Even if Butch Jones were fired by Tennessee, he could do better than Ole Miss

Ole Miss has fallen on hard times in football. You know what that means.

Its SEC brothers will rally to its support and eagerly lend a helping hand.

Just kidding. Whenever misfortune befalls one SEC school, the other conference programs are trained to capitalize with savage quickness.

There’s plenty of capitalizing to be done in the case of Ole Miss, which seemingly has been under NCAA investigation for longer than Texas A&M and Missouri have been in the league.

As if the protracted investigation weren’t damaging enough, coach Hugh Freeze recently resigned after the university detected a “pattern of personal misconduct inconsistent to the standards we expect from the leader of our football team,” according to school chancellor Jeff Vitter.

Translation: Freeze was calling more than plays.

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The Rebels responded to Freeze’s departure by naming Matt Luke interim head coach. You know what that means.

Four-star recruits will start committing in droves.

Just kidding again. Having an interim head coach is almost as toxic to recruiting as having NCAA investigators hanging around your campus.

You might have noticed how little public reaction there has been from other SEC schools to Ole Miss’ misfortune. That's because it’s a matter of conference etiquette to celebrate such matters in private.

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Behind closed doors, you can bet other SEC football coaching staffs have been exchanging high-fives, fist pumping, and doing cartwheels — if physically capable — at the thought of a league competitor being rendered virtually helpless in recruiting.

The advantages go beyond recruiting. As long as the Ole Miss job is open, other coaches and their agents can use it for leverage.

Even coaches on the hot seat can use it for leverage.

This week, cbssports.com columnist Dennis Dodd dropped the names of a couple of SEC coaches, Tennessee’s Butch Jones and Texas A&M Kevin Sumlin, as potential candidates to succeed Freeze.

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Why would Ole Miss be interested in a coach who could coach himself out of his current job this season?

Its options are limited.

After all, how many established head coaches would aspire to join a program about to be hamstrung by NCAA sanctions?

When a new coach takes on that challenge, the administration, donors and fans are initially sympathetic to his plight. Such sympathy often expires within two years, after which the usual expectations return.

That’s why Ole Miss should make Luke its full-time coach, weather the NCAA storm as best it can and — unless he succeeds beyond its expectations — pursue a more proven coach the next time around.

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Regardless of Ole Miss’ game plan, others will be more concerned about their own agenda.

Imagine if Tennessee jumps out to a 5-0 start, as it did last season. Jimmy Sexton, Jones’ new agent, could use that and the Ole Miss job to lobby for an immediate raise and contract extension on behalf of his client.

But even if Jones were fired by UT, he could do better than a school on the brink of an NCAA hit.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.