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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Cutcliffe Committed to Coaching at Ole Miss
6/21/1999 | Football
December 3, 1998
By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - David Cutcliffe has every intention of being at Mississippi well past the fourth anniversary of his hiring, unlike the coach he replaced.
Cutcliffe, the 16-year assistant coach for top-ranked Tennessee, was introduced Wednesday as the Rebels' new head coach, saying Ole Miss is the place he planned to retire from.
"The challenge I've got is to succeed well enough that I am allowed to retire here," said Cutcliffe, 44. "I have no interest in another job. That's just kind of my nature, once I get settled in, I'm going to be settled in."
Those comments were encouraging to Ole Miss fans and players, many whom felt betrayed by Tommy Tuberville's departure last Saturday - after weeks of denial - to become Auburn's coach.
"We were building and coming along good. Whatever happened, happened (with coach Tuberville)," linebacker Armegis Spearman said. "I don't know why it happened, but we have got another good guy in, and that's all that matters."
Tuberville, hired exactly four years before Cutcliffe's introduction as his replacement, was 25-20 at Oxford despite inheriting two years of NCAA probation.
But after his third winning season, with a squad that played just five seniors this year, Tuberville used Ole Miss (his first head coaching job) as a stepping stone to Auburn - a volatile situation, but one that doubled his salary.
"We wanted a person who would be committed to not just take this job, but finish it," said athletic director John Shafer, who conducted the search for Tuberville's replacement with Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat.
Cutcliffe will be on the job full-time at Ole Miss after finishing his current job, that as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tennessee (11-0), which plays Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game on Saturday night. Cutcliffe will not stay at Tennessee for the Vols' bowl game.
After his introduction as the Ole Miss coach Wednesday morning, Cutcliffe returned to Knoxville for Tennessee's afternoon practice.
"I am looking forward to getting started. Obviously I have a job to go back to that I have to finish, that I'm committed to finish," said Cutcliffe, who in 1992 was promoted to offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Tennessee after serving on that staff since 1982.
Cutcliffe said he would return to Oxford on Sunday. He will have to assemble a coaching staff, step full-speed into recruiting and may have to prepare Ole Miss (6-5) for its second straight postseason bowl game.
If the SEC gets two teams in the Bowl Championship Series, Ole Miss would be guaranteed a bowl spot.
That would mean Cutcliffe would make his head coaching debut in a postseason game, likely the Dec. 31 Independence Bowl at Shreveport, La.
Eight of Tuberville's nine assistants have joined him at Auburn, but rumors persist that several of them want to return to Ole Miss. Only defensive coordinator Art Kaufman remains on the Oxford campus, but he did not want to talk Wednesday about his status.
Cutcliffe got a four-year contract, the longest allowed for state employees in Mississippi, worth $1.6 million, Shafer said. The contract includes incentives and other perks.
