The "who will coach Ole Miss" threads got me thinking of Billy Brewer. I didn't remember all the circumstances around his departure, but I knew there were some hard feelings that were supposedly being mended. I thought he might be a "bridge coach" assuming he was still in good health to get them past the next year or two.

But, based on the circumstances surrounding his departure, this doesn't seem to be an option. In fact, it really is amazing to compare Ole Miss 30 years ago to where they are today.

LINK

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Brewer took over at Ole Miss in 1983, succeeding Steve Sloan, who was 20-34-1 in the previous five seasons.

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However, Brewer's tenure at Ole Miss was marred by allegations of recruiting improprieties that twice led to run-ins with the NCAA. The Rebels were banned from post-season play and live television for the 1987 season after a two-year investigation found that Ole Miss recruits had received cash and other gifts from boosters. The penalties were a source of embarrassment for Dr. Gerald Turner, then Ole Miss' chancellor and previously the head of the NCAA's President's Commission, and one of the first milestones in Turner's stormy relationship with Brewer. "We have made some mistakes," Brewer said at a news conference following the announcement of the sanctions. "We are being punished for those mistakes, and we do not intend ever to be in this situation again."

However, in December 1993, Brewer and Ole Miss were again hit by allegations of recruiting violations. The NCAA would eventually cite the program for 15 transgressions, all of them serious and some of them embarrassingly lurid. An NCAA report said that Ole Miss boosters and coaches had offered recruits gifts, including cash and, in one case, a car. Boosters were also accused of breaking national rules by taking recruits 30 miles outside of Oxford, sometimes to strip clubs in Memphis. Most damningly, the NCAA alleged that Ole Miss officials knowingly allowed the violations to occur, demonstrating a lack of institutional control of the football program.

The charges forced Athletic Director Warner Alford to resign in July 1994. One day later, Turner fired Brewer, granting him 30 days' paid leave but no other severance package for the three years remaining on his contract. Later that year, the NCAA, when announcing severe penalties against the Ole Miss football program, found Brewer guilty of unethical conduct. Specifically, it stated "There was unethical conduct by a former (Ole Miss) head football coach (Brewer), who was found to show a continuing pattern of disregard for NCAA rules in the operation of the football program ((Jackson, MS) Clarion Ledger, November 18, 1994, p.6-7C)." Brewer sued the University for his dismissal, eventually receiving several hundred thousand dollars.

Ex-Ole Miss Coach Wins Lawsuit

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OXFORD, Miss. (AP) _ Former Mississippi football coach Billy Brewer won his lawsuit against the university Tuesday, five years after being fired in the wake of an NCAA investigation.

A jury deliberated most of the day in Lafayette County Circuit Court before deciding Brewer was owed more than $200,000 in salary. The jury, however, did not award the former coach $2 million in damages he sought from the school.

The university fired Brewer in 1994 for deliberate and serious NCAA violations. Brewer said he committed none.

Brewer filed suit in 1995, claiming his firing ``stigmatized'' him in college coaching circles.

Since leaving his alma mater after 11 seasons, the 64-year-old Brewer has not coached. He still lives in Oxford.

Barbara Lago, director of public information at the University of Mississippi, said school officials were disappointed.

``We have always felt we acted prudently and justly in relieving Coach Brewer of his duties as head football coach in 1994,'' she said.

During almost two weeks of testimony, College Board attorneys tried to link Brewer to the unsuccessful coverup of the NCAA violations.

Brewer's attorney, Jim Waide of Tupelo, suggested that the university pressured former athletics director Warner Alford to resign and fire Brewer in an attempt to make the NCAA look more favorably on the school when levying sanctions.

Waide also had said the $100,000 in severance pay that Warner received after his resignation was a ``payoff'' to fire Brewer.

Warner testified, under questioning by the State College Board attorney Cal Mayo that the $100,000 severance package was legitimate. He also said he thought the university was correct in firing Brewer.

Tommy Rayburn, who represented one of the assistant coaches during an interview with the NCAA, testified Monday that the majority of the NCAA's questions revolved around Brewer.

``It was obvious (the assistant coach) was OK, but they were after Billy Brewer's ... and I used a descriptive part of the anatomy that begins with `a,''' Rayburn said.

The NCAA faulted Brewer for failure to control his football program and for unethical conduct.