I loved Nutt, I thought the fans were ridiculous with that blimp nonsense, and all of that fake drama from Springdale, and he’s a good man.
And if Lane can be patient, I think he would be good at Arkansas. I know pops real well from his days in Tampa, he was in his prime one of the best defensive minds in the game.
Let’s be honest, that entire Nutt -Springdale nonsense was just silly…
And I think Lane is one of the most intelligent coaches in the game, and Arkansas needs smart guys. The question is, can he be patient while he builds a winner. Losing to Alabama isn’t going to sit well with him. Once he starts winning consistently, Arkansas’ recruiting will improve exponentially, because there is talent everywhere. They just look elsewhere because of all the losing lately. Fayetteville is a great environment when they’re winning consistently…
I’d take Houston Nutt back as head coach because of his enthusiasm and love for the Arkansas Razorbacks and I would also take Lane Kiffin as his offensive coordinator and HC in waiting after together they resurrect the program.
I believe that Arkansas could get Houston Nutt at a Home state discount for let’s say 3-4 million per year and get Kiffin on board for 2 million year knowing that he would have stability and time to rebuild the program that he would one day lead.
This could be two for one deal while retaining Lunney and Caldwell and possibly adding someone like James Shibest (currently at Virginia Tech), but coached under Nutt at Arkansas and Ole Miss previously.
I’m not saying this is my wish list, but it may be something to ponder.
Yeah, but my friend, with all do respect, there’s no way Kiffin would take an asst job, especially when FSU will be writing him a check any minute now, if not already… Arkansas needs to be down there tonight and write an even bigger check, call Jerry, and have him bring the check book. Because FSU is a better job, easier to recruit, not as many stupid people. Arkansas will have to write a check at least 2-3 mil more than what FSU is offering to get him.
True on Nutt, but it’s questionable as to whether he could reunite the fan base, and to what coaches he could bring in, after being out of the game for so long.
Interesting quote from Bob Stoops today:"Well you never know what the Lord is going to bring you,” Stoops said.
"Everybody wants ya to define your life at every age. At 50, they wanted me to know what I was going to do the rest of my life. And at 55, and now at 59, everyone thinks you gotta…you know, who knows what I’ll be doing next year or the year after.
“You don’t know what you’re going to be doing next year. And the good Lord is the only one who knows. We’ll see where things end up for me.”
Now we’re talking write the big check. Call Jerry. Call Tyson. Call JB Hunt. Heck, Call Wal-Mart.
Nutt - motivator yes, recruiter - not so much. Kiffin as his OC wouldn’t work unless Lane had full control.
IMO hand the keys to Kiffin as HC & let him pick the OC & DC he needs. Turn him loose with recruiting.
My thought on hiring Houston Nuttt as Head Coach and Lane Kiffin as OC/HC in waiting was the fact that Houston is a tremendous motivator and Lane is considered to be a great play caller and under this short term arrangement Lane would not have the entire weight of the rebuild completely on his shoulders.
So, heck if we’re talking throwing $7 million at someone like Stoops or Malzahn why couldn’t we just give Houston $4 million and Lane $3 million and know that we have our guy long term.
Lane’s current salary is $950,000, so that would be a heck of a raise while knowing he is just 44 years of age and likely by age 48/49 he would be Head Hog with what could be a much better program that he could continue to lead or another decade.
Why not try to put that type of deal together and see if these guys would entertain such an offer?
Because again, I understand your thinking and it’s not illogical, but Lane isn’t going to put HC to Asst coach on his resume for Arkansas, because it will cost him in the long run, his agent would never go for it. Because if Nutt blows it and gets fired, no one is taking his OC, and the fans here wouldn’t go for it.
Not only that, he’s a hot commodity after turning around FAU, he doesn’t need to.
Go for the best. We can’t afford to fail again. Spend all the money you can afford if you have to. Get Meyer or someone top caliber. We need to turn this around quickly. Only top coaches with immediate recruiting clout can make it happen. Everyone has a price. Get Meyer. I think he can be bought.
Meyer will only go where there is an abundance of talent already in place and the program mostly recruits itself.
Unless you want to set the new coaching salary record of 8 mil a year & hope he doesn’t have a another sudden medical issue & hangs it up again.
Yeah, that’s silly, Meyer isn’t coming here. Reality folks! And the reality is no one wants this job. Arkansas has maybe the dumbest fans in America that live in a constant state of denial. Arkansas is going to have to go 1-2 routes, pay a good coach a record amount and be patient. Or find an up and comer, that doesn’t know how stupid we’re. And unfortunately after that blimp/Petrino-motorcycle/Bielema and his fat mouth, very few people don’t know how stupid we’re. Maybe Arkansas can find a great high school coach from Florida, Alabama, SC, somewhere like that.
Big “NO” to Nutt. Besides him being too polarizing, he proved his lack of loyalty to Arkansas during his tenure here. Broyles is not around anymore to show him how to coach & update his stale offenses. There are better coaches who are available.
I liked Nutt and thought he did a reasonably good job–especially in hindsight. But his time is past. He could never unite the fan base or generate the patience and enthusiasm necessary to turn things around. And for a former quarterback, he wasn’t much of a Quarterback Whisperer, which we sorely need. It’s better, I think to look ahead to the future than back to the past.