Mississippi Today (https://mississippitoday.org/author/rickcleveland/)
Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. He was sports editor of Hattiesburg American, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers. Rick has been recognized 11 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year, and is recipient of multiple awards and honors for his reporting and writing.
A dozen years after they coached together at Delta State, Dave Aranda is the new head coach at Baylor and Ron Roberts is his defensive coordinator. Their roles were reversed at Delta State, which has become quite the cradle of football coaches.
The 1966 Picayune High football team finished winless in 10 games. The Maroon Tide was so bad, the scores are not listed in the school’s annual. The most memorable aspect of that ’66 season is that Jimmy Johnson, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and soon to be inducted into the Pro Football of Fame, was a Picayune assistant coach
What makes Mike Leach a pirate, a maverick? Maybe this story from his childhood gives an indication of how his mind works and how he thinks far outside the box.
The Sanderson Farms Championship on Thursday made a $1.3 million contribution to Friends of Children’s Hospital at UMMC
In 2018, Mike Leach said he wanted more Mississippi players at Washington State. Now, he’ll have them in Starkville instead
The Dahmer murder happened 54 years ago Friday. So let’s fast-forward to this bright, warm Monday morning when a large crowd, black and white and many in tears, gathered for the unveiling of a bronzed statue of Vernon Dahmer Sr., outside the Forrest County Courthouse on Main Street in Hattiesburg
Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State athletic departments have spent millions and millions of dollars over the past month trying to fix what they obvious believe to be past mistakes. It is as if they are paying with Monopoly money.
Hamp, who died early Christmas morning at 86, checked all the “best guy” boxes: genuinely kind, honest, funny, dependable, tough (in a good way), loving, proud, humble and loyal
You have to really know Drew Brees to understand his success, former teammate Deuce McAllister says. You have to witness his focus, his will and his grit first-hand. And still, McAllister says, you’ll find yourself whistling to yourself and asking, “How in the world did Drew do what he just did?”
George County’s McKinnley Jackson plays football like The Incredible Hulk, and Saturday he was easily the game’s most valuable player in Mississippi’s 17-16 victory over Alabama.
Kiffin has been called a football genius. He also has been called brash, immature and worse. His hiring is a calculated risk.
Oxford High School head football coach Chris Cutcliffe grew up with his successful, much-respected father, David Cutcliffe, coaching at Tennessee and Ole Miss. But Chris chose a different route, high school coaching and teaching, and has never looked back.
Detractors will point out that Matt Luke went from 6-6 as an interim head coach to 5-7 in 2018, to 4-8 this past season. Still, Ole Miss showed real progress this season. If the new Rebel coach can retain many of the team’s outstanding young players, there’s plenty to be hopeful about.
You watch 45 of these Egg Bowls and you think you’ve seen everything there is to see. And then something happens like what happened Thursday night in Starkville.
“But there was that one year – long, long ago – when both the Southeastern Conference championship and New Year’s Day bowl bids were at stake. … There was that one, solitary year when if State won, the Bulldogs were SEC champions and if Ole Miss won, the Rebels were SEC champs.”