Egg Bowl Rivalry gets New Twist with Coach 34 and South Panola

The Egg Bowl Rivalry took a very unexpected turn when Lee Wooldridge, aka Coach 34, was hired and fired by South Panola all in one day.

There has been a lot of talk in the last few days about the Egg bowl Rivalry. The word that has been thrown around is toxic.

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The reason for this is because of an article published on Saturday by the Clarion-Ledger’s Sports Editor Hugh Kellenberger. In the article, Kellenberger says, “Never has the Ole Miss and Mississippi State rivalry been more toxic. It’s become mean-spirited, short-sighted and to the detriment of the state as a whole.”

Those are pretty strong words. I was about to write a post in which I was going to argue the rivalry wasn’t any worse than it has ever been, it’s just changed with the times.

But I had to reevaluate my position after some news in the high school coaching circles broke on Wednesday.

If you don’t know who Lee Wooldridge is, better known as Coach 34, let me catch you up. Lee started writing for this site a number of years ago when it was just an independent blog. He then decided to start a message board called Elite Dawgs, and he’s been posting his thoughts about Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and the Egg Bowl Rivalry there ever since.

He used the anonymous screen name Coach34 on Elite Dawgs because I’m assuming he never wanted his true identity to be known. And if that’s the case, it was probably a wise decision.

Coach doesn’t mince words. As a matter of fact, he would probably be best described as an instigator, and I don’t think he would deny it.

When it comes to Ole Miss, Coach hates them. All you have to do is look at his activity on Elite Dawgs to see that. Not only does he hate Ole Miss, he hates them with a passion that burns with the heat of a thousand suns.

And this has caused many people from both Ole Miss and Mississippi State to have strong feelings about Coach 34. When you post such strong opinions about the Egg Bowl Rivalry like Coach does, then you’re going to make some friends and some enemies.

So when this news broke, there was a firestorm of activity on Twitter regarding the hire. If you don’t believe me, just click on that tweet of Yancy Porter’s and see the replies. Then go to Twitter and do a search on their site for South Panola.

Yancy Porter, Ole Miss reporter for Scout, later added this update to the hiring of Lee Wooldridge.

Lance Pogue said he was unaware of Coach’s message board history or Twitter use. This is when an already unexpected turn in the Egg Bowl Rivalry took another one.

There were a number of Ole Miss fans who were calling for Lance Pogue to rethink his decision. I don’t know if anyone contacted Pogue directly, but I would guess Pogue received a number of emails, and I would assume Yancy Porter directed him to where he could find all of the pertinent information Pogue would need to change his mind.

Is it surprising this happened? No. But it is a sign of just how bad the rivalry can get at times, and how some of the things the people who get passionately involved in the Egg Bowl Rivalry can have their lives impacted away from the keyboard.

If you think Coach 34, aka Lee Wooldridge, isn’t aware of how his internet activity impacted his job status with South Panola you would be wrong. I had a very brief discussion with him through Direct Message on Twitter yesterday, and it was apparent he knew he had to distance himself from some of the things he posted.

Does he regret some of it? I don’t know. Only he can answer that. But I’m left wondering something about this entire ordeal which went from one direction to a completely different one in the Egg Bowl Rivalry in the span of about five hours.

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South Panola is arguably the best high school football program in the history of the state of Mississippi. It is at least in the discussion. South Panola has won at least ten state titles I am aware of, and five of those titles have come under the leadership of Lance Pogue.

South Panola’s close proximity to Ole Miss has often benefited the Rebels. Many of South Panola’s best prospects have often signed with the Rebels.

Lee Wooldridge has plenty of fault in why he will not be employed at South Panola High School this fall. He has a history of posting some pretty nasty things about South Panola players who signed with Ole Miss.

But I can’t help but wonder if the reaction to his hiring would have been the same if he had been hired at a 1A school who struggled to win three games each season? This appears to be another example of the Egg Bowl Rivalry going off the rails.

Were Ole Miss fans who thought the hiring of Wooldridge by Pogue was a mistake really concerned for the health of the South Panola football program, or were they more concerned that a die-hard Mississippi State fan was about to make it easier for the Mississippi State coaching staff to get access to the elite talent the school produces?

It’s a fair question. Normally, when a coach makes a controversial decision we don’t agree with, we look at the coach’s track record to see if it will work out. I certainly didn’t agree with Dan Mullen’s decision to suspend Jeffery Simmons for just one game, but I know Dan Mullen has a track record of not allowing trouble makers to taint the rest of his football team. So while I might not agree with the decision, I’m willing to accept he can handle it.

Lance Pogue is one of the most successful coaches to coach high school football in the state of Mississippi. His track record of success is phenomenal. So if he believed that Lee Wooldridge could help make his players better football players, why didn’t the Ole Miss fans who protested not let Pogue handle it as well?

The obvious rebuttal is because Pogue admitted to not having all of the information. But according to this from Yancy Porter, Pogue made a decision on five years worth of Social Media history in the scope of a few hours.

The Egg Bowl Rivalry is a powerful thing. Most of us know a man who was hired and fired in one day by his alter ego online than by his actual name. The name Coach 34 elicits strong emotions from people all across the state, but 99% of the people reading this wouldn’t recognize Lee Wooldridge if he was standing in front of him.

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So is the Egg Bowl Rivalry toxic like Kellenberger said? I’m still not convinced it is worse than it has ever been before. But the saga that played out yesterday with Lee Wooldridge and South Panola at least proves the less savory aspects of it aren’t going to get better anytime soon.