FanPost

Why Houston Nutt to Kansas would be a good thing for Ole Miss


Ole Miss just wrapped up an 8-4 regular season after falling to arch rival Mississippi State, 41-27. The season started with disappointment early on as the Rebels, getting as high as No. 4 in the polls by attrition, failed to live up to the preseason hype of a darkhorse national title contender with losses to South Carolina and Alabama. The Rebels got things going, however, and finished the season strong, winning three of their final four games and earning a second consecutive berth in the AT&T Cotton bowl on Jan. 2. Today, even after a solid regular season, Rebel fans are a bit uneasy as rumors are starting to swirl that head coach Houston Nutt may be interested in the Kansas job. The rumors seem to have some validity to them as it has been reported that Nutt has already spoken to Kansas AD Lew Perkins about the coaching vacancy. It's deja vu for the Rebel faithful, as Nutt was linked to be in the running for the Auburn head coaching job this time last year before the Tigers finally settled on then Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik. The Auburn rumors proved to be beneficial for Nutt as they prompted Ole Miss AD Pete Boone to give Nutt a raise in order to ensure that Ole Miss' head man stayed in Oxford.

I know what Ole Miss fans are thinking: Boy, as soon as we get a head coach that wins, everybody else wants to try and take him away from us. Well, what do you expect? That's the way it goes in college football - and every other sport for that matter. If the head coach is winning games, he's going to attract attention from other schools (or organizations for the professional sports out there). But it wouldn't be the worst thing for Ole Miss if Nutt bolted for Lawrence, Kansas. Sure, Houston Nutt has done a great job at Ole Miss in his two seasons in Oxford, and Ole Miss has been good for Nutt. The Right Reverend needed a fresh start after a shaky end to his tenure as the Arkansas head coach. Ole Miss fans aren't going to see it (well maybe some will) right now because Nutt has rejuvented a weary fan base that witnessed an unsuccessful three-year ride with previous head coach Ed Orgeron, one that saw Ole Miss go 0-8 in Orgeron's final season at the helm in 2007. Right now, Houston Nutt is hot in Oxford. He's the flavor of the month - or should I say, the last 24 months - for how quickly he's turned around the Rebel football program. But Rebel fans shouldn't lose sleep if Nutt does indeed decide to head out west to Kansas. Houston Nutt bolting for Kansas would be a good thing for both Ole Miss and Kansas in the long run.

Every hot eye eventually grows cold. Every bright light eventually burns out. Houston Nutt is like a new toy in Oxford. He's fun to play with right now, but eventually the batteries will die or the toy will break and Ole Miss fans will want a new one. Let's be honest, Houston Nutt is a middle of the pack, borderline mediocre head coach. He's good for 8-4 or 7-5 every year with a bowl game. Every once in a while, when nobody expects his teams to do anything, he sneaks up on people and produces a very good season (Ole Miss in 2008 and Arkansas in 2002). But he doesn't have a pedigree as a strong recruiter, and he's not going to bring SEC or national championships to Oxford. You can disagree or badmouth me all you want, but it's the truth. The only players Nutt ever got at Arkansas were Darren McFadden and Felix Jones (and make no mistake about it, they were good). I'll throw Peyton Hillis in there for good measure. But besides them, Nutt didn't get any players. For those of you that are throwing Mitch Mustain and Damien Williams out there, please don't kid yourself. Gus Malzahn got Mustain and Williams, along with TE Ben Cleveland, to Arkansas. Nutt hired Malzahn from Springdale (Ark.) High School to be his offensive coordinator in 2006. Mustain, Williams and Cleveland all went to Springdale H.S. and followed Malzahn to Arkansas. In fact, it's widely believed that the only reason Nutt hired Malzahn was to get these players. Because Nutt couldn't convince them himself to come to Arkansas. And sure enough, what happened when Malzahn left after the 2006 season to become Tulsa's off. coordinator? Mustain and Williams transferred to USC. Coincidence? Hardly. Nutt doesn't put together nationally ranked recruiting classes, and he won't get the kind of players at Ole Miss that you need to win championships. It's going to be interesting to see -- assuming Nutt stays at Ole Miss -- how Ole Miss performs with Nutt's recruits in the fold. Nutt won last year with Ed Orgeron's recruits. Nutt is popular in Oxford right now because of the recent struggles of the Ole Miss football program. 8-4 and 7-5 is a welcomed breath of fresh air for Ole Miss fans after the miserable four-year showing following the Eli Manning era. But Ole Miss has finished 8-4 two straight years now, and the fans will want more. How much longer will 8-4 be acceptable? Ole Miss fans will want Nutt to gradually get the program to the next level, which is competing for SEC and national titles. That's the goal of any football program. With the pressures that come with coaching in a conference like the SEC and the pressures that come with keeping up with the likes of Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and LSU, Nutt hasn't shown that he can keep up and get his team over the hump. That may become a problem in Oxford.

Nutt would be a great fit at Kansas because Kansas is a basketball school. Nutt can lay low in the shadow of the basketball program and win eight games every year and it would be OK. Going 8-4 and 7-5 every year would go over a lot more smoother at Kansas than it would at Ole Miss simply because Kansas puts all of its eggs in the basketball basket (no pun intended). Nutt wouldn't have the same kind of pressure at Kansas that he would at Ole Miss. Also, with Nutt's offensive style of downhill running, I think he may be more successful in the Big 12, where defense seems to be optional at given times. Nutt also may be able to get slightly better players recruiting for Kansas as well. Sure, he'd have to compete with Oklahoma and Texas, but that pales in comparison to competing with Nick Saban at Alabama, Les Miles at LSU, Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, Les Miles at LSU, Gene Chizik at Auburn, Mark Richt at Georgia and even Dan Mullen at Mississippi State. Who wants to deal with that? Nutt would be more successful in finding better caliber players in the Big 12 than the SEC. To give you an idea, according to Rivals.com, there are currently five Big 12 teams with Top 25 recruiting classes. There are six SEC teams with classes ranked not only in the Top 25, but in the Top 10!! (As of right now, Ole Miss' class isn't ranked in the Top 25). The sleddin' would be a little easier in the Big 12. Just sayin'.

Houston Nutt has done a remarkable job at Ole Miss since stepping foot on campus considering the state of the football program at the time. There's no denying that. But now winning is expected and SEC championships are soon to be expected. I doubt Nutt can deliver them, and if Nutt decides to walk, I wouldn't exactly shed a tear if I was an Ole Miss fan. And now the big question: If Nutt left, just who exactly would Ole Miss hire? That's a good question that I don't have the answer to. That's why I'm not the athletic director. But Pete Boone better be ready to open up the checkbook because it's going to take someone better than Nutt to deliver what Ole Miss fans and alumni ultimately want -- championships.



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