Final Analysis on Houston Nutt
Yours truly spent an amazing couple weeks inside the eye of the hurricane, maybe more than I wanted. When the dust had settled, and I sat watching Monday's press conference announcing Houston Nutt's resignation, I noticed one glaring theme.
The scenario unfolding seemed orchestrated to help everyone look good. The University making a last ditch effort to keep the coach they wanted. Nutt, coming to the "agonizing" decision to leave his dream job for the sake of the fans, the players, and the football program. One heartbeat is needed. So Nutt 'takes one for the team', the University is helpless, and, it appears the fans have caused all this to happen.
Let's explore that for a moment. Houston Nutt revitalized the Hogs in 1998. He turned around the program and got them competitive in the toughest conference in America. His reverend-style motivation and excitement swept through the state and brought the Razorbacks back to respectability. But let's be honest, Nutt wasn't brought in to just be competitive. Like any other SEC coach, he was there to win division titles, conference championships, play in BCS bowl games, and hopefully, a national title. Those goals were not met, and that is not the fault of the fans.
Last I checked every Arkansas home game was jam packed with rabid fans. The cheered their team, Called the Hogs, and did whatever they could to help Arkansas win. If anything, fans have been "agonizing" over how close Nutt has come to achieving great success, only to come up short. For every Miracle on Markham, there is a blowout loss to Georgia in Atlanta. For every amazing upset over a #1 LSU or #2 Auburn, there is a complete dud against Tennessee, or 4th quarter heartbreakers to Auburn, Kentucky and Alabama: and those losses were in the same season. The last 2 years Nutt has had a TON of NFL-caliber players, 2 All-American tailbacks, one of which could win the Heisman. If you can't make it happen with them, you probably aren't going to do it.
I'm not even going into the controversy, drama, and overall problems off the field in the Nutt Era. Player arrests, unceremonius transfers and departures, ugly booster e-mails, and the list stretches all the way to Little Rock. Are they all Nutt's fault? Of course not. Just like many of the tough losses have to be attributed to players not getting it done when it mattered. But when you head up the program, the ultimate responsibility falls to you.
But as Houston Nutt told us Sunday: "It's a tough profession." It is, and high salaries and big money demand excellence. Nutt is the exception to the rule, but not the way Chancellor John White made him out to be. Nutt has enjoyed 10 years at an SEC school without a legitimate championship. It's almost unheard of in this day and age. Philip Fulmer has 15 years at Tennessee, but has proven he can win a national title and an SEC title.
So the University's over-the-top attempt to keep Houston Nutt is a little bit baffling. Stan Heath won 20 games for 2 years in hoops, got to the NCAA Tournament, but couldn't get over the hump. Frank Broyles fired him and said a change was needed to get to a championship level. Sounds like Arkansas football needs to do the same.
Houston Nutt layed a great foundation for success, and proved the Hogs can play with anyone in the country. But he also couldn't get over the hump, and after a decade, why not give someone else a crack? The fans have been there all along, and should not be made out to be the bad guys.
That's just me. How about you? e-mail us at sports@4029tv.com
The scenario unfolding seemed orchestrated to help everyone look good. The University making a last ditch effort to keep the coach they wanted. Nutt, coming to the "agonizing" decision to leave his dream job for the sake of the fans, the players, and the football program. One heartbeat is needed. So Nutt 'takes one for the team', the University is helpless, and, it appears the fans have caused all this to happen.
Let's explore that for a moment. Houston Nutt revitalized the Hogs in 1998. He turned around the program and got them competitive in the toughest conference in America. His reverend-style motivation and excitement swept through the state and brought the Razorbacks back to respectability. But let's be honest, Nutt wasn't brought in to just be competitive. Like any other SEC coach, he was there to win division titles, conference championships, play in BCS bowl games, and hopefully, a national title. Those goals were not met, and that is not the fault of the fans.
Last I checked every Arkansas home game was jam packed with rabid fans. The cheered their team, Called the Hogs, and did whatever they could to help Arkansas win. If anything, fans have been "agonizing" over how close Nutt has come to achieving great success, only to come up short. For every Miracle on Markham, there is a blowout loss to Georgia in Atlanta. For every amazing upset over a #1 LSU or #2 Auburn, there is a complete dud against Tennessee, or 4th quarter heartbreakers to Auburn, Kentucky and Alabama: and those losses were in the same season. The last 2 years Nutt has had a TON of NFL-caliber players, 2 All-American tailbacks, one of which could win the Heisman. If you can't make it happen with them, you probably aren't going to do it.
I'm not even going into the controversy, drama, and overall problems off the field in the Nutt Era. Player arrests, unceremonius transfers and departures, ugly booster e-mails, and the list stretches all the way to Little Rock. Are they all Nutt's fault? Of course not. Just like many of the tough losses have to be attributed to players not getting it done when it mattered. But when you head up the program, the ultimate responsibility falls to you.
But as Houston Nutt told us Sunday: "It's a tough profession." It is, and high salaries and big money demand excellence. Nutt is the exception to the rule, but not the way Chancellor John White made him out to be. Nutt has enjoyed 10 years at an SEC school without a legitimate championship. It's almost unheard of in this day and age. Philip Fulmer has 15 years at Tennessee, but has proven he can win a national title and an SEC title.
So the University's over-the-top attempt to keep Houston Nutt is a little bit baffling. Stan Heath won 20 games for 2 years in hoops, got to the NCAA Tournament, but couldn't get over the hump. Frank Broyles fired him and said a change was needed to get to a championship level. Sounds like Arkansas football needs to do the same.
Houston Nutt layed a great foundation for success, and proved the Hogs can play with anyone in the country. But he also couldn't get over the hump, and after a decade, why not give someone else a crack? The fans have been there all along, and should not be made out to be the bad guys.
That's just me. How about you? e-mail us at sports@4029tv.com
posted by Mark Lericos at 10:42 AM
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