Ole Miss Hires A New Brand of Crazy: Houston Dale Nutt

Ole Miss after Firing Cutcliffe: "We will not accept mediocrity!"

Ole Miss after Firing Orgeron: "Yes, I'll have the mediocrity please, medium-average...Looks scrumptious, yes! With a side of Crazy...and the Refried Scandal. Thanks!"

I have to admit, I'm not exactly thrilled with this hire and I'll tell you why. I wanted a young head coach from the lower levels with fire and ambition and a great spread offense...oh and no baggage. Somebody with tons of upside. Somebody that the fans of his current school would fight hard to keep. Someone who was loved by many.

That's why I made my list. I had these visions of up-and-comers like Paul Johnson, Brian Kelly and or even taking a risk on a great young guy like Chris Hatcher.

Not some retread with outstanding lawsuits and Clintonian affairs.

Then again, Ole Miss is getting a guy who is proven to be...eh pretty good, which Ole Miss administration will take right now. The "Safe" pick to save their asses.

Is he on the up slope...or the down slope? I think that's yet to be determined. I don't want to hear any of this, "Who else you gonna get?" or "But you're Ole Miss?" This was an easy chance to reel in a "9" or a "10" but Boone and Khayat quickly settled on a "6."

1.8 Million a year can still get you a whole lotta coach, if you're smart.

Thus the same attitude that causes rival fans to say, "What was Ole Miss thinking firing Cutcliffe?" now causes them to say, "That's a good hire, Ole Miss." Yeah, it's good for you. It's non-threatening.

Yeah, he might win 7 or 8 games, but it's been proven that Nutt's not gonna win the conference or go to a BCS bowl. Hence the whole "no upside" thing.

In fact, Nutt was the longest tenured coach in the BCS conferences to never go to a BCS bowl. That's MY Coach! Would you like him to be your coach?



Just for shits and giggles, here are a few of my message board post concerning the coaching search in the last few days. You'll see how I went from utter putrid disgust at the thought of Houston Nutt to Denial, to bargaining to admittance, to acceptance...now I think I'm in recovery or something. Is this how Heroin addicts feel?


Why the hell would Boone do that? - Yesterday at 3:56pm

what a moron. does he know how stupid he'll look? Why would we hire another SEC program's garbage? DUMB DUMB DUMB. Way too much baggage and he WILL divide the fan base more than ever.

Ole Miss needs a fresh start...Ole Miss doesn't need that a-hole.

They're chasing him out of Fayetteville like nothing I've ever seen - Yesterday around 5pm

You don't think their's a reason behind that?

Half our fanbase already doesn't like him (not so with guys like RN or Kelly or PJ or Chris Hatcher)

He put his dick out there to get a 5 star QB and then completely effed it all away and lost a great offensive coordinator.

He's scandalous.

He's a joke (much like Orgeron).

He's batshit crazy.

He's never won an SEC title in ten years at a school that has no in state competition and a relatively rich recruiting base.

He's got the two best running backs to ever share a backfield and he can't beat the likes of Alabama, and Kentucky or do anything legitimate by them.

Fact is, The Arkansas fans don't care that he left... - Last Night

...that should bother the ones of you who claim to be not-so-wooly.

He went on a hot streak to end the season. LSU was susceptible. Shit, Bama almost beat 'em the week before they lost to UL-Monroe. Ed Orgeron put up 500 yards on their #1 Defense. WTF?!

Nutt is a hot name right now BECAUSE of McFadden and Jones. If he finished the season like he did last year, with three straight losses even having the great RBs (not to mention his 4-7 2005 season) Nobody would give him the time of day.

But pulling one out against LSU in the last game of his Ark career, sheeit, he upped his offers about 1 Mil a year.

It's incredible, it's foolish and it's kneejerk.

Don't even try to compare him to Orgeron. We've proven that Dinardo would win that battle handily. Yeah, Nutts not a bad football coach, but neither was David Cutcliffe.

Cut just wasn't getting us where we want to go.

There's no upside with Nutt. You guys think that Nutt, with less of a recruiting base, less big money around him, at less of a traditional power...you think that Nutt's gonna have equal or more success?

Naw, I'd much rather take a chance on a guy who didn't get run out of town. This choice is crazy, and makes Ole Miss look like little brother to effing Arkansas.

Pros and Cons - This Morning, When It was Inevitable

Pros:

-He stayed at a school for 10 years. That's gotta count for something.
-He's been to Atlanta a few times
-He owns Mississippi State
-He beats Auburn and Alabama more often than Ole Miss does
-He's charismatic?
-7 bowl games in 9 years (soon to be 8 of 10 if they let him coach it)

Cons:

-He's scandalous
-He previously coached at a divisional rival (and it's not like Ole Miss stole him a la Tuberville)
-He only had one 10 win season and that was last year
-He's never won anything more than a cotton bowl
-He's not exactly known as a great recruiter
-He's only won 2 of those 7 bowl games
-He's already got the fanbase divided
-Hog fans are not worried about seeing him go (have I said that before?)

Later, I'll atempt to convince myself that Nutt can do a better job at Ole Miss than he did at Arkanasas, and that his best years are ahead of him. Hope Houston Dale proves me wrong.

Hot Damn, Yaw yaw, giggity giggity. It could be worse...