have questions regarding the validity/consistency of his testimony. Here's the bottom line: You don't how credible Leo's testimony is anymore than anybody else. You don't know what sanctions the COI will hand down anymore than anyone else does. As far as your original question about Bjork and Vitter, who knows if they do survive it. I don't really see why Bjork should be gone. There's no way anyone could have handled this thing better with all the twists and turns and shadiness of the NCAA that has gone on.

No one should feel sorry for any of those, you are correct. But this lazy ass reporting that's been going on is getting ridiculous. No one cares about actually looking at the facts that are easily available. Everyone wants to see Ole Miss, and Freeze specifically, burn to the ground. They aren't so much interested in what actually happened, and they don't care how the story gets told. They just want to believe what they want to believe, and the hell with the rest. That's why moronic statements like the one in this article can say that Nutt hasn't been able to get a job since 2011 because Hugh Freeze lied to media members about him in 2016, and NOBODY EVEN STOPS TO QUESTION IT. I mean, damn, the sheer idiocy of that statement makes me wonder what has happened to journalistic integrity. Ole Miss definitely isn't clean, but if anyone thinks that the actual allegations that are listed are so horrible that their school would never stoop that low, they are delusional. The worst allegation in the NOA? Fixing ACT scores so students can qualify for school. I hope we can all agree that academic fraud is a little more serious than a kid getting access to hunting land on an official visit. Who was coach when the ACT scandal went down? HOUSTON DAMN NUTT.

"When the NCAA first knocked on Mississippi’s door, Freeze followed the Universal College Coach in Hot Water Playbook and blamed everything on the prior staff. As a result, Houston Nutt has been a pariah in coaching circles since 2011." Really??? So you're telling me that Houston Nutt has been a "pariah in coaching circles" since 2011 because of a smear campaign started by Freeze and Ole Miss in 2016???? FACT: Nutt was fired after the 2011 season by Ole Miss. FOUR complete football seasons went by with Nutt unable to procure employment by any school in the country BEFORE Ole Miss receieved the NOA and Freeze or anyone else at Ole Miss allegedly try to spin it back to him. MORE FACTS: In the original NOA, Ole Miss was charged with 8 Level 1 violations. One of those 8 was the Laremy Tunsil car loan situation, which was already public knowledge, and for which he had already sat out 7 games the prior season. That leaves a total of seven Level 1 allegations. Of those seven Level 1 allegations, FOUR of them (yeah that's right FOUR) are connected to, guess who, HOUSTON NUTT'S staff. EVEN MORE FACTS: Chris Vaughn, who was on Nutt's staff at Ole Miss, and is metnioned in not 1, but TWO Level 1 allegations against Ole Miss was FIRED from Texas just before the NOA was made public. Nutt went on a radio show in February of 2016 and defended Vaughn as being "straight as an arrow" and having NEVER committed any violations. Ole Miss is certainly not squeaky clean in all of this, but let's not pretend that poor old Houston is sitting around unable to get a job because of some smear campaign at the hands of Ole Miss. The guy can't coach.