Nutt Leaves UA for Ole Miss -

Houston, Ole Miss has a problem.

Sorry, I couldn't resist writing this low-brow, cheap-shot pun. Houston Nutt is actually a stand-up guy. His family is nothing but nice, and he is too.

Nevertheless, Nutt and his family have endured a lot of criticism over the past few seasons. Nevertheless, he defended himself well. He wasn't Donald Trump, but he didn't have to be. He wasn't exactly fending off a bunch of geniuses. Sure he looked arrogant in a recent sound byte when he said his contract didn't end in twenty-oh-seven or twenty-oh-eight. Nutt boldly reminded everyone that his contract ran 'til twenty-twelve, implying that he ain't goin' no place.

Who wants a coach that isn't at least a bit arrogant? And Nutt said all of the right things in that byte. While I do not approve of Nutt's job performance, it certainly isn't based on anything he has said. He is a great guy. I just don't like his teams' performance.

The prevailing "wisdom" claims Nutt has "done more with less." I have heard this phrase a million times.

I could not disagree more. In fact, I'll go so far as to say it's exactly the opposite. He has done less with more.

I have also heard Arkansas doesn't have the best recruiting position in the SEC, implying that Nutt has less to work with than other teams in the conference.

Whatever.

If the UA is such a poor place to recruit to, how does one explain the exceptional facilities Frank Broyles has established in Fayetteville?

And to my point about doing more with less: Arkansas has not had less in ten years.

How is having a guy like Matt Jones under center less? Jones had great size and great speed. He was a gifted athlete, so gifted that he made a transition to receiver and plays the position for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars took Jones in the first round of the pro draft. How in the world is that less? Jones is one example among many great athletes Nutt had at his disposal.

Furthermore, how is having the highest recruited quarterback in the nation less? Mitch Mustain turned down offers from everywhere to attend Arkansas. The Razorbacks also enjoyed the talents of Felix Jones, Marcus Monk and Darren McFadden. I can't tell with Mustain yet, but those other players will play in the NFL. McFadden will probably get drafted first overall. As we all know, he won the Doak Walker award. He was first team All SEC. He finished second in the Heisman balloting. That is not less. That is more.

Arkansas has not had less in ten years.

When Nutt walked in and guided Arkansas to 8-0, he did it with solid talent, Danny Ford's talent. Yes, Danny Ford recruited that team. The 1998-1999 team Nutt took to 9-3 was Danny Ford's team. Had Ford been retained, the Hogs might have fared much better.

The wheels fell off that season against Tennessee when Hog QB Clint Stoerner had a football knocked out of his hand. The play was ruled a fumble, and Tennessee recovered. The Vols went on to score, and they won the game. They won because of the fumble.

The problem is, the ground caused Stoerner to lose the football. Video shows it, clearly. The fact is, Nutt got slighted, his team got slighted, and the State of Arkansas got slighted. That was not a fumble.

I do not for a moment fault Nutt for losing the Tennessee game that year. I do fault him for his team's recovery, or lack of it rather.

Nutt and the Hogs still controlled their destiny after Tennessee. They still had a chance to win the SEC Western Division and earn a rematch with the Vols in the SEC Championship Game. All they had to do was win out. They didn't. They traveled to Mississippi State and lost by one point on a late field goal.

Mississippi State was the underdog in that game. The Hogs were expected to win, but they didn't. Looking like a team still mourning over the previous week's loss, they came out and played flat football, the kind of flat football that gets teams beat. So long SEC championship game. There would be no rematch with Tennessee. The Hogs national title hopes ended in Starkville, Mississippi. Tennessee won the national title instead.

Later in that season, the Hogs lost a fourth quarter lead against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. The Hogs lost two games that year that they should have won. The Tennessee loss was unavoidable. However, the other two were not. I believe that '98-'99 team underachieved because it was mentally unprepared to handle adversity. I blame the coach, Houston Nutt.

That team reminds me of last year's squad. Special teams killed the Hogs in 2006. They had LSU beat only to yield a critical kickoff return and lose. The Hogs were ranked No. 6 in the nation and they had an outside chance to win the national championship. If they had won out, they possibly could have been champion. They lost their last three games instead, starting with LSU.

It's not that they lost. It's the way that they lost.

Stumbling into the 2006 SEC Championship Game, the Hogs went toe to toe with Florida. They actually had a fourth quarter lead and momentum until a kick return went awry, fumbled away to Florida, helping the Gators win. The Razorbacks lost critical games on routine plays they practice all of the time. That's hard to forgive, especially when the Hogs show the promise to do so much more.

The hijinks continued this season with losses to Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn despite holding fourth quarter leads in each game. Later, the Hogs traveled to Tennessee for an uninspired, flat performance in a lopsided loss. Losing is never good, but it's more tolerable when you're simply out-manned. The Hogs were not out-manned. They were outplayed because they showed up flat. As a competitor, how can one be flat for the Tennessee Volunteers? How can one be flat at Neyland Stadium? How? How does that happen?

Yet, that's what the Razorbacks were. They were flat against Auburn too, which is why they lost. Their run blocking wasn't good for much of the game and their defense didn't turn up the intensity and get a stop when the offense woke up and earned a late lead.

Nutt's teams always seem to underachieve. That's my perception anyway.

For this reason, I have been critical of Nutt's performance as coach of the Razorbacks. It has nothing to do with him personally. His teams have lacked the mental fortitude to handle pressure on a game-to-game basis. None of them ever seemed to possess a killer instinct or the desire to dominate opponents for the mere sport of it. Forget playing to win, playing to avoid a loss. How about going into a big game for the sole purpose of measuring yourself and dominating someone for four quarters, regardless of how good they are? I never once saw that characteristic in one of Houston Nutt's teams. It is unfortunate. His teams had so much potential.

I am not happy that Nutt resigned from Arkansas. His resignation is unfortunate, but his teams' performance lacked. I am optimistic that Arkansas' football program will move forward in a positive direction. If it doesn't, changes can always be made later.

As for Chancellor White's decision to give Nutt $3.5 million in deferred annuity, that was a good move. Some have lambasted White for making a bad business move for not sticking to the terms of Nutt's employment contract. Hey. What do I care about $3.5 million from the University's coffers? It ain't my money. What do I care? Why would anyone care about that?

So, when Chancellor White gives Nutt a parting gift of $3.5 million after resigning, when the employment contract stipulates otherwise, I take it as a goodwill gesture from White and darn good business. A move like that is savvy. It prompts prospective job candidates to take pause and think "Wow! Arkansas treated Houston Nutt really nice. They will likely do the same for me."

That's the message a move like White's sends. White is no dummy. He realizes Arkansas' reputation as an employer took a hit after Nolan Richardson's firing. It took another hit after Richardson sued the UA, resulting in an embarrassing trial and too much information made public.

Firing Jack Crowe after one game doesn't help either. Agents and others in the know remember these things. White's generous compensation of Nutt helps alleviate negative perceptions.

Anyway, Houston Nutt is a fine person. I do not like the way he prepared his team though. I do not think they handled adversity consistently enough. Despite what those at ESPN say, Nutt's Arkansas teams had the potential to be more than they were. Since they did not live up to their potential, the fan base became fractured. This, I think, was Nutt's downfall at Arkansas. He made teams with wonderful potential merely good when they could have been great. If he could unlock the doors to success, he could do great things at Ole Miss.