Behind the Scenes of Game Day at Ole Miss: Who Makes it Happen?

Event Coordinator Taylor Brantley and his wife.

The excitement of arriving on campus, seeing signs directing fans, and hearing the ding of tickets being scanned at the entrance to Vaught Hemmingway is enough to send an Ole Miss fan’s heart soaring, but little thought is given to the people behind the scenes who make all of this happen.

Event management coordinators Taylor Brantley and Travis Wells spearhead such matters as putting out signs for parking on campus, organizing the event staff, watching for safety issues in the stands and fielding calls reporting problems in the stadium.

Before game day arrives, the event management coordinators place signs for parking on campus and chairs and tables around the stadium for special seating and for bag check stations.

On game day, Brantley can be found in the control room surrounded by University Police, Oxford Police, Mississippi Department of Transportation Officers, Highway Patrolmen, FBI agents, Wayland Event staff and University Event staff. The control room is in the south end zone and consists of two rooms. One room faces the field while the second room is the monitoring room with eight televisions that watch the entrance gates, the stands and pedestrian flow in and out of the stadium.

Brantley is charged with monitoring these eight televisions and fielding calls about spills on the concourse, fans smoking or being unruly and drunk and any emergency issues. Though smoking is the most frequent call the control room receives, Brantley does experience tense emergency situations such as missing children.

“We’ve probably had one or two (missing child calls) so far this season out of four games,” Brantley said. “We blast out on all the radios and text messages giving a description, name of the child, what they’re wearing, and pretty much any info that we can gather from the parents. We’ve also had missing parents before, where we’ve had the kids and they can’t find their parents. But we always find them.”

These individuals, event staff, event management coordinators and all others involved in keeping game day at Ole Miss safe, are required to remain unbiased during the game. They are to be the link between the home team and the visiting team without preferential treatment toward either team.

“We’re supposed to be the middle man between the home team and the visiting team,” Brantley said. “We’re not supposed to be cheering for our team. We’re the caretakers of the officials, we’re watching out for them, keeping to their needs, making sure they have food and drinks, and being escorted on and off the field.”

When Brantley is not focused on Ole Miss football, he is managing the event staff for soccer and tennis events, organizing external events such as the recent ‘Tailgate for Palmer’ and ‘The Great 38 Race,’ and meeting with other departments to discuss policies such as creating the cooling tents and only allowing clear bags into the stadium next year.

“We’re in meetings trying to tweak our policies,” Brantley said. “We’re going to the clear bags next year, so we meet about that. We have conferences and learning opportunities.”

Game day and tailgating at Ole Miss have gained continuous national recognition in magazines, online sites and newspapers, but words cannot truly describe the atmosphere on campus and in the stadium, it is something that must be experienced. To those who work all day to keep fans safe, who cannot cheer out loud and keep your Ole Miss hearts well hidden behind a smile, and who keep the fans’ needs and safety at the forefront of your thoughts, thank you for making game day special for us all.

Amy Goodin is a writer for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at argoodin12@gmail.com.

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