Dixiefriedsports
Covering the SEC, ACC, CUSA, Sun Belt, and other Southern Schools
Covering the SEC, ACC, CUSA, Sun Belt, and other Southern Schools
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Who is Nutts Now?
Four years later it's obvious Arkansas made the right move to fire Nutt
Who's Nutts Now?
Judging a coach after two seasons is probably the most ignorant thing a college football fan can do. If the first two years of a coaching career defined how great a coach was then Larry Coker's 24-1 start would make Coker the greatest coach in college football history right? When Mack Brown started his career at North Carolina 2-20 in his first two years many in Chapel Hill were questioning if UNC made the right move. Fact is that you really should not judge how great a college football coach is until after year 4 when 90% of the players on the roster are guys you recruited. Intelligent members of the media know this, but that didn't stop them telling Arkansas they made the wrong move firing Houston Nutt in 2007.
Houston Nutt was fired by Arkansas in 2007. Sure, The University of Arkansas Chancellor John White and Houston Nutt told everyone on November 26 that Nutt resigned on his own, but the fact was that there was no way Arkansas was going to allow Houston Nutt to come back for the 2008 season. The two parties needed to separate from each other and both sides knew this. Three days earlier Nutt had beaten #1 LSU 50-48 in a thrilling overtime game in Baton Rouge, but everyone knew that the end was coming prior to that game. This was an Arkansas team that finished the year with 5 losses, despite having maybe the most talented backfield in SEC History with 3 future NFL starters in Hillis, McFadden, and Jones. Hog fans were also fed up with Nutt's off the field antics that included hundreds of texts to a local news personality Donna Bragg, running off Parade All American Mitch Mustain and future NFL WR Damian Williams, and all of Nutt's off season flirtations with other job openings. Nutt ended his career at Arkansas as the longest tenured BCS Conference Coach without a BCS appearance.
A day later the Ole Miss Rebels hired Houston Nutt. The Rebels were coming off an 0-8 SEC season and had only been 10-25 the last 3 seasons under Ed Orgeron. While Orgeron will best be remembered for ripping off his shirt, doing Hummer commercials, and for the Memphis radio station song "Col Reb is crying" there is no doubt the man knew how to recruit. Nutt was about to walk into a fantastic situation that would make him look like a great college football coach. Nutt's first Rebel team would feature 21 players who would end up signing NFL contracts after the 08 & 09 seasons!
Meanwhile in Fayetteville, Arkansas the Hogs were scrambling to find a head coach. Nationally the coaching search was becoming a bit of a joke. The school that let go of Houston Nutt was striking out with guys like Butch Davis, Jim Grobe, Tommy Bowden, and Tommy Tuberville. The national media laughed at the program that ended its ties with Houston Nutt and couldn't find a head man. Even when the Hogs hired Bobby Petrino, the media attacked both Petrino and Arkansas. They ripped Petrino for leaving the Atlanta Falcons early and they ripped Arkansas because everyone in the media said they fired a good coach in order to get a man who would leave them within a year.
Early on the media fell in love with Nutt at Ole Miss. They loved his interviews and he sold them on every word he said. Outside of Arkansas few gave Petrino a chance. Members of the media wanted to spend all their energy on ripping Petrino for leaving the NFL. They chose to ignore the fact that Arkansas had just landed the best offensive mind in the country and a guy that won a BCS Bowl game in 2006 while at Louisville. Personally, I was one of the few outside of Arkansas to defend Petrino and question Ole Miss' hiring of Nutt(plenty of hate mail from Ole Miss fans).
Nutt would take advantage of the talent that Orgeron recruited. The Rebels started the 2008 slow, but after beating eventual National Champ Florida at The Swamp, the Rebels got hot and ended the season with 8 wins. Ole Miss earned a bid to the 2009 Cotton Bowl and beat a top 10 Texas Tech team 47-34 to give the school its first bowl win in 5 years. Nutt looked like a genius coach after season 1 and was being praised by many.
Petrino and the Hogs didn't do as well in 2008. Houston Nutt had left Arkansas with very little talent in 2008 and Petrino had to transform a run oriented offense to a passing attack that was far more pro-style than what the talent on the roster was used to. Casey Dick had done very little in his career at Arkansas, but with Ryan Mallett having to sit out a transfer year Dick was all Arkansas had at the QB position. Arkansas also had very few threats at WR and had to give freshmen Jarius Wright, Joe Adams, and Greg Childs plenty of playing time. Michael Smith, an undersized SEC back, became the feature of the Arkansas offense in 2008 and the Hogs struggled to a 5-7 record but did beat LSU in Little Rock.
Ole Miss entered the 2009 season as a favorite by many to win the SEC West. Sports Illustrated featured Houston Nutt on the front of one of its regional magazines and ranked the Rebels #6 in the preseason. With talent like Jevan Snead and Dexter McCluster back, Ole Miss became the trendy team to pick in 2009. The Rebels got as high as #4 nationally, but never lived up to the preseason hype and finished the year 9-4 and a ranking of #21.
Arkansas started to show signs of improvement in 2009. Petrino had his type of QB in Ryan Mallett and now had a talented group of WRs to throw the ball to. The defense still had some issues, but this Hog team was exciting to watch and was a program to keep an eye on. Arkansas only won 8 games in 2009, but it started to become clear that the Hogs were a program on the rise.
Had we just looked at the records of Nutt and Petrino after 2 years then most would have said that Arkansas was crazy to have let go of Nutt. As stated above though you can't judge a coach by his record after 2 years. The first 2 years of Petrino and Nutt are prime examples as to why. As a college football observer it was obvious that after year two Arkansas was a program on the rise and Ole Miss was about to collapse.
Few knew Ole Miss would become this bad though. Since beating Oklahoma State in the 2010 Cotton Bowl, the Rebels have an overall record of 6-12 and a SEC record of 1-10. Houston Nutt currently holds the longest SEC losing streak at Ole Miss since 1933 with 9 straight conference losses. The last win against a SEC team was on 10/2/10 against a Kentucky team that only has 2 wins in the SEC since 2009. Oh, and don't forget, Houston Nutt lost to Jacksonville State!
The on the field play has been awful for Nutt and the off the field problems he experienced at Arkansas are starting to happen at Ole Miss. Nutt took in troubled QB Jeremiah Masoli when no one else would tough the player. Nutt also has drawn criticism for over signing players nationally and has become the poster boy for coaches that use this practice. The heat is also turning up in Oxford as newspaper ads from a group calling itself "Forward Rebels" have come out in the last month. No planes flying banners have been seen in Oxford, but if things don't improve we might see them sooner rather than later.
Bobby Petrino's life couldn't be better in Fayetteville. His no nonsense approach has won over the Hog fans and since the start of the 2010 season Arkansas is 15-4 with the only 4 losses coming to top 10 teams. Petrino became the first coach in NCAA History last year to lead two different programs to their first BCS Appearance. When the first BCS standing were released this past Sunday, the Hogs ranked #9. Petrino has loaded his team with offensive talent and the defense has shown signs of improvement each year. With playmakers like Tyler Wilson, Knile Davis, and Cobi Hamilton likely to be back in 2012 there is no reason to think the Hogs are dropping out of the top of the SEC anytime soon.
Arkansas could face off against Houston Nutt for the final time this Saturday when the #9 Razorbacks visit Oxford. Hog fans will be thrilled to know Bobby Petrino is their coach for years to come, while Ole Miss fans will be thinking of ways to rid itself of Houston Nutt. Fact is that after 4 years the Arkansas Program has moved forward and the Ole Miss program is back to where it was when Houston Nutt took over. I'm happy to say I wasn't one of the ignorant college football fans that fell for the snake oil that Houston Nutt was selling back in December of 2007.
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