Houston Nutt Resigns As Razorbacks Head Coach
November 26, 2007 at 6:54pm by TipsterHog
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football, NCAA, SEC
Hogwired.com: Houston Nutt Steps Down as Razorback Football Coach
Following 10 seasons, 75 victories and seven bowl games with an eighth bid coming later this week, Houston Nutt has stepped down as head football coach at the University of Arkansas, he announced at a press conference on Monday.
Also:
- Hogwired.com: Statement from Arkansas Interim Head Coach Reggie Herring
- ESPN.com: Nutt era closes with resignation of Arkansas coach
- TodaysTHV.com (Video): Houston Nutt Statement, Press Conference Q&A, Press Conference Recap
RazorBloggers Network
- HogBlogger: Why Houston Dale Had To Go
ArkansasSports360.com
- Chris Bahn: Arkansas, Nutt Agree To Settlement In Excess of $3 million, Long Gets Early Start On AD Duties
The Morning News
- Alex Abrams: Nutt Era Comes To An End
- Ryan Malashock: Nutt To Collect About $3 Million From Razorback Foundation, Who’s On Long’s Short List?
- Nathan Allen: Nutt’s Resignation A Shock To Players
- Vernon Tarver: Herring Named Head Hog For Bowl Game
- Robbie Neiswanger: Nutt Could Be Rebel With A Cause
- Harry King: Resignation About Two Families
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Bob Holt: Let the search begin But timing not right for Davis
- Chris Givens: Players in jail, hateful e-mails add to Nutt’s worries
- Democrat-Gazette: Team dispirited yet sympathetic
- Richard Davenport: Nutt’s departure surprises many of Arkansas’ recruits
- Wally Hall: Unifying Arkansas’ fan base will be Long task
- Nate Allen: Of his own accord
- Rainer Sabin: Search for Nutt’s successor in new AD Long’s hands
Other Sites and Blogs
- ESPN.com: Maisel: Winning not enough to extend Nutt, Bower tenures
- Memphis Commercial Appeal: Higgins: Nutt’s departure set in motion last spring
- The Hog Blogger: A Farewell And A Thank You
- Joe Public: The UA-Houston Nutt Lovefest
Updated 11/28/07 11:00 a.m.
Can’t say we didn’t see this coming. Nutt did a great job as coach here and we wouldn’t be where we are today without his work. I hope he finds success wherever he lands.
Thanks for all your hard work, HDN! Go Hogs!
Now, let’s start over.
I understand this is probably best for all involved but I am sorry you had such a tough year from the fans. Your players love you and I wish you were coaching the bowl game, but WOW you sure know how to go out on a winning note! Best of luck to you, thanks for the awesome, unforgettable win over LSU!!!!!! GO HOGS!
Hey, he had a good run but in the end just too many distractions and unexplained losses. I look forward to the future, let’s hope this guy doesn’t land in the SEC. I think Ga Tech or SMU would be good fit for him.
hes ok but not an SEC coach, good for SMU and GT
And now WHAT???? Who will be his successor?….We will have to wait to see what is goning to happen with Les Miles and Michigan….If he goes to Michigan, we will not be able to land a better coach than HDN in Arkansas because the best coaches in the nation will want to go and work fot LSU.
Houston, we will miss you!!!!!
I agree that Houston probably isn’t an SEC level coach and I agree that he did help turn around the program from the original state. Unfortunately, he stayed too long and was the victim of his own doing. You got some great wins along the way but you gave away more games in the process. This caused more problems than you realized.
Hope you and our $3.5 million dollars the best! I’m still not sure why we are paying you to leave but it might be the best investment that we make in the short term. I don’t understand why you aren’t coaching in the bowl game. I think this is the least that you deserved. Maybe, just maybe, you decided that you didn’t want to go out on a losing note. I can appreciate that. Best of luck with your future job… just make sure that it isn’t in the SEC!
Being out of state, I watched some of the video from KATV live but not much. I had to watch the re-runs and missed the question and answers.
Congratulations haters. Job well done.
Sure I wish him the best. This was not all his fault by a long shot. He never should have been selected. He was in over his head. I still have to wonder what would have happened to him with a real AD instead of the old legend. GT is a way better choice than Ole Miss for him so he will probably choose Ole Miss. Too bad.
Now let’s just hope they can find a real football coach to replace him. They are hanging it on Long. You think he is really involved? White or Lindsey?
Too much White still left in the system. If he had acted a year ago, I’d give him a free pass but now… it’s 2 down and 1 to go for me.
We are almost there!
Wish I could be more hopeful or optimistic about this but I’m not. Taking a second look over the last paragraph Blind wrote merely confirms my feeling of foreboding. I have to wonder what will finally make the disabused happy. I’m sure I’ll be told something along the lines of: “Just get a real football coach in here!” well, I can’t wait to see who we get to come in here and try to meet the high expectations while simultaneously putting up with all the BS. I do have one piece of advice for him whoever he is: pay for your own damn cellphone!
As for the bowl game, I’d hoped Houston would coach, especially with the way the boys were playing for him. We’re way past due for bowl win but with this last little bit of upheaval I wouldn’t be surprised if we got hammered…again.
Let me see if I got this right, “Nutt was in over his head”, and “he is not an SEC level coach”. Just beat the #1 team in the country in their own backyard and was SEC Coach of the Year last year. Seems to be a conflict.
When Gus left the program, it broke my heart. I was so excited when he was hired. I will always feel that Gus could have been treated with respect while he was at the University of Arkansas. There is a part of me that will always feel Houston had a part in his (Gus) departure.
HDN can take with him his wife and her emails, her friend Prewitt and his 2,000 texted messages. I imagine the fellows with the biggest grins right now are M. Mustain, D. Williams, G. Malzahn and Mrs. Mustain.
Hawgfan100, how about not doing do anything that causes you to worry about who you call on a cell phone!
I agree… Houston should coach the bowl game.
Itsonlyagame, yep, when you trash a team so much that you have a losing season for 2 years, it isn’t hard to get a little recognization when you do slightly above par for one year.
Keep in mind, that there isn’t a SEC Bum of the Year award to sit upon the same shelf as the SEC coach of the Year award. Unfortunately, Houston probably would have received more of these than the other.
Who cares where HDN ends up? I’m much more concerned about who will coach the Razorbacks next year. Jimmy Johnson, anyone?
Hey! We can all agree that things are so very much better than ten years ago! I admire Houston for his enthusiasm and his class displayed today. I am glad he is moving on and I wish him the best———unless his opponent is the University of Arkansas.
texhogforever, no thanks. I’ll pass on Jimmy Johnson every day of the week.
T-towner, amen. I’ll second that. I wish no harm on Houston (never did that I remember and never will). He has done much good but too much bad. While the bad didn’t out number the good, there just wasn’t enough good to justify keeping him around.
I agree things are better, Houston has served his purpose well. Let’s find the guy that takes us to the next level.
Hey, Eddie took the basketball team to new heights, but he wasn’t the one to win a national championship, that was the next guy.
I have heard several times today that Long has been speaking to Bill Cower….Can anyone comment on this?
You pay for your own and ya got no worries. What’s your business, stays your business.
“when you trash a team so much that you have a losing season for 2 years, it isn’t hard to get a little recognization when you do slightly above par for one year.
Believe this is not only simplistic analysis but inaccurate as well.
“Houston probably would have received more of these than the other.”
Not with the likes of Orgeron hangin’ around. ;^)
Most of you here wanting Nutt out make me want to vomit. Who in the hell is going to want to come coach here now? All it takes is some of the players Mommies and a bunch of wanna-be Razorbacks to force the coach out. The Razorback fans are the freaking laughing stock of the country right now. I currently live and Dallas and the radio stations here are essentially laughing their butts off at you morons. Today was a terrible day for the Hogs. Thanks a lot you idiots.
Yes I’m reposting this from the other link.
From ARKANSAS BUSINESS:
“Nutt and the university have agreed on a $3.65 million buyout. The results of the past two games, including Friday’s 50-48 triple-overtime win over then No. 1 LSU, did not factor in the negotiations, a source confirms, adding that the decision was reached two weeks ago.”
Two weeks ago! So, Nutt lied. He was beligerant with the 40/29 tv station who broke the news, just down right hostile. All the reporter did was to reveal secret negotiations between a state [public] employee with his state [public] employers.
Dallas…not sure your vomit was good enough to repost…but, you know, whatever…welcome to the site.
We always appreciate when smart people like you come on here for the first time ever and call us all idiots within just a few minutes. Usually it takes a lot longer than that…days even.
Perhaps you should move on to wherever the other smart people (like yourself) are hanging out. Thanks for stopping by…
Ok so I am not one of your macho Hog fan Houston Nutt haters-but I check this blog often for comments – I just got home from Mississippi for Thanksgiving and everyone wants HDN at Ole Miss, now reports are Trent Lott will be Chancellor – what a perfect fit. Someone local tell me more so far only Sheppard Smith at Fox News is reporting both.
Well, I’ve read the blog consistently and I agree with DallasHog. Arkansas fans are the laughing stock of the nation bc of the inflated egos many carry around. It was only last April when those same fans began talking about Larry Brown, Bill Self, John Calipari and Tom Crean as candidates for the basketball position. Now they’re gossiping about Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson and Tommy Tuberville.
There’s a reason why Arkansas is battling MS and LA for the bottom spot in the education rankings. LEARN FROM PREVIOUS MISTAKES.
Btw – I will gladly eat crow in two years if the incoming coach takes us to the much ballyhooed “next level.” Unfortunately, I think we’re in for another decade like the 90’s.
Nutt wasn’t run off for being a bad coach. He was OK. His style was boring, his record was mediocre, and his results were mixed at best with no real accomplishment in 10 years. To say he was better than Jack Crowe and Danny Ford is not enough of a defense. But he would have survived all of that if not for his personal failings.
Lieing to the fans, abusing coaches and players were too much to overcome. It was a lethal combination he did not have the intelligence, maturity or class to avoid. The football coach of a state college is a public figure responsible for his words and his actions.
The fans didn’t do this. Frank and Dale and White and Lindsey did this. The outcome was certain once the acts had taken place like a ripe apple falling from a tree. They can paint a rosy picture and blow perfumed smoke for days if they want. These are the simple facts.
Good luck Houston and thanks for the last ten years. I do think that he truely loved the hogs and the state but his downfall was his inability to make the changes that would have helped the program. To much drama and his timing to leave was good.
I do have one question to all of you on here. What if we get another coach who wants to lead the conference in rushing each year? Was it HDN or his style of coaching? FOr me it was all the drama.
I thought Houston Nutt showed something today I didn’t think he had — class. I admired the way he addressed the Hog nation about being a ball boy as a kid, and how he loved the Razorbacks, and how many years later he would eventually get a shot at his dream job. I liked the way he talked about his players and what he felt for them. There’s no doubt Houston had mixed emotions about leaving, but I think he finally realizes it has to be this way. There’s a lot of people that think fickle fans ran him off, but that’s way too easy of an escape goat, and everyone knows it. It’s easy to talk cheap when you are upset, and there are some upset people who want Nutt to stay. leaders alway’s speak for themselves, because they are alway’s in the public eye. 10 years of this particular leader was way too much for me, but I still say Frank was the biggest problem. You cut off the head, the rest of the body will follow. Isn’t that very thing happening as we speak?
Nutt is a great coach. Who else could have had such a mediocre record with a backfield that is rated the best in the country with all three probably going in the first round of the NFL draft. Who else could run off the number one QB recruit in the nation along with a highly recruited receiver. Who else could devise an offensive strategy based solely on McFadden and Jones being able to eventually bust one. Who else could recruit an inconsistent field goal kicker and when that was taken care of, have a punter who is mediocre at best and a kick-off specialist who can’t get the ball into the end zone. who else could be forced to hire an offensive coach (twice) and not utilize them. (Last game excepted).
Who else would push for a two year extension for a receivers coach who couldn’t consistently recruit good receivers and then could not teach the one’s he had to get separation and hold on to the ball. The happiest group in the USA are now rival SEC coaches since Nutt is going to ole Miss. This is a good fit since any improvement will be appreciated. He can claim rebuilding and who knows, if he can win 3 SEC games for the Rebels he will again will be coach of the year (Croom will win it with 4). I found it funny that in one breath that a blogger here would say that Nutt was a great coach and then follow it with we need a bowl win because it has been a long time.coming. Regarding the upcoming bowl, it seems that even the Cotton isn’t interested. Now wouldn’t it be a hoot if Arkansas faced Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl. Herring vs Malzahn. Talk about a grudge match. Now that would worth a lot of tickets.
Coaching changes are hard to predict. Weiss for Willingham at ND is a bust, but Willingham is in trouble at Washington. Hatfield went from UA to Clemson where he failed and then to Rice where he failed even worse. Hatfield was also run oriented rather than having an open offense. Arkansas needs a coach that understands the modern spread offense being used today. But wasn’t that what Callahan at Nebraska was? I would like to think that Long has an open mind and is not going with cronyism. I am optimistic until proven otherwise.
” I found it funny that in one breath that a blogger here would say that Nutt was a great coach and then follow it with we need a bowl win because it has been a long time.coming.”
Not referring to me, I hope? Because that’s not exactly what I said.
Anyone want to start up a pool on how many of our recruits elect to bail now? Finally we get a Top-20 class and after this latest bit of fun I’ll say, oh, 1/3 of them take off (6-7).
Also, how many of our coaching staff will stay? I know some of you don’t have much respect for Herring but what about Rocker? Markuson? Rocker’s recruiting (especially in my neck of the woods: Atlanta) has been phenomenal and I have no complaints about his coaching. Markuson’s body of work speaks for itself. No matter what sort of offense you plan to run, you need a good, solid o-line and he’s provided that year in and year out. Woods and Shibest aren’t so hot but it won’t be the ‘not so hot’ coaches who leave.
What happens if we lose a significant number of our recruits and some of our best staff from this latest episode? i don’t think it’ll really mater who our HC is, in that case…oh yeah, I’ll sooo be looking forward to the next few years.
ESPN just reported three possible canidates ofr HC at Arkansas. See what ya’ll think.
Peterson …..Boise State
Leach………Texas Tech
Oakland Raider Coach who was Assistant at USC.
Something more to ponder
Seems to me the Hogs could do a whole lot worse in the coaching dept. than HDN. Just how many National Championship winning coachs are out there. Oh yeah Danny Ford won a National Championship!!!! Maybe we can get him back. My point is it takes more than just credentials to get a championship. (I personally think ole HDN has it in him to get there just not at UA) My other point is there are probably 75 coaches that will never see a championship to every one coach that will. How do you know your not trading one that could for a string of those who never will.
If these guys are the three choices available; not knowing who the ‘Former Assistant at USC’ is (and believeing that Leach would be going too far in the opposite direction), I’d be leaning toward Peterson.
Class exit Houston.What I saw during HDN’s resignation speech was what I loved about him in his first seven years,but he lost it the last three.Sincerity,and true passion for the program and not hisself.Thank you for doing the right thing for the program.the fans and most importantly your family.I can just imagine what it has been like for you and your family with all the criticism from the fans(myself included).I wish you the best of luck wherever you end up(probably OLE MISS) at least you won’t have to prepare for DMAC or Felix When you come to the Hill.I do hope the next coach has the same love and passion HDN had for this program his first seven years and here at the end.We the very passionate fans deserve a very passionate coach.Whoever we get just remember the cupboard will be pretty bare losing our entire backfield.Remember the last time we lost our backfield all we were left with was Matt Jones and that was a disaster year.Whoever we get we need to get them quickly so we can have some type of stability to show potential recruits.Personally I would like to have another Arkansas native to head this program that understands the passion all the fans have shown over the years.Whether you were a Nutt hater or a Nutt supporter we all have shown passion and we all truly want this program to be successful.Let’s be like Nutt and move on. Let’s start preparing ourselves to be as passionate for the Razorbacks and the new direction we are heading.Give the new guy a chance like we did HDN for several years.GO HOGS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ESPN is reporting Houston Nutt has been hired by Ole Miss. I honestly think Arkansas is going to rue the day. Hope I’m wrong.
DallasHiog:
Consider this: The State of Mississippi produces considerable football talent, But, and it’s a big but, Ole Miss has to compete against MSU and USM for that talent. A major reason for Broyles not wanting to play ASU was to not give them any kind of an edge on recruiting. Two of the reasons Sabin gave for leaving Michigan State was that he was tired of being the second school in Michigan and wanted to go where the talent was. LSU is THE school in Louisiana. Nutt had that same advantage in Arkansas. Some feel because of the Mustain affair that he had hurt Razorback recruiting in Western Arkansas. Now he’s going where the compettion for players is more intense. Plus it looks like Croom may have got it going at MSU (He’s got a terrific freshman QB) and he may be very difficult to recruit against in-state..I just don’t see Nutt doing that well initially, considering the advantages he had at Arkansas, in not producing an SEC Chamiopnship or a winning record in bowl games.. What will happen at ole Miss is for someone else to predict, I don’t know what the Rebs have coming back. Plus, Nutt may have seen the light and no longer will have Broyles looking over his shoulder discouraging the spread, He may just light it up at Oxford. We’ll see.
Regarding a new coach: Unless i’m reading it wrong the new coach will have a relatively bare cupboard to work with. Established coaches may not like that scenario, especially if they have to develope a recruiting base from scratch. Unlike some here, I think that the best chance for UA next year to have a better than .500 seaon is to get a coach who will open up the offense. To me that means someone like Leach at TTech or Johnson from Navy. It is possible that if Herring can win the bowl game that he may be an interim head coach with a limited contract dependant upon future success. Because of Broyles we even had a difficult time recuiting a known entity in basketball even tho we had plenty of talent. Maybe the new coach, like Pelphrey, will come out of the woodwork.
Insofar as keeping some of the assistant coaches are concerned, new management generally wants their own people. Has to do with loyalty, control and trustworthiness. If Reggie gets the job, he will retain those he likes and can help him and get rid of those he thinks will not. Reggie strikes me as a hardball guy and friendship ends where job security begins. .
He took less than a couple of hours to be named the coach of Ole Miss. Leave it to old Dale to land on his feet quickly. All you Nutt supporters can drive down to Oxford and cheer on Nutt and those Rebels, good luck with that okay. I am still escatic he is going going gone.
Time to start the June Jones era in Fayetteville.
Let’s bring the 21st Century offense to Arkansas.
Who is June Jones? He is 22-3 in the past 2 years with no facilities and no local recruiting base.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Jones
1999 Hawaii 9-4 5-2 T-1st
2000 Hawaii 3-9 2-6 T-6th
2001 Hawaii 9-3 5-3 T-4th
2002 Hawaii 10-4 7-1 2nd
2003 Hawaii 9-5 5-3 T-4th
2004 Hawaii 8-5 4-4 5th
2005 Hawaii 5-7 4-4 5th
2006 Hawaii 11-3 7-1 2nd
2007 Hawaii 11-0 8-0 1st
Hawaii: 75-40 47-24
Arthur in Weho
Hello Arthur,
Does June Jones play any SEC Team? I don’t think so….Think about that…….
Let’s bring Butch Davis home again. He can bring this great State of Arkansas together again!!!!!
Thank you BlindHog for the excellent post. For those who lived it, we know. For those Johnny come lately’s to this blog site; who cares. A few minutes ago I saw a brief interview of HN on ESPN2. He obviously is still floating down that river in Egypt.
LET’S GET GUS BACK…THE PERFECT FIT!!! LIKE SAM WALTON SAID….”LET’S SWIM UPSTREAM” , LET’S GO WITH AN ARKANSAS COACH THAT’S WON EVERYWHERE HE’S BEEN AND IMPROVED EVERY PROGRAM..TO TAKE US TO THE NEXT LEVEL. EXPERIENCE? EVERY GREAT COACH STARTS SOMEWHERE. LET’S NOT LET OURS SLIP OUT OF OUR OWN BACK YARD.
i see where nutt is taking coaches with him to ole miss.i didnt see where they mentioned reggie leaving.i may be wrong but the games we lost this year was bad d. i sure hope wher smarter than making rh hc.