Forward Rebels Campaign - someone please explain this to me

[cajunrebel]

I just don't get it anymore. We have petitions and facebook pages and ads in the paper. I'm also hearing about the people in charge are not Ole Miss alums or fans, something about a conservative talk show radio host, bring Col Reb back, PAC groups, etc. WTH!?! I do not understand what our ultimate goal is anymore and which group is championing what cause.

I would love for someone to spell it out for me that has a better understanding of who and what is going on.

Charts, graphs, models and powerpoints are acceptable forms of explainations.

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The original founders of "Forward Rebels", David Bridgers, Todd Wade, Helen Phillips, Michael Perry, James Harper, are no longer a part of it. Lee Habeeb, who is an NJ native, went to UVA, and only moved to Oxford 3 years ago is apparently the spokesman and the one in charge. This person even admitted in Monday's commercial appeal that "he’s not associated with Ole Miss in any way, even as a fan...".

My take on this: Habeeb is a conservative radio talk show host and producer. I think that the ultimate goal of FR is ousting Dan Jones, because Habeeb thinks the administration at Ole Miss is on some sort of PC crusade, and to him Ole Miss is nothing to him but a soapbox to stand on and promote his political agenda. And as much as I might agree with many or most of his political beliefs, I sure as hell don't like him using Ole Miss and exploiting our situation to make political hay.

And the worst part of this is that some of our brainless fans couldn't care less. They refuse to take an objective look at this and see the man behind the curtain. As long as we get rid of Dan Jones because he changed our mascot, that's ALL they care about.

[1OLEMISSREBEL]

The original founders of "Forward Rebels", David Bridgers, Todd Wade, Helen Phillips, Michael Perry, James Harper, are no longer a part of it. Lee Habeeb, who is an NJ native, went to UVA, and only moved to Oxford 3 years ago is apparently the spokesman and the one in charge. This person even admitted in Monday's commercial appeal that "he’s not associated with Ole Miss in any way, even as a fan...".

My take on this: Habeeb is a conservative radio talk show host and producer. I think that the ultimate goal of FR is ousting Dan Jones, because Habeeb thinks the administration at Ole Miss is on some sort of PC crusade, and to him Ole Miss is nothing to him but a soapbox to stand on and promote his political agenda. And as much as I might agree with many or most of his political beliefs, I sure as hell don't like him using Ole Miss and exploiting our situation to make political hay.

And the worst part of this is that some of our brainless fans couldn't care less. They refuse to take an objective look at this and see the man behind the curtain. As long as we get rid of Dan Jones because he changed our mascot, that's ALL they care about.

I appreciate this info...when I first read their web page sometime last year, the page said " FR would work with administration to heal our fractured fan base". Does anyone know why the original founders have now left?

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I appreciate this info...when I first read their web page sometime last year, the page said " FR would work with administration to heal our fractured fan base". Does anyone know why the original founders have now left?

Not really sure...one of the founders did post on their facebook page informing that he was no longer a part of it, but never gave a reason why. And in the past few days, there have been a lot of folks on the Forward Rebels facebook page demanding answers about who is really running the group. They're asking for and expecting donations, so they had better be more transparent.

[StrongRebel]

The original founders of "Forward Rebels", David Bridgers, Todd Wade, Helen Phillips, Michael Perry, James Harper, are no longer a part of it. Lee Habeeb, who is an NJ native, went to UVA, and only moved to Oxford 3 years ago is apparently the spokesman and the one in charge. This person even admitted in Monday's commercial appeal that "he’s not associated with Ole Miss in any way, even as a fan...".

My take on this: Habeeb is a conservative radio talk show host and producer. I think that the ultimate goal of FR is ousting Dan Jones, because Habeeb thinks the administration at Ole Miss is on some sort of PC crusade, and to him Ole Miss is nothing to him but a soapbox to stand on and promote his political agenda. And as much as I might agree with many or most of his political beliefs, I sure as hell don't like him using Ole Miss and exploiting our situation to make political hay.

And the worst part of this is that some of our brainless fans couldn't care less. They refuse to take an objective look at this and see the man behind the curtain. As long as we get rid of Dan Jones because he changed our mascot, that's ALL they care about.

This is wrong on many fronts.

It was mainly started because the fan base was fractured they wanted to get the fan bases attention back on winning games in our athletic program and making the adminstration take the steps to bring a first class game day experience every time than having the fans and adminstration continute to worrry more about what mascot is on the sidelines and what songs were being played. They are trying to unite the fan base behind winning and not accepting anything less and holding the adminstration accountable for their reckless actions that are perceived as being content with being a middle of the road program. Forward Rebel does not believe the adminstration is commited to truly building a winning program.

Nutt requested a PE major and was promised by Boone and Dan that it would be implemented to keep up with Alabama and the likes for the players education. This major has still not be created. Nutt also wanted a locker room under the student section so at halftime the team didn't have to walk to the locker room in the IPF. Also the players would hear the stadium nose in the background and help keep them fired up also it would cut down the time it takes the team to and from the IPF which is vital time to make adjustments and Boone promised this to Nutt. Also Alabama would have had their speaker system checked to make sure everything was working, video board would not be run by a moron, etc... These are just an example of what they are trying the adminstration to take action on.

It is a group started by alumni and donors from Ole Miss and several business owners in Oxford. The members are letting this guy with no connections and not afraid of a little conflict to lead because they are concerned with push back and don't want this to affect election campaigns and their businesses.

I personally know 3 of the people who started the group and their mission is to make the adminstration more transparent for the fans. Only the big donors get access to the program with Boone. Some of the original members were the ones that pushed Boone to hire Micheal Thompson. They started Forward Rebels to get the game day experience up to par with other SEC programs and get the adminstration to commit to giving our programs the support they need to win. They have been trying for months to address other issues now that Boone has hired Micheal Thompson.

They also felt the fan base was split by past decisions and those decisions were not handled properly (Col. Reb is not something they are fighting to be returned). Boone has met with them in the past and he has not responded and continues to keep his head in the sand so they felt it was time to get Boone and the fan bases attention with the ads. The Haabeb guy is mainly the front man to keep the guys behind it don't receive any recourse from their position in Forward Rebels.

There is no agenda to get Dan Jones removed, but to get Dan to make Boone listen or replace him. And also to let Dan know he needs to make sure the athletic department is committed to winning not just fielding teams. Boone is the cancer they want gone.

Did you know Boone rarely travels to away football games?
Do you ever see Boone in the grove meeting with fans? When Schaffer was AD you saw him in the grove walking around talking with people. He would even have a drink with you.
Do you ever see Boone talking to anyone besides his buddies?
Does Boone contact donors other than the big guys about money?
Did Boone blow off Under Armor when they wanted to place a bid for the athletic apparrel contract and was explained that the worse case scenario is Nike will double their offer? Wouldn't even let them bid??? Fishy........

I am not a member because I don't join groups unless they are for work, but I know what they are wanting to accomplish. I would have been upset about the ads because in my opinion you don't start this type of ads until towards the end of October when you know the season is in the sh/tter. They don't want Boone hiring the next coach so they decided to go ahead and make a move.

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Well, Strong...we're just gonna have to agree to disagree on their motives and what final outcome they want to achieve (which is completely ambiguous) until they actually tip their hand in that respect. For now, I DO NOT trust them and they DO NOT get my support.

[cajunrebel]

Thanks for the info Strong and Sasquatch. It gives me something to think about.

[proud2breb]

Gotta give them credit for having the balls to call out the administration publicly. I mean nothing we put on this board will get Boone's attention, but a full page ad in 6 papers will do the trick.

IMO if Jones remains sitting behind his desk doing nothing about Boone, he deserves to go too.

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Gotta give them credit for having the balls to call out the administration publicly. I mean nothing we put on this board will get Boone's attention, but a full page ad in 6 papers will do the trick.

IMO if Jones remains sitting behind his desk doing nothing about Boone, he deserves to go too.

NO...the Chancellor of the University DOES NOT need to be fired because of an inadequate, incompetent Athletic Director. Ole Miss' primary purpose is EDUCATION...NOT ATHLETICS. And until he does something to compromise the academic integrity of the University, the whole idea of Jones being fired is insane.

And if the board wants to see me come completely unglued, keep on with the notion that Dan Jones should be fired over the mascot or athletics. It is beyond ludicrous.

[proud2breb]

In my humble opinion, if one division of a company is not performing, the VP over that division is supposed to fix it. If he fails to do so, it falls on the CEO to find a new VP that can fix it. If that doesn't happen, the CEO has ultimately failed the company. I have seen this happen time after time in the corporate world.

The chancellor is effectively the CEO of the university. As CEO of Ole Miss, Dan is not doing his job. Everyone of us have multiple responsibilities at work. Saying Jones is not respondible for Boone is equivalent to saying Boone is not responsible for Nutt; or that any of our bosses is not obligated to fire us for not performing.

Grant it, he's a busy man; but I find it impossible to believe that Dan Jones is so buried in his other responsibilities that he doesn't realize our athletic program is in the tank. Maybe Dan will eventually do his job, and fire Pete. I think most of us would support that.

[carl winslow]

I am just shocked the "Forward Rebels" aren't what they claimed to be. I was under the assumption they wanted good for the University and the University alone. The thought that they aren't is just bewildering to myself. I never would have guessed.

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In my humble opinion, if one division of a company is not performing, the VP over that division is supposed to fix it. If he fails to do so, it falls on the CEO to find a new VP that can fix it. If that doesn't happen, the CEO has ultimately failed the company. I have seen this happen time after time in the corporate world.

The chancellor is effectively the CEO of the university. As CEO of Ole Miss, Dan is not doing his job. Everyone of us have multiple responsibilities at work. Saying Jones is not respondible for Boone is equivalent to saying Boone is not responsible for Nutt; or that any of our bosses is not obligated to fire us for not performing.

Grant it, he's a busy man; but I find it impossible to believe that Dan Jones is so buried in his other responsibilities that he doesn't realize our athletic program is in the tank. Maybe Dan will eventually do his job, and fire Pete. I think most of us would support that.

How is he "not performing" or not "doing his job" as Chancellor of the University? The primary and most important job of the University is ACADEMICS...how is Jones NOT doing his job in relation to that? And can we PLEASE be rational for a minute? As much as I dislike Boone, some of us act like he stole money from the athletic department and used it for hookers and cocaine. If he did something that bad and Jones did nothing, you might have a point. But he didn't, so you don't.

And for the rest of the board: this is our ol' buddy ColReb74 in a brand new incarnation. So consider the source.

[bigtreydaddy]

And for the rest of the board: this is our ol' buddy ColReb74 in a brand new incarnation. So consider the source.

Oh geez--that guy sucks.

[cajunrebel]

And for the rest of the board: this is our ol' buddy ColReb74 in a brand new incarnation. So consider the source.

Oh geez--that guy sucks.

Ohhhhhh. . . . . . . .

[------------------]

And for the rest of the board: this is our ol' buddy ColReb74 in a brand new incarnation. So consider the source.

Oh geez--that guy sucks.

Ohhhhhh. . . . . . . .

My sentiments exactly. Went back to look at some of his earlier posts...first post: same IP as 74.