Staff infection
The situation with Arkansas’ assistant coaches can be best described as a hairy one. They technically are still employed by the Razorbacks’ athletic department, but most of them are now recruiting players for Ole Miss after Houston Nutt decided to bring five members of his coaching staff with him to Oxford.
Offensive coordinator David Lee, tight ends coach James Shibest, running game coordinator Mike Markuson, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and recruiting coordinator Chris Vaughn all have decided to come to Ole Miss after they coach the Razorbacks’ bowl game, Nutt said.
“It’s good to know I’ve got some guys that can help me with recruiting,” Nutt told The Clarion-Ledger on Friday. “We’ll really have to hit the ground running.” Nutt told The Clarion-Ledger he plans to return to Oxford on Sunday. Nutt was introduced as Mississippi’s coach Wednesday.
This situation is very problematic. Shibest, Markuson, Vaughn, Lee and Rocker have access to Arkansas’ list of recruits because they spent the past few months trying to lure them to Fayetteville. Now, with each of them working for an SEC Western Division rival, they could help Arkansas’ competition pick up some of the prospects the Razorbacks had hoped would sign with them come February. Somehow, this arrangement is not likely to last that long. It’s like having a research and development team from Sony announce it was going to leave for Toshiba and Sony letting that group stick around for another month. That would not happen.
Great…. Since we’re about to lose some of the best players we’ve seen in about 40 years, this was the first year I closely followed the recruiting trail and every verbal commit.
Just when I started to envision watching De’Anthony Curtis and Devin Thomas start as great as McFadden and Jones did in 2005, and I started to get goose bumps thinking that we might be back in the SEC West race in 2009 after only one down year (ha), with the boys from Warren, AR exploding for big numbers…
As soon as Houston decided to leave I knew we were probably going to lose several of our top recruits, I just hate to see someone else put it in writing and confirm it though. Is there any way we can convince these kids to stay now? Will Long hurry up and please hire someone to try and stop a mass exodus of recruits, possibly someone who can bring in a new staff that has ties to other top tier recruits?
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To get Tuberville, who is earning a reported $2.6 million at Auburn this season, Arkansas will have to pay him double the salary it was paying Nutt. That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million a year. His assistants won’t come cheap either.
And it doesn’t stop there. Tuberville and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, are shrewd businessmen. Nearly every year, they put Auburn through the same renegotiation song and dance the institution is facing at the moment.
You see, whether Tuberville is serious about coming to Arkansas or not, Sexton can use his name being bandied about in the media as leverage against Auburn, or even LSU if Les Miles does make the move to Michigan after today’s SEC Championship game.”
- Terry Wood, Gazette.
Are you kidding me?? Where are you, Reggie?
Yet another example of how White has botched this transition. No, he couldn’t keep them from leaving, but any good administrator could have kept this from becoming news before the bowl game. I get the distinct feeling White is trying to torpedo the program, but I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because he was unable to make the right call the whole time and had to be told what to do? Hmm. University Press, paving Old Main lawn, Stan Heath, Susie Gardner, Altman, now this? Good thing White’s in education. Real CEOs don’t get this many chances.
[...] Tommy Tuberville open to accept the Arkansas Head Coaching Job (We’ll See). Also, there is reaction coming in about the 4 Rebels on the hog coaching staff recruiting for Ole Miss while still employed [...]
Interesting…….Dec 2 …..LIKE IT IS…Wally is concerned with losing one of the better recruiting classes of the last few years.
I know I am rehashing old wounds, but they are still fresh for me. You essentially force a coach to quit, (after 18 wins the last 2 years) and then start
bi#@# ing about losing the recruits that had committed to the UA. Possibly, these same recruits knew and understood Nutt and wanted to play for him more than they wanted to be a HOG! Maybe Nutt had some quality assistants that were known to develop young men and mold them into NFL quality players. Maybe UA had a recruiting coordinator that was one of the better in the SEC, one that could relate to these same young talented football players.
I personally hope and pray these players stay committed to the UA and that Long and White soon find and hire a QUALITY coach that can hit the ground running. It is a must, if anyone expects a winning season(including playing the louisiana school of the blind like someone had put it)in the next THREE(3) YEARS.
I’ll be one of the first to tell you that I hated to see Nutt leave. It makes me sick to watch people in our great state turn this situation personal and into a soap opera just because we lost one high school prima donna. I would be happy if Arkansas went out every year and won 8 or 9 games as long as we had the occasional 10 win season and a shot in the SEC Championship game, while we continue to upset #1 and #2 teams.
We’ll never get the coverage or respect that USC or OSU get because we don’t have the access to resources or revenue streams that those markets generate. USC will always be able to cherry pick the top recruits around the country as long as they are receiving their prerequisite 10 minutes of highlight and discussion on ESPN every night. We had a program that was generating success and because of our recent play we had more success on the recruiting trail but the fans in our state decided to sabotage that and now we will pay the consequences. I hope everyone enjoys 3 and 4 win seasons. Maybe we can make a clean swap with the Ole Miss staff so they can help us through the next 5-10 years while we watch Ole Miss take the spot that we used to enjoy.
Negative? Maybe. I might change my mind if we can hire someone in the next 2 or 3 days who can make a cross country sprint to the doors of all our commits to try and stop the bleeding. I know if I was Houston and his staff I’d take the entire recruiting class with me as one final kick in the pants to a state who can’t learn to appreciate a good thing.
Hey, FlyingRzrbkAF, I guess no one told Missouri about these things. Maybe they don’t have the same self-esteem issues as arkies?
Nutt has resigned. I am over that part. The best part of his staff wants to remain a team. That is fairly common in football circles. I am over that as well. All the uncertainty and emotions can be solved if the big money players in Arkansas would ante up and get an A-List coach and an A-List staff. I think the goal is to upgrade in every coaching position compared to what we had previously. Yes, that costs something up front as it does in any business. It’s the payoff in the end that makes that initial investment justifiable. More revenue will come in from broadcasting games, ticket sales, memorabilia, and a host of other revenue generating methods the UofA uses. A top A-list coach and a weak staff is not the right approach. The staff has to be dynamic team players that get along. Arkansas has the facilities and resources to now attract the next level of coaches (investment). The question is: Do the men running the UofA have the will to take us there? Their decision will probably point to why some of the problems continue to linger at the UofA.
We dont get the coverage that teams like OU and USC get because we dont win like them.OU,USC.OSU,etc etc aren’t happy with 8 or 9 wins a yr.Thay want a National Championship like the real fans here want.Grip all you want about the recruiting but we had the best class ever and what did NUTT do with it.Destroyed it.The last 3 yrs have been a comedy as far as recruiting goes.I hope the new coach can at least recruit the state of Arkansas.I know my sentences arent structured correctly butttttttttt Goooooooooooooooooooooooly.I is jes an ol country boy out in okieville dats trien ta bee a goot piggggg fand.GO Hoggggggggs Go.Gussssss i needs to gat edacated lack youuns is.
Its what the Razorback Jihadists of the press and fans wanted correct. Didn’t they want Nutt and his “cronies” has one put it gone because they couldn’t recruit or coach? Many said, coaches couldn’t recruit although in mid season Arkansas had reach a recruiting ranking of 15. Best it had been since before the sanctions, and possibly a corner had been turned. But instead of improving on it with a win over SC, Miss St and #1 LSU, some chose to fly banners, wear black shirts, FOI, curse repeatedly on board posts, press taking liberties writing stories to fuel the hate and sell papers, boo players and coaches to the point some decent recruits bolted and more will follow.
All the while knowing you have a new AD that hasn’t done anything remarkable since he became an AD years ago.
Ready those banners folks….you will need them soon.
…and as far as Gus goes, his big time offense had to use a hail mary to beat SMU with seconds left and they scored a pitiful 25 points against Cent. Florida
Houston’s hogs would have hung half a hundred on Central Florida.
Well, the haters/darksiders got what they wanted. I hope I am wrong but, get ready for MEDIOCRITY. Now we have 5 assistant Coaches splitting time between 2 arch rivals. Get real people do you really think we have a chance to win the bowl game now that the 5 coaches for ole miss/Arkansas. will give us their best. They have family and ole miss to worry about. Recruiting for the enemy will take 1st priority for these guys. The Double whammy !!! Losing both the bowl game and the great Recruits the were committed
Please let me be totally wrong about everything I just commented on.
If I am not, Then you haters and darksiders just flushed us down the road of Mediocrity
reggie…. where are you?
Such negativity. As I said on a previous blog, if you think we’re headed for the doldrums of the nineties, hang your sheepskin somewhere. You’re not a true Razorback fan.
You would think the quagmire of future Ole Miss coaches guiding the Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl would have the attention of the NCAA and imposing future rules that make it impossible for someone like Houston Nutt to name staff members before the bowl season is over or establish clearly defined rules for staff that remain at an institution to coach that program through a bowl game. It effects recruiting, no question about it. And, the NCAA has PLENTY of rules about recruting.
Not negatity ua87. Just being realistic! It is hard enough to win a Bowl game with all the coaches and players giving the game their undivided attention. These men have to think about their families and their future at Ole Miss. The haters/darksiders are the one’s who are negative. I didn’t always agree with everything Coach Nutt did, but, I supported him. Now we have an unbelivable situation developing. For almost 1 whole month 5 enemy coaches will be using our UofA with split loyalty. Wake up
I’m plenty awake. Read my second message. Is there anything wrong with a petition to the NCAA, imploring them to send auditors to Fayetteville and Oxford to enforce recruiting rules?? Hey, I know that’s going to get some negative response that having that happen would hurt recruiting. My response to that is, if someone is robbing your house, do you call his friends to help or the police??
I think that it would be a fair solution if the NCAA monitored the situation at both Ole Miss and Arkansas throughout the ensuing lame duck period. It might provide some ideas and solutions for when this same situation arises in the future at other schools. When you have officials wearing 2 hats and dipping their hands into 2 different treasuries and recruiting pools, there should be nothing wrong if an independent source monitored exactly whose hands are where at any given point in time.
Wake up people. We’re talking about Ole Miss, here. Have any of you ever been to Oxford? Do any of you know the history and tradition of Ole Miss? How “any” young black man could ever consider going to Ole Miss is beyond me. Check the tradition. Read about the frats. We are talking about a bunch of rednecks in khaki slacks and blue blazers. Where did they finish this year or last year or the year before that. As I pointed out the other day. The best team they have had in the last 20 years was the team that went to the Gator Bowl and got destroyed by Michigan. They didn’t beat a team with a winning record that year! Nutt will bring improvement to the program. Good Lord! ANYTHING would be an improvement over Orgeron. Let’s face it. HDN is a decent guy but his record speaks for itself, both recruiting and on the field.
reggie, bring them home.
oink2u2 Do not underestimate Ole Miss I have been to Oxford and I am also not foolish enough to think that they don’t have great talent in Miss. Coach Orgeron had 3 great recruiting years at Ole Miss. ie Texas Transfer J. Snead. The pantry wasn’t laid bear in Oxford for sure. I hope Arkansas can maintain the recruiting committs that they have now. Otherwise, the Hogs will be in catchup mode. The New Coach must be able to close the State borders other Schools. Go Hogs Go !!! Sooie
You nuts wanted to get rid of NUtt and now you are griping because he is taking his coaches with him.
I think it is nice of him to let them stay and help out with the bowl game. Reggie Herring is a back stabbing jerk that belongs at Arkansas. They should hire him right away and please the banner flyers and Nutt family persecutors.
Hey, remember….Houston Nutt can’t coach. You nuts said it yourselves. So, why do you care that he has gone to Ole Miss and is taking his non-coaching staff with him. I hear today that the Warren kids are Oxford bound. Its closer home for them than Fayetteville and they will get quality coaching at Ole Miss.
The bowl game will play out however it is meant to under the present circumstances. Right now the Catch 22 is our focus needs to be on recruiting, but we don’t need to rush into a coaching decision. If he is still being strongly considered, in my opinion, Tuberville is not the answer. He’d be like an ex-girlfriend you dated for several years and spent a bunch of money with nothing to show for it. It’s time for the Hogs to extend the playing field. My vote would be to go for Mike Leach at Texas Tech. I think the Hog Nation is ready for some passing. You won’t get that with Tubs. In the mean time, I hope these coaches have enough integrity to not steal recruits. On that, we’ll have to wait and see. Kinda like another ex-girlfriend who keeps hanging around long enough to more of your stuff.
Football is and always will be defense and the kicking game. Yes, due to everyone wanting to be entertained in today’s world, you need to throw it for the crowd every now and then. But, if you want to win….you better play tough defense and have a good kicking game.
That’s what beat UA in SEC title game a year ago..not Houston Nutt…but the kicking game. Remember Reggie Fish trying to field a punt with his back to the ball at the 5 yard line…remember the snap over the punter’s head earlier in the game. Defense and the kicking game, people…defense and the kicking game.
That’s what Southern football (the best in the land) was built on.