In the early history of man, there was always one person to blame when things went wrong. After that went on for a while, the people doing all the screwing up decided that they didn’t want to shoulder the blame individually (even if it was their fault) and somewhere along the way birthed the idea of a committee. Their thinking being that when something went wrong, no one person could be burned at the stake, tarred and feathered, or put in the stocks.
Of course, there was still outrage over whatever it was that went wrong, but instead of going after one person, those hurt by the wrong just cursed the committee as a whole, then formed another committee to figure out how to put the first committee at the bottom of a lake. Of course, the second committee also failed, but just like the first one, accountability was nowhere to be found. And so began the process of the world filling up with committees of all sorts, as those in power quickly recognized the personal benefit of not having to answer when the committee failed.
As time marched on and billions and billions of committees were formed, the idea to form one landed in the mind of Ole Miss chancellor Dan Jones. Ole Miss was in the market for a new head football coach and athletic director after the dismissal of Houston Nutt and the kind-of-dismissal-but-not-really of Pete Boone, respectively. Chancellor Jones, rather than lead this process as the leader of the school, chose to pass the hiring responsibility to Archie Manning and Mike Glenn, a pair of respected good Rebels, and the committee they would lead, while scoring a PR point for himself.
Manning and Glenn were named the co-chairs of a five-person search committee and, with the help of a coaching search firm, eventually decided that Hugh Freeze was the best candidate for head football coach. They passed their recommendation on to Chancellor Jones, who rubber stamped that into an official hire.
Currently, the committee led by Manning and Glenn is wading through a pool of candidates for the athletic director position, and when they settle on their top choice, they’ll send their recommendation to Chancellor Jones, who will likely pull out the same stamp again.
It’s possible that Freeze and the yet-to-be-hired athletic director turn out to be the greatest hires in the history of Ole Miss and/or college athletics. Given the history of Ole Miss’ fortune, it’s highly doubtful that will be true, but I hope it is because it would be nice to stop hemorrhaging suck in all directions.
The problem with this committee process is that it’s part of standard operating procedure at Ole Miss, which is to avoid accountability at all costs. If Freeze and/or the new AD turn out to be failures, whose ass is on the hook for their hires? You can’t fire Archie Manning and Mike Glenn, nor will anyone besmirch them, especially Manning given his status among the Ole Miss faithful. Dan Jones will point to the committee and say he went with their recommendation, which leads right back to the committee led by people who can’t be fired, and everyone keeps their jobs.
Is it too much to ask that someone’s ass be on the line for every important decision that is made at that school? One would think that would bring about maximum effort (employees, you know, DOING THEIR JOBS) and break up the reliance on and protection of the good ol’ boy network that has kept that place wallowing in mediocrity for the past 40 years.
I hope for the sake of my sanity and less rage in my life that this round of hires turns out to be successful enough that the Manning/Glenn committee is eventually placed in charge of everything, and rules the school like one of those councils from sci-fi movies, complete with the robes and fancy, high-backed chairs around a crescent table. It may not happen like that, but if does, I want full credit for that idea. And possibly a suite for football games, oh great council.
Until that day arrives, let’s find a suitable lake for all future committees and those who appoint them.
(Note: As for the history of committees, per the usual around here, no research was done, but it seemed logical.)
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