Mississippi coach David Cutcliffe was fired Wednesday after his first losing season in six years with the Rebels.
Ole Miss officials informed Cutcliffe of the decision early Wednesday and Cutcliffe met with the team before an afternoon news conference.
"This has been a tough day, but tough times don't last . . . tough people do," Cutcliffe said.
Cutcliffe declined to discuss specifics of his dismissal.
"We just couldn't come to an agreement," he said. "We couldn't get everything on the same page."
Athletic director Pete Boone was also scheduled to talk with reporters.
Cutcliffe was 44-29 in six seasons at Ole Miss, 25-23 in the Southeastern Conference, and just a season removed from going 10-3 and finishing tied for first in the SEC West with Eli Manning at quarterback.
But without Manning, the first pick in the NFL draft, Ole Miss slipped to 4-7, its worst season in 10 years. The Rebels were 3-5 in the SEC and lost four games by a total of 19 points.
Cutcliffe, the former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tennessee, had been criticized for his handling of the quarterback position this season.
Micheal Spurlock was the starter at the beginning of the season, but was benched midway through the second game for Ethan Flatt.
Flatt started the Rebels' next nine games. Midway through the season, Cutcliffe switched to a three-quarterback rotation with redshirt freshman Robert Lane entering the mix.
It worked well in a 31-28 victory over then-No. 25 South Carolina. But Ole Miss then lost four straight, including three to ranked teams.
Cutcliffe met with chancellor Robert Khayat and Boone earlier this week after the Rebels completed the season by beating rival Mississippi State 20-3 last Saturday.
Cutcliffe was the only coach in school history to win at least seven games in his first five years.
After last season's success, his contract was extended. He has three years remaining on a deal that pays about $1.2 million annually, including perks and bonuses.
DINARDO DISMISSED: Gerry DiNardo is now the latest coach to fail at Indiana. DiNardo was fired Wednesday, 11 days after the Hoosiers ended a 3-8 season with a 63-24 loss to in-state rival Purdue. It was his third losing season.
The firing is the first major coaching change by athletic director Rick Greenspan since he was hired in September as the school's fourth AD in a little more than three years.
Greenspan said there was a "sense of urgency" for turning around a football program that has not had a winning season since going 7-4 in 1994 — the 11th of Bill Mallory's 13 seasons as coach.
"The goal for us is to build a viable program," Greenspan said. "We're going to have some urgency."
A telephone message seeking comment from DiNardo, who replaced Cam Cameron after the 2001 season, was left Wednesday at his home.
DiNardo had an 8-27 record in three seasons. Freed Eichhorn, president of the school's Board of Trustees, said that record and declining attendance at games were factors in the decision to fire DiNardo.
"If you've got a problem, you don't continue the problem," Eichhorn said.