Some Tennessee fans are worried about losing offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe to a head-coaching job. Some Ole Miss fans find that laughable.

The average follower of SEC football views the Cutcliffe era at Ole Miss as a resounding success. He was the first coach since Johnny Vaught in the late 1960s to lead Ole Miss to five consecutive winning seasons.

A year later, after a 4-7 season in 2004, Cutcliffe was fired.

A couple of weeks ago, I encouraged UT fans to send thank you notes to Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone. After all, if he hadn't fired Cutcliffe, Cutcliffe wouldn't have been around to turn the UT offense right-side up and help turn Erik Ainge into the SEC's premier quarterback.

Some Ole Miss fans were not amused by the thank you idea.

Here's a sample e-mail detailing their lack of amusement: "I know you are not here in Oxford on a daily basis, but the opinions everyone has of Coach Cut nationally are so far off it's pathetic.

"It is abysmal the way people like yourself (not just you though) write about it as if Ole Miss made a mistake letting Cut go. Cut was sloppy, lazy in recruiting, and had absolutely zero motivational skills while here. Perhaps due to his declining health, but not knowing he was sick at the time."

Let me get this straight. He was sloppy and lazy. He didn't recruit or motivate. Yet his fifth team, comprised solely of his recruits, somehow managed to win more games than any other Ole Miss team in 41 years. What are the odds?

I was curious enough to check with another Ole Miss fan, one who didn't e-mail me.

Archie Manning is Mr. Ole Miss. He's the quarterback on the school's all-century team. His jersey number (18) became the campus speed limit.

Manning knows the Ole Miss fans and the program as well as anyone. And he knows Cutcliffe almost as well as he knows the program.

Sure, he's prejudiced where Cutcliffe is concerned. Cutcliffe helped two of Archie's sons, Peyton at Tennessee and Eli at Ole Miss, become two of the best quarterbacks in SEC history and No. 1 NFL draft picks. But Archie was well versed in Ole Miss and SEC football long before his sons succeeded him as All-SEC quarterbacks.

I envision him shaking his head on the other end of the phone as I read an e-mail from one of his fellow Rebels.

"I never understood that," he said of the criticism. "I think the majority of our fans appreciate that he (Cutcliffe) was an honest, sincere guy. He ran a clean program. We had winning seasons. We were bowl eligible. And I think he did recruit well.

"One of the complaints (about Cutcliffe) was that he had no emotion. I guess some people wanted somebody to holler and scream. He was very calm on the sideline and was very involved with the offense."

"Calm" is not usually a buzzword among football fans in pursuit of a new head coach. Neither are "details."

Ask Manning for Cutcliffe's greatest strength as a football coach and he says, "attention to detail." That might not provoke your average football fan into head-butting his nearest football buddy, but it wins games. UT's team is a great example of that.

The Vols have gone from 5-6 a year ago to 7-1 this season. An offense that was painful to watch now boasts the most proficient passing attack in the SEC, and Ainge has become one of the nation's elite quarterbacks.

No one is more responsible for the turnaround than Cutcliffe. UT coach Phillip Fulmer said as much in the spring, long before the first game had been won. This season has provided confirmation.

During Cutcliffe's first tour of duty as a UT assistant coach in 1998, I thought of him as an outstanding quarterbacks coach and an effective play caller. But I didn't think of him as an offensive guru. I do now.

Cutcliffe is a better play-caller than he was in 1998. He's also better prepared for a head-coaching job than when he signed on with the Rebels eight years ago. He not only has six years head-coaching experience but has benefited from a year in sports radio while recovering from heart surgery.

He might not have a flashy personality, but he has become a good interview. And what would you rather have: a flashy personality or a flashy offense, a screamer or a schemer, a cheerleader or a leader?

Cutcliffe has made over the UT offense in his image. Its players have become tougher, more disciplined and less mistake-prone. If he can do that much with an offense, why couldn't he do it with an entire team?

That's a question worth pondering if you're in the market for a head coach.

Cutcliffe probably has questions of his own. Is he ready for the physical and emotional demands of a head-coaching job? Does he want to risk rebuilding another program or is he content to be a coordinator at an established program in a town that has become one big David Cutcliffe fan club?

Never mind if his fan club isn't as big in Oxford, Miss. If Cutcliffe is interested in another head-coaching job, some athletic directors will be interested in him.

If those athletic directors want details about what went right and wrong at Ole Miss, they can check with the athletic director who hired Cutcliffe and hired Ed Orgeron. Or they can check with Mr. Ole Miss.