Mega-Disaster in Arkansas Razorback Football

I personally don't think it will take being 0-12 to bring about Nutt's firing. I think he could get the axe with an 8-4 record next year. That will be seen as a step backwards, given the tumultuous atmosphere at ARK right now.

Stefan was right. While ARK dominated my boys and I have to give them credit for that, ARK was not the best team in the West by the end of the year. LSU was.

ARK and TENN were similar this year. Talented and in position to win some big games. ARK got some help from Vandy, SC, and Bama and eeked out those wins. TENN held off AFA and KY but could not close the deal against FLA and LSU (and fumbled away the Outback Bowl). ARK won some close scrums while TENN didn't. Both teams were on the razor's edge. ARK slid against WISC and what could've been a great season is slightly less (I'm sure the insurrection didn't cloud things at all during bowl prep....Broyles and the Springdale parents deserves some blame). OTOH, TENN had BCS and more in their grasp, and let it slip through their fingers with a play here and there.

ARK's momentum from one of their best seasons in recent history is gone. Maybe a good recruiting class will help restore fortunes in Fayetteville. Nutt seems to be counting on as much given some of what I've read

 

Didn't Nutt play qb at Ar.? In the papers down here, they were saying he had been trying to get the Al. job, any truth in that?

39th might not be so bad, wasn't South Carolina 35th last year. Ar. isn't an easy place to recruit to. From Broyles on I don't recall Ar. being happy with there coach for more than a few years, kind of like Florida. Spurrier and Ray Graves are the only ones I know of that were able to keep the fan down here happy for long. We will see how this one will be in 5 or 6 years.

 

By being Broyles' lapdog?

 

Isn't that one of the two main reason that Lou Holtz left Ar. The Coors beer deal and Ar. HS coaches didn't want their players going to play under him.

 

Ken, let's say you get your wish. Let's just say Nutt gets fired or resigns. Who does ARK get? Who would you want?

 

Do you think he'd leave NC St for ARK? He just got there.

 

Sorry, I meant NC for Butch.

I believe Broyles will stay as long as he likes, and Nutt's days are numbered. 8-4 would be seen as a let-down and could cost him his job. Only thing is next year the West will be a little more of a toss-up.

 

All this turmoil is turning what could have been a major step forward for Ark football into an implosion. Recruiting is suffering and considering how well everyone else is doing... the die may have already been cast no matter what Nutt does.

I don't know Ken... but I think your expectations/frustrations have gotten the best of you. Your passing game was not Yale 1904. It wasn't great but be a little more realistic. Your choice at QB was a true Freshman that made mistakes and a guy that just isn't all that talented. An Arky that works with me said that the word on Mustain is that he wasn't close with the other players and sometimes gave them the impression he was better than they were. You had one good SEC caliber WR in Monk.

If Nutt's idea was to take it slow on developing the passing game then he's right. He probably won 2 or 3 more games than you would have had you put the ball in either QB's hands.

Part of me feels for Hog fans. Part of me says, "Go ahead, all you're doing is helping the Vols get more good players from west Tn and Arkansas".

You guys are doing this to yourselves. Keep it up and you'll probably be able to run some of the other good in-state recruits off. What do you think might have influenced those 3 top players to go elsewhere? Could it have been overwhelming fan negativity, instability in the staff, or maybe loud mouth parents and players undermining the coaching staff publicly? Nutt can't be held accountable for everyone's stupidity you know?

Not my team though so have at it.

Back to Tom's question. Who exactly do you think wants to coach a team where parents run to the media and fans get disgruntled after a season where you competed for the conference title and might have gotten a shot at the national title if things had broken just a little different? Nutt did this by the way without benefit of a single recruiting class ahead of UF, LSU, USC, UT... and probably several others.

 

That's probably true. My friend said that alot of the chatboard consensus was that they'd like to be rid of Nutt even if they suffered a few bad seasons. Problem there is that you could still end up with a Ray Goff, Gerry Dinardo, or Gene Stallings... except that all of them coached in talent rich states where kids went to their school in spite of coaching incompetence. Arkansas, like Tn, doesn't have that luxury.