Many Ole Miss sports fans might be taking a well-earned break from following the school’s athletic program at the moment. The summer is always a time to recharge and get ready for the new season ahead. It is not as though there aren’t enough other sports going on to keep us all occupied.
We’ve just had thrilling endings to both the NHL and NBA seasons, the baseball season has reached the halfway mark, and the FIFA World Cup has brought the most prestigious international soccer tournament to North America for the first time in over 30 years. We are not at a loose end when it comes to finding something to watch.
But it is also true that Ole Miss fans will be eager for the new NCAA seasons to get underway. The recent success of the football and basketball programs might have gotten the most attention from the college sports media, but there were other huge achievements across the athletics program. Rebels teams will now be making an impression on the futures markets offered by all of the top online sportsbooks. Does this mean that Ole Miss sports is back?
Steady Improvement
It must be said, right from the start, that Ole Miss’ sports success has not been an overnight sensation. With the nation’s media sometimes fixated on other schools and programs, it is understandable that it might have only woken up to the achievements of Rebels teams because of the football team’s first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff.
But Ole Miss teams have been winning titles and big games over the last five or six years. Where it once seemed that the Rebel Nation had gotten too familiar with the plucky loser tag and consoled itself in the atmosphere in Oxford, there have been signs of improvement. The Ole Miss revival has been coming for a few years now.
Overall Athletics Success
It is vitally important to underline the success of the overall athletics program when it comes to declaring that Ole Miss is back. Football and basketball will always get the most attention, and Rebel teams doing well in those sports is crucial to the overall atmosphere here. But the achievements of the other teams should not be forgotten along the way.
The baseball program has also provided one of the clearest examples of Ole Miss’ rise. The Rebels won the 2022 Men’s College World Series, the program’s first national championship, and returned to Omaha in 2026, proving that the title run was not just a one-year surge but part of a broader period of competitiveness.
The women’s golf team won the national championship in 2021, and now Michael La Sasso has won an individual title last year. There have been baseball and softball triumphs in the last few years, as well as tournament appearances for the volleyball and soccer teams, to go alongside numerous national champions in track and field.
Football Success
All of those national championships and achievements by the Rebels athletics teams should be applauded, but this country, and especially this part of the country, will always look to college football to determine which teams are the best. That is why the Rebels’ appearance in the CFP is so important for the athletics program as a whole.
The 2025 football season was quite a ride. From newcomers making a name for themselves to the head coach departing for the role at LSU, there was never a dull moment. Pete Golding is now the main man after he stepped in and led the team all the way to a semifinal Fiesta Bowl loss to Miami.
The fact that running back Kewan Lacy will be the cover star for the EA Sports College Football 27 game tells you all you need to know about the increased spotlight on Ole Miss football. Now we will just have to see whether the momentum can be carried over into the new season beginning in September.
New Pressures in Hoops
The men’s basketball team can tell their football counterparts all about the pressure of following up a breakout season. After matching the school record for making the deepest run in the National Tournament in 2025 by reaching the Sweet Sixteen, the Rebels men’s hoops team only turned around a disastrous campaign towards the very end of last season.
Winning just one of the last 13 games of the regular SEC season did not bode well for the conference tournament. But the team reclaimed its form in Nashville, beating Texas, Georgia, and Alabama, before ultimately falling to Arkansas in the semifinal. That meant that there was no return to March Madness for the Rebels, however, and there has already been some heavy use of the transfer portal with the aim of returning Ole Miss to the Big Show in 2027.
Rebel Nation Expectation
With the baseball team reaching Omaha for the first time since winning it all in 2022, and the other numerous achievements made by Ole Miss teams last season, the future does seem bright. There has historically been issues for teams across the athletics program reaching a consistent level of success, but the steady improvement and better performances can fill the fans with hope ahead of the new year.
But with greater success comes more intense pressure and expectation. The Rebel Nation will now expect the football team to make the CFP again and the men’s basketball team to begin to emulate the women’s team’s yearly appearance at March Madness. The baseball team’s resurgence will not be expected to peter out this year either. Ole Miss fans will now not accept just enjoying the experience of sports – they want to celebrate championships.
That level of expectation can be a good thing, of course, and Ole Miss teams can go into their new seasons feeling as though they have the fans behind them, realistically hoping for success. One thing that can be confirmed is that Ole Miss sports is definitely back, though. Now is the time for Rebels athletes to prove that on the field of play.
