Andy Kennedy and Ole Miss to part ways after the season

As his 12th season as head coach winds down, Andy Kennedy and Ole Miss will announce a parting of ways.

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, according to multiple reports, Ole Miss and men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy are expected to announce they will part ways at the end of the season.

Kennedy is the winningest coach in program history, with a 245-154 record (.614 winning percentage) and nine 20-win seasons, two NCAA Tournament appearances and two NIT Final Fours. But the Rebels are just 11-14 so far this season, with a current five-game losing streak and losses in seven of their last eight.

A second time in three seasons without a postseason berth of any kind may be enough to put Kennedy on the hot seat heading into next season. But instead, he is effectively resigning.

Since Kennedy took over in 2006, Ole Miss has the third-most wins among SEC programs (behind Kentucky and Florida). Exactly where the school expects to go for a replacement is unclear, but it’s hard to see anyone doing dramatically better than Kennedy has done. At a football school in a football conference, making people care at all about basketball is an accomplishment. Kennedy also helped get a new, $96.5 million arena built for Ole Miss’ basketball programs.

The recent NCAA sanctions levied on the Ole Miss athletic department centered on the football program under Hugh Freeze. But the overall environment may be becoming tough to work in, prompting Kennedy to seek a fresh start elsewhere.

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Shy of a health or other personal issue that will prevent him from coaching, Kennedy will have a new job for next season if he wants one. Some answers on that may come at the press conference, coming at 4 p.m. ET Monday afternoon, but Kennedy’s mostly successful and lengthy run at Ole Miss is nearing an end.