Two and a half hours north of Jackson, Mississippi, sits the University of Mississippi. Known better as Ole Miss, the school is located in the heavily forested hills of the city of Oxford. Founded in 1844 and opening classes in 1848 to 80 students, today the student population reaches about 20,000.
Ole Miss is home to many traditions that make the university special. Chants and fight songs can be heard throughout sporting events and pregame tailgating spectacles, and a band and mascot rile up Rebel crowds.
The most known tradition out of Ole Miss is the “Hotty Toddy” cheer. It signifies unity between the Rebel fans, putting on display the heart and support for their team and university. The first nod to the cheer was in the school’s newspaper, The Mississippian, in 1926.
A big part of Saturdays on campus is “The Grove,” a 10-acre park in the middle of campus. Nicknamed the “Holy Grail of tailgating sites” and “the mother and mistress of outdoor ritual mayhem,” The Grove is accompanied by the “Walk of Champions” arch that, since 1998, has been where the football team begins their walk to Vaught-Hemingway stadium hours before kickoff.
The Pride of the South, the university’s marching band, was first organized in 1928 and has evolved into a symbol of Rebel pride and the backbone for the university’s vibrant campus cultures. Either performing pregame at The Grove’s stage, or during games at halftime, The Pride of the South is guaranteed to rile up the Rebel crowd and infuse energy into their team.
Ole Miss’ mascot, Tony the Landshark, who has been around since 2018, can be found at many of the school’s sporting events. Controversy over Ole Miss’s original mascot, Colonel Reb, due to its basis in the pro-slavery Confederacy, prompted Ole Miss to change its mascot in 2010 and again in 2018. This is one of many traditions the university has come under fire for, and one of those it has chosen to review and revise in response to the harmful and violent reality of racist ties to the Confederacy on campus.
Ole Miss is home to a massive athletics program that features 18 different NCAA Division I sports programs. This year Ole Miss finished with a respectable rank of 38th and of 11th in the SEC in this year’s Learfield Directors’ Cup, given to the best overall athletic program in the country.
Ole Miss’ pride and joy is its football team, which competes in the competitive Southeastern Conference. The Rebels have won six SEC titles, dating back to the 1960s, and one recognized co-national championship by the NCAA in 1960. In recent years, Ole Miss’ football program has been on the rise, led by head coach Lane Kiffin guiding the Rebels back into a competitive position.
Ole Miss’ basketball programs have also seen success throughout the years, with the men’s team having won a total of five conference titles. Today, they are coached by former Texas head coach Chris Beard. The women’s team had a singular conference title in 1992 and are today coached by Yolett McPhee-McCuin.
The pageantry of Ole Miss reverberates throughout stadiums and arenas, with songs and cheers. Pregame events create an electric atmosphere and a band and mascots continue pumping energy into the crowds, cheering on the Ole Miss quest for victory.
