Houston Nutt Out at Arkansas, In at Ole Miss?

Finally, the speculation can end. It is official now: as of Monday night, the constantly-embattled, often-criticized, sometimes-insane Houston Nutt is no longer the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. That much we've seen coming for some time now, though not many of us would have imagined Arkansas actually asking Nutt to stay and offering him a new contract in the $2.4 million range -- and Nutt turning down said contract to walk away from the school -- but that's what ESPN.com is reporting.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that Nutt is already in negotiations to become the next head coach at Ole Miss (replacing the newly fired Ed Orgeron), and that a deal could be announced "early this week." The Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger also cites "several sources at Ole Miss" as saying Nutt is the frontrunner for the Rebels' job, with an announcement possibly coming Tuesday. Both papers say Rick Neuheisel has been considered for the Ole Miss opening, but that Nutt is their man. Should things fall through in Oxford, Rivals.com lists Nutt as a candidate for Georgia Tech's and Baylor's openings as well.

The interesting thing about Nutt to Ole Miss is that in his farewell news conference, Nutt spoke about how much he loved Arkansas and how it was his "dream job." That's not hard to believe, seeing as how Nutt is a native Arkansan. But should Nutt actually become the Rebels head coach (and what a smooth transition for Ole Miss fans from the wackiness of Coach O to the wackiness of Nutt), he'll have to face his former school every year.

As for the Arkansas opening, rumor and speculation have another Arkansas alum, Butch Davis, as the Razorbacks' top target, but can they get him out of Chapel Hill now that he's signed a new contract?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-27-2007 @ 12:10AM

crash said...

Yeah Coach Nutt may be a little eccentric from time to time, but he is a SEC coach that knows other SEC teams. Nutt is a good fit. I hope Ole Miss would at least consider Bower. He has had the winning seasons, but he never had the facilities or the budget to court the top recruits. I would think his philosophy of a clean program and graduating his kids would be a breath of fresh air at Oxford. O came in blowing and going. His character check went bankrupt early when the first two he had to dismiss were coaches. No discipline from the top-down. It is just a prime example of a PAC 10 coach thinking he could come in and rule the SEC. Please no left coast coaches need to apply.

11-27-2007 @ 3:07AM

J.Wash said...

Is Houston Nutt the son of a former Alabama player, Dr. Hugh Nutt?

11-27-2007 @ 10:12AM

Fibbermagoo said...

Thats where he belongs.

11-27-2007 @ 10:19AM

JoeDon said...

Glad to see him get out of here.

11-27-2007 @ 1:11PM

Jack said...

Nutt's a good hire for Old Miss. I'm sure they'll appreciate 7-8 wins every year! Maybe the Razorback fans will come to realize they are NOT Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan, S.Cal,etc.. Those 7-8 wins will look real good 5 yrs from now when the Razorbacks are "still" struggling to win 5! Good job Hillbillies! Hook'em Horns! JACK

11-27-2007 @ 1:53PM

Bill said...

Arkansas and Ole Miss will never be able to recruit the talent level present at Florida, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. Both schools are playing for 7th place in the SEC regardless of who coaches them. Arkansas will miss H. Nutt as they missed Ken Hatfield when they ran him off.

11-27-2007 @ 1:22PM

beetee said...

I'm wondering if Nutt will catch as much hell as Saban did coming back to coach colloge football at Bama? Probably not since OLE MISS is a top notch high profiled football program as fans say Bama is not.I understand Ole Miss fired a very good football coach a few years back just to go back to winning 3 or 4 games a year.let's see....David Cutcliffe? I think was his name.I'm sure there are plenty of high profiled coaches waiting in the wings to coach the hog's storied program.Let's see, if he only win's 8 games a year and doesn't contend for the nat. championship he'll be fired or should i say "run off". I just read todaays paper and it's official..Nutt to Oxford.For some reason I'm not feeling the hate here as it was win Saban came to the Bama nation...wonder why?