http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/COL0504/508030335/1025/SPORTS [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif] [font=Arial,Helvetica][size=+1]New Reb neighbor has West's attention[/font][/size][/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif] [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][size=-2]By Rick Cleveland [/font] [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][size=-2][email protected] [/size][/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][size=-2]Mark Weber/Special to The Clarion-Ledger[/size][/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][size=-2]Memphis coach Tommy West's biggest challenge so far this season may have come from outside Conference USA when Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron declared he'd dominate recruiting in the Bluff City. [/size][/font] MEMPHIS — Speaking at a Rebel Club meeting here last week, Ed Orgeron claimed Memphis solely as Ole Miss recruiting territory. "We're going to build a fence around Memphis," Orgeron said. "I guarantee that." Ole Miss fans loved it. Naturally, that statement made headlines in the next day's Commercial Appeal. Among the more interested readers was Memphis Tigers football coach Tommy West. "Yeah, I read that," West said Tuesday at Conference USA Media Days. "All I can say, is that's a lot of work. A fence? All the way around Memphis? Hey, it's a big city. He's got a lot of work to do. "I figure it'll take a year or so at least," West said. "So maybe we can get a few players over the next 12 months." Later, after taking questions on other subjects, West turned the conversation back to Orgeron's fence.[/size][/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif] [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][size=-2]Rick Cleveland[/font] "I keep thinking about that fence," he deadpanned, rubbing his face. "I'm kinda worried about that. Will we be able to get out of town when we need to, or will we be prisoners in our own city? Maybe, we'll have to ask for a pass when we have to get out of town."[/size][/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]West laughed along with reporters, but his message was clear. As University of Memphis football coach, and with a roster featuring 30 Memphis-area players, West doesn't plan to give Memphis up without a fight.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Don't look now, but the Memphis-Ole Miss football rivalry, dominated for so long by the Rebels, has heated considerably since West's Tigers have won the last two meetings. Orgeron's arrival apparently will only serve to make it hotter.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Nothing wrong with that, I say, especially since Orgeron's first season at Ole Miss — and West's fifth at Memphis — will begin on Labor Day in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][size=-1]Series contract in dispute[/font][/size][/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Just how long the Tigers and Rebels will continue to play one another annually on a home-and-home basis is a matter to be decided. You may remember the controversy last April. Ole Miss had a contract that had the series running through 2007. Memphis said it had an addendum to that contract that runs through 2011.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Athletic directors Pete Boone of Ole Miss and R.C. Johnson of Memphis reportedly will meet in the near future to decide how that contract plays out. Apparently, Ole Miss would like to spread those six games under contract beyond this season over a longer period of time. In other words, Ole Miss doesn't want to end the series but also doesn't want to play on an annual basis. Said West, "What I know is we've got a contract and they'll either play us or pay us."[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The rivalry, West said, makes dollars and sense. "There's little travel, both team's fans can see it with no problem," he said. "I noticed ESPN dropped Ole Miss-Mississippi State but it picked up our game, so obviously there's some national appeal, too. I just can't understand why they wouldn't want to play. "I guess," he deadpanned, "we quit doing our part." West's inference was obvious. After winning only eight of 59 previous meetings, the Tigers have won the last two, 44-34 at Memphis and 20-13 at Oxford.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][size=-1]Tigers making inroads[/font][/size][/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]At West's first Conference USA Media Day back in 2001, he told all who would listen that he planned to recruit Mississippi. He looked at Memphis' record against Mississippi's three Division I-A schools and saw Memphis wasn't winning many. He looked at the rosters of the Mississippi schools and saw Mississippians by the scores. He looked at his own roster and saw not one player from Mississippi.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]"Not one," he said Tuesday, "and I can just about hit an 8-iron from my backyard into Mississippi. It only makes sense for us to recruit there." When the Rebels go against Memphis on Labor Day, they will go against a roster that includes 23 Mississippians. Over the years, Memphis has won only 48 of 161 games against Mississippi's Big Three. Under West, Memphis has won four of 10. Obviously, he's doing something better than his predecessors.[/font] [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Memphis had been to two bowls since 1912 before West came to town. The Tigers have been to two straight bowls under West. The Tigers won nine games in 2003 and eight more last season. West has been rewarded with a contract that pays him a league-best $800,000 a year, more than he ever made as head coach at Clemson.[/font] Who else thinks this is hilarious?
ME!!!!! He is building a huge fence. Trouble is, it is a picket fence and even 300 lb linemen can WALK through it.
Im sorry the more I listen and read about " coach o " the more he sounds like a complete an utter dumbass. I met him at sec media days and he seemed quite cool headed but lost like a sick puppy dog. I think that article is absolutely funny. I thought that was a perfiect comeback by the Memphis coach. Also make it three years in a row where memphis beats um.
the guy knows his DEFENSIVE x's and o's... has no clue about offense, so he will need a coordinator... As far as recruiting... anyone can recruit in Los Angeles Coach O will soon be singing Weezer's hit: "Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be!"
Yeah, as hard as it is for me to cheer for Ole Miss, I kinda hope Coach O does well being he's from my hometown, but I just don't see it happening. If he can get his defense in order, then they'll hang around some teams, but I wanna see him do it without Pete Carroll and without the best talent in the NCAA.
He doesn't have much of a signing class left. Six players that he signed have left the team for various reasons. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050810/SPORTS030103/508100365/1109
