Rebels begin the week on a winning note, rallying from a 5-1 deficit. Good pitching by David Goforth at the end.

Click here for link

Sitting down with Robert Khayat has always been an interesting experience. You can usually count on him to speak frankly, albeit with a certain amount of spin as you might expect from any head of a public university.

Here's an excerpt from the interview I had with Khayat regarding the "health of Ole Miss football." Here's what he had to say about the school's athletics facilities.

*ROBERT KHAYAT*

"We are a university, and you see a major commitment made to the academic programs and academic support. You see most of our student-athletes who we sign being eligible for admission. Add also, maintaining eligibility and increasing to graduation. Most all the trends are up since 1995, when Pete (Boone) and I started doing this together.

One of the real weaknesses in 1995 was the facilities, you know that. We’ve spent nearly $100 million on athletics facilities, so that now every facility is … in some cases we’re better than anybody else and in some cases we’re as good as anybody.

The only facility we have that could even be the subject of some kind of discussion of quality is the coliseum. The truth is, it’s a wonderful place to play. It has the same capacity, 9,000, as the building where Duke plays its basketball games, and you have a very strong homecourt advantage when you play here.

With the construction of the practice facility, we’ll end up with plenty of courts for men’s and women’s basketball, dressing facilities, etcetera. If you go around our campus and look at each of the facilities we’re certainly SEC competitive, sometimes dominant, and nationally competitive."

When you meet with your current players and call the school that is pursuing you the "Notre Dame" of college basketball, I'm thinking that coach wants to be a part of Notre Dame. Memphis AD R.C. Johnson says the school will do everything in its power to keep its coach, but I'd say Kentucky has the financial thoroughbreds to win that race.

Click here for link

The Rebels lost twice by one run at No. 2 LSU but lost nonetheless. After a 1-3 week Ole Miss slid four spots to No. 15 in the latest Baseball America Top 25.

Click here for link

_This from Ole Miss Media Relations._

_-- PA_

*OXFORD --* Ole Miss' Dexter McCluster will take part in "Arts for the Angels," a variety show benefiting a local children's shelter, Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Oxford High School Kayla Sue Mize Auditorium. The event is open to all ages, and donations will be accepted at the door.

A rising senior on the Rebel football team, McCluster will be singing two songs at the show, which will include dancers, singers and musicians. Also highlighting the event is local musician Silas Reed and comedian Charlie Davis in addition to numerous OHS students.

?I think having Dexter McCluster there will definitely be a highlight, but everyone involved is so talented it will all be great," said Elyse Jensen, OHS senior and project coordinator.

The intention of the show is to help raise funds and awareness for Angel Ranch, a local emergency shelter for children.

I spoke with Ole Miss athletics director Pete Boone a few minutes ago.

As we struggle through the economic times it seems no person or group of people are immune to the pinch. Athletic departments in the SEC certainly are not, Boone says.

Schools are preparing budgets for the next fiscal year.

"Every school in the SEC is under taking a very critical evaluation of all operating expenses for not only the administration but with all the sports. I think you'll see a lot more teams busing where they used to fly, being more efficient with their dollars. Raises, with the exception of coaches, will probably be non-existent this year."

The concern is not so much what is currently happening but lies with the anticipated drop in revenue, Boone said.

"It's the fear of what the recession will do to future revenue through ticket sales, etc."

Ole Miss will again offer a "mini" season ticket package, a smaller grouping of games with a less expensive pricetag. The school will have a family package also.

"This will require good, sound business management," Boone said. "If revenue does drop, we want to make sure we've looked at all our expenses and that there's no fluff out there."

The Rebels had been scheduled to go in full pads for the first time, but they got Sunday off instead. Full gear tomorrow afternoon.

Perhaps the Rebels solved their Sunday pitching problems in their first series loss. Eight strong innings from Bittle, but the Tigers rally against Jake Morgan in Morgan's second appearance of the weekend.

Busy week for Ole Miss baseball this week with home games Monday and Tuesday and a road game Wednesday at Memphis. Back home next weekend against Kentucky.

The Rebels made a game of it in the ninth. Down 6-2 they put the go-ahead run on base, but Evan Button goes down 0-2 in the count then looks at a called third strike on the outside corner to end the game.

RBI hits for Jeremy Travis and Matt Smith in the ninth.

LSU starter Louis Coleman really kept Ole Miss off balance. The Rebels had more success against the LSU bullpen.

Game 3 is at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Two home runs by Matt Snyder, the freshman starting at DH. Jake Morgan was dominant again in relief.

Click here for link