Earlier today, or maybe it was last night, I can’t remember and don’t care about the timeline (UNLESS we’re talking about the ‘Serial’ podcast and we’re gonna dig into Jay’s timeline of that afternoon), Hugh Freeze (THREE CLAPS) made himself significantly more monies, as he extended his contract with Ole Miss for $4 million a season. The new agreement ensures that Freeze will be extremely well paid, he can’t eye other jobs at least for one more year, and Jimmy Sexton will be able to buy the island next to the island he currently owns.
As I thought about the $4 million, it dawned on me that it would be really awesome to make $4 million a year (but doing something way less stressful), and that a member of Ed Orgeron’s coaching tree now makes $4 million a year. A coach who went 10-25 (3-21 in the SEC) in three seasons as head coach of Ole Miss now has a former tight ends coach making that kind of money.
Again, that’s ED ORGERON’S OLE MISS COACHING TREE THAT SPAWNED A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE.
While Freeze’s rise is pretty spectacular, both in terms of success and speed, and I could talk about it (and have talked about it) for many hours, what about the other branches of Orgeron’s coaching tree? Coaches selected by Orgeron to join him at Ole Miss*. What was their journey post-Ole Miss and where are they now?
*Not counting USC as part of the tree since he didn’t get to pick those coaches
Via The Belly of the Beast research team, which is composed of myself and an ability to obsessively Google things, THE REMAINING BRANCHES OF THE ED ORGERON COACHING TREE:
Original 2005 Staff
Noel Mazzone (Offensive coordinator)
After riding out one year of the storm with Orgeron, Mazzone coached wide receivers for the Jets, was a high school offensive coordinator, did the same at Arizona State, and is now the offensive coordinator at UCLA.
George DeLeone (OL coach)
Saw the ship was sinking and got out of Oxford after a year. Went to Temple, the Miami Dolphins, UConn, and is currently a first-year assistant offensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns.
Matt Lubick (WR coach)
Left Ole Miss after two years, coached at Arizona State and Duke before landing the wide receivers coach job at Oregon in 2013, which he still has.
Matt Luke (TE coach)
One year under Orgeron was also enough for him, left for Tennessee, spent time at Duke, and is back at Ole Miss coaching the offensive line.
Frank Wilson (RB coach)
Saw all 25 losses under Orgeron, moved on to Southern Mississippi and Tennessee, and has coached running backs (plus has had recruiting coordinator duties) at LSU since 2010.
Shawn Slocum (DB coach)
Another coach who pressed eject after a year, has coached special teams for the Green Bay Packers in some capacity since 2006.
Charlie Camp (LB coach)
Resigned after a few weeks on the job due to picking up a DUI. Moved on to San Jose State, Nevada, pharmaceutical sales, North Dakota State, Akron, and is now back in the non-football sector as a medical sales rep.
Joe Cullen (DL coach)
I believe he was the only member of Orgeron’s staff to get fired before everyone was fired, but was certainly the only member of Orgeron’s staff to get fired for being passed out in a Subway. He later gained fame as that coach who drove through the Wendy’s drive-thru drunk and naked while coaching with the Lions.
Since Ole Miss, he has coached for Illinois, Idaho State, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cleveland Browns, and is now coaching the defensive line for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Dennis Slutak (Special Teams coach)
Another coach who didn’t make it to the start of the 2005 season. Slutak left to go back to USC, where he was an assistant before joining Orgeron at Ole Miss. After USC, he was Washington’s director of football operations, then was named to the same spot at Bowling Green in 2013, but is currently not on staff there.
Based on me getting real tired of Googling “Dennis Slutak”, he doesn’t appear to be involved with football anywhere.
Later Additions to Orgeron’s Staff
Chris Rippon (DB and Special Teams coach)
Replacing one of the many departures, he saw the bitter end of the Orgeron era, then had stops at Rutgers and Marshall before being named the defensive coordinator of Columbia in 2013. OH HE FANCY, SMART, AND ELITE NOW.
Tony Hughes (DB and TE coach)
After the fall of Orgeron, spent one year at Southern Mississippi before joining Dan Mullen at Mississippi State in 2009, and is currently the assistant head coach, safeties coach, and recruiting coordinator in Starkville.
Ryan Nielsen (DL coach)
Replacing Joe Cullen after the Subway incident, Nielsen was a graduate assistant bumped up to DL coach by Orgeron in the spring of 2005. After Ole Miss, he had quite the journey. Central Connecticut State, UT-Martin, and Northern Illinois were stops along the way to NC State, where he is now the DL coach and recruiting coordinator.
Dan Werner (Offensive coordinator)
After round one at Ole Miss, Werner took a job as offensive coordinator at Northwestern State in scenic Natchitoches, Louisiana. Then he suffered a horrendous tragedy when his wife died not too long after he took that job.
He moved back to Mississippi and became head coach of North Delta Academy in Batesville for three years before Hugh Freeze hired him to coach quarterbacks and be the offensive coordinator again at Ole Miss.
Art Kehoe (OL coach)
Upon leaving Oxford, Kehoe spent three years coaching offensive line for something called the California Redwoods of the UFL. Not sure if this was actually a team or he just enjoyed yelling at trees for not hitting the blocking sled with better technique.
In 2011, he returned to Miami, where he still coaches the offensive line.
Hugh Freeze (Recruiting coordinator and TE coach)
MAKIN’ MONEY, SON.
David Saunders (LB coach)
One of very few people who managed to have three appearances at Ole Miss. He was an assistant under David Cutcliffe, Ed Orgeron, and was later part of the Ole Miss administrative staff in 2010. In 2011, he began coaching cornerbacks at Louisiana-Lafayette, and held that position until November of this year before leaving the team for the ALWAYS INTRIGUING “personal reasons”.
And so there it is, the magnificent coaching tree of Ed Orgeron. ADMIRE ALL OF THE HOUSEHOLD NAMES IN THE BRANCHES.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
