Legendary former Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning quickly discovered something in his role as co-chairman of the selection committee charged with hiring the Rebels' next football coach.
He has learned that imagination runs wild when compiling a list of candidates to replace lame duck coach Houston Nutt, fired a week ago effective at the end of the regular season.
How wild? Try the suggestion that Archie's famous No. 2 son, injured Indianapolis Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning, should retire from the NFL because of his neck injury and coach the Rebels.
"I've gotten about 20 or 25 e-mails from people in that regard," said the elder Manning, who was in town Monday night to speak to the Touchdown Club of Memphis. "I passed that on to Peyton. He said, 'Just tell them that I'm 0-10 as an assistant for Indianapolis.'"
But Manning said Peyton, even more so than No. 3 son, Eli, an Ole Miss alumnus who is quarterback for the New York Giants, passed on names of several viable candidates.
"Peyton, some of his teammates and a couple of coaches put their heads together and recommended a few people," he said. "Eli just said, 'Get a good one.'"
Manning is just beginning to discover how difficult a head-coaching search can be. He was persuaded by Ole Miss Chancellor Dr. Dan Jones to serve as co-chairman of the five-person selection committee along with FedEx executive vice president and Ole Miss alumnus Mike Glenn.
The other committee members are Ole Miss alumni association president Richard Noble, law professor Ronald Rychlak and associate professor Ethel Young-Minor. Everybody on the committee but Manning is a member of the school's intercollegiate athletic committee.
The committee is being aided by Eastman and Beaudine, a search firm located in the Dallas suburb of Plano.
"As things were getting tough, I told Dr. Jones I was there for support," said Manning, explaining how he got involved with the committee. "I'm not in the firing business. He was talking about me helping in a search for a new athletic director and then he pulled the plug on Houston. He asked Mike Glenn and me to head that up. I agreed, because I want to help my school."
Manning said he has been in Oxford since Wednesday to start work on finding a new coach. The committee met over the weekend, and he said the school should have no shortage of quality candidates.
Manning isn't going to divulge names, but some of the most frequently mentioned candidates at this point are former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and first-year Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze, a former Ole Miss assistant. Even former Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville, who left the Rebels for Auburn at the end of the 1998 season and now coaches Texas Tech, has been mentioned as a possible candidate.
"I know a lot of people in football, you get names of possible coaches and you take them down," Manning said. "We'll turn the names we have over to the search firm and they'll have more names.
"Everybody talks about having a short list. We've got a long list. We're going to try and move as quickly as possible to find a good fit for Ole Miss."
Manning said there are many types of coaches that would qualify as a "good fit" for the Rebels, who are 2-8 this season and 0-6 in the SEC's Western Division. Ole Miss plays No. 1 LSU in Oxford on Saturday, then closes the season at in-state rival Mississippi State on Nov. 26 as Nutt tries to avoid becoming the first Rebels' coach in history to lose 10 games in one season.
"A proven name (as a head coach) is good," Manning said. "But at the same time, every head coach out there has been an assistant at one time. So it wouldn't be wise for us to look away from assistants. We're looking at everyone, even in the pro ranks."
Offense: Vanderbilt junior RB Zac Stacy -- Ran for 135 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries, leading Vanderbilt a 38-8 victory over Kentucky.
Defense: Alabama junior LB Dont'a Hightower -- Had a team-high 11 tackles, 11/2 sacks and a pass breakup in the Crimson Tide's 24-7 win at Mississippi State.
Special teams: Arkansas return specialist/wide receiver Joe Adams -- Returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown and also had two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown in Arkansas' 49-7 victory over Tennessee.
Other awards: Georgia running back Isaiah Crowell (freshman), Georgia senior center Ben Jones (offensive line), South Carolina tackle Travian Robertson (defensive tackle).
Citadel at South Carolina, 11 a.m.
Mississippi State at Arkansas, 2:30 p.m.; WREG Channel 3
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