ESPN also reporting he has agreed to terms with Ole Miss. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3129559
He won as many outright SEC west divisional championships as Houston Nutt and won an equal amount of SEC titles. Nutt's first championship game appearance came as part of a three way tie-breaker for SECOND place in the division. Alabama, who had the best record in the division that year, was on probation and ineligible to go to the championship game. Last season was Nutt's first outright SEC West championship, equivalent to his predecessor. Additionally, Nutt has had the benefit of a changing landscape in college football with four non-conference games per year where you can schedule complete cupcakes to pad your record (Florida International, UT Chattanooga, Troy (not a total cupcake, but still an easy win for SEC team), and North Texas this year. Also, Nutt is playing in an era where it is incredibly easy to make a bowl game (and apparently going to Shreveport should satisfy Arkansas fans) every year. All Arkansas had to do in order to qualify for the post season this year is beat the four previously mentioned cupcakes and the two Mississippi schools. That's a joke. Additionally, Arkansas has the benefit of having one of the weakest SEC East teams on their schedule every year. The way the SEC is set up, you play the 5 teams in your division, two rotating teams from the East, and 1 permanent team from the East. While LSU must play Florida every year, Auburn plays Georgia every year, and Alabama must play Tennesse every year, Arkansas gets to play one of the worst teams in the SEC, S. Carolina every year. When you get to play MSU, Ole Miss, and S. Carolina every year, it's a helluva way to pad your record if you're a mediocre coach. Do you really want to pay a guy millions of dollars a year and only require him to pay for four rent-a-wins and beat the two Mississippi schools? There are also many changes that have taken place within Arkansas that has made it easier for a coach to win at the U of A than it was in the early to mid 90s. The area in which the U of A is located has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. In less than twenty years the population of the area has grown by about 120%. This has created an influx of money and business in the area. It's also simply easier to get to Fayetteville now (new airport and construction of major interstate access to F'Ville), which makes it a more appealing place for recruits than in previous years. The economic growth of the area has allowed for the school to tremendously upgrade the facilities, which are now at the top of the SEC in quality. If you want to look at the stadium the previous coach had to work with, look at this picture: http://www.razorbacklegacy.com/hog_archive/displayimage.php?album=117&pos=17 Now, in comparison, the existing stadium: http://www.razorbacklegacy.com/hog_archive/displayimage.php?album=117&pos=85 The resources available to Nutt in comparison to the previous regime are night and day. His .500 conference record is not acceptable considering he's a scumbag. If he's such a great coach, why were the two programs expressing interest in hiring him Baylor University and Ole Miss (where he's gonna get hired)?
a couple of things, Arkansas has never won an SEC title, their mistake was joining that league when they were absolutely dominating the SWC. Nutt did schedule texas and beat them. the only bigtime job opening is A&M at the moment and they had their heart set on hiring one of their own.
Seriously. I'm amazed that so many people are discussing the subject at hand. I sincerely thought this was a city wide wad blowing celebration.
No, it was not a mistake to leave the SWC for the SEC at that time. The ADs of the major players in the conference knew that it was a dying league. There was potential for Arkansas to get left hanging in the wind like the non Big XII SWC did had they not left. Also, it would not have been nearly as easy for the Big XII SWC schools to disband the league when they did had Arkansas not left a few years earlier. Bottom line, I'd rather take a stab at greatness and fail miserably than settle for a liar leading me to mediocrity. Is there that much difference between a 5-7 season and going to the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl and the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl? Not to me. PS -- Duh, I didn't realize Arkansas has never won an SEC title, thanks for reminding me!
imo, and this is purely guessing with no research, ark leaving the SWC killed its recruiting in TX. Northeast TX is a fairly fertile recruiting area. With no Texas ties those kids are now attending LSU or BigXII schools.
He's not a great coach, just a decent one. Why would a great coach go to Arkansas? (I mean the question seriously). Houston Nutt is about as good as you will do. If the next guy does any better, he will leave for a superior job before you can blink. Even Nutt had a job lined up in the same conference. BTW, I understand he had lost everyone's respect and had to go. I'm only discussing his success on the field.
Looks like you're right. Nobody wants this job. Auburn's coach? Nope. Clemson's coach? No. Wake Forest's coach? Naw. I was not the biggest Houston Nutt fan but I do realize the school and fans were too hard on him. His coaching was flawed but he did pretty good in the toughest conference in the nation. Looks like they are paying for it now.
Sportscenter breaking news: Petrino resigns from Falcons to take Arkansas job. Ya sold out too soon, Pun. The decaying corpse of a middle school coach would have been better than Nutt.
dude, you really have to take a step back from your fandom to make a true evaluation. I see it all the time. texas fired david akers in the mid eighties because he didn't live up to d royal standards. Akers was a good coach who kept texas competitive nationally, much like mack brown before he finally broke through and won. they went through 15 years of mediocrity before finally landing brown. every school cannot compete for a national championship. could you do better at ark, probably. but what's out there right now for you guys.
Texas fired Akers because he was getting crushed in recruiting and had lost the momentum to OU, SMU and A&M. Admittedly, firing Akers wasn't going to stop the flow of cash from SMU and A&M - but the team was on a downward trajectory.
I did not sell out just realize that sometimes people were too harsh on him, myself included. He did have some success, maybe not major success but most of the time the Hogs did better than 75% of the other D-I teams with him as coach.
maybe you need to step back from your preconceived notions of everything about arkansas. be honest, you know absolutely nothing about the university of arkansas or the fans of this state. you simply made all of your judgments based on the stereotypes of arkansas and the people that live there.
dude, calm the **** down. I never said anything about your state or its people. quit being a sensitive dick. you're the one who started getting all personal. I don't know people in arkanasas and I don't give a crap about people in arkansas. But I do follow arkansas football since they were in the SWC and I don't have to know anything about you to know about hte program. its just a football job. and btw, quit acting like you guys hired the second coming of bear bryant and trying to rub it in everyone's face also. this dude you hired just up and left another job not even finishing the season. just look at what's going on at alabama.
