Report: Nutt staff expected UA departure in October
The sudden de-commitment of a UA recruit last October may make a bit more sense after reading this. It seems, according to a report in the Kansas City Star, that Houston Nutt’s staff told a high-profile quarterback recruit that they did not expect to be with the Razorbacks in 2008.
Soon after, the recruit, Kale Pick, de-committed from the Hogs and verbally pledged to Kansas. Pick is redshirting at the KU this season.
Here’s more from the Star:
Last fall, when Pick was still committed to the Razorbacks, he would come to KU to visit friends. The Jayhawks were undefeated, lighting up the scoreboard, and he’d hear from those same fans who now stop him around town.
“The KU fans would give me a hard time,” Pick said, “saying they were undefeated and that I needed to come here.”
In late October, Nutt’s staff indicated to Pick that they didn’t expect to be at Arkansas after last season. On Oct. 22, with KU 7-0 and moving up the polls, Pick decommitted from Arkansas and immediately gave his pledge to the Jayhawks.
Near the timeline Nutt or a member of his staff was telling the recruit that the Nutt era at Arkansas was expected to be over at the end of the season, the then-UA head coach was telling members of the media that he was not worrying about his future. On Oct. 14, after starting the season 3-3 and with an 0-3 record in the SEC, questions about Nutt’s job security were presented by the media.
Here’s more from Nutt on Oct. 14:
“I don’t worry about that at all,” Nutt said. “I really don’t. Because if I do, I’m taking away from my guys. If I do that, I’m taking away from my 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds, who have their hope in this year, this team. There is a lot of football left. Again, my contract says 2012. I put that to the side.
“The contract they’ve given me, it’s real clear. It says 2012,” Nutt continued. “It doesn’t say you’re gone 2007, 2008. It says 2012…. I don’t worry about ooh, there’s a plane in the sky, or there’s a shirt or there’s somebody saying something. I can’t do that. I’m going to get lost with these guys, get lost in this team room here in about 30 minutes, have a good practice today and get ready for the next one.”
Richard Davenport of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on Oct. 23, 2007 that Pick had made the decision to de-commit because he was not sure of Nutt’s status with the UA. There was no mention of Nutt actually telling Pick of his expectations that are now being reported by the Star.
“The reason why I committed to Arkansas was because of their coaching staff,” Pick told Davenport last year. “I love their coaching staff. That’s the No. 1 thing on my list is the coaches, and I love Coach Nutt and Coach [David] Lee and Coach [James] Shibest. I love them to death. I have a lot of faith in all of them.
“It’s just the fact if they’re going to be there. I was trying to think if they’re not there it would be tough for me to be there. It just seems like they’re under a lot of pressure with a lot of things. When we come down there, it seems like they’re under pressure.”
Nutt pushed aside job security questions throughout the rest of the season. Rumors of his resignation began on Nov. 16, the day before the Hogs were scheduled to play Mississippi State.
“It’s ridiculous to put rumors out there right now,” Nutt told reporters on Nov. 16. “It’s not true.”
Nutt pushed aside rumors up until his resignation on Nov. 26. But when the news did come that Nutt was leaving the UA, many of his recruits did seem surprised at the news.
Pick, however, was not. By then he was a firm commitment to KU.
(Photo by Associated Press)
– Brandon Marcello
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6 Responses to “Report: Nutt staff expected UA departure in October”
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You can see now what kind of recruiting joke that HDN actually was…..and still is. Most of the good talent that the Hogs have had recently would have come to the UA if Jack Crowe was the coach. McFadden, F Jones, M Jones, P Hillis, M Monk, etc. all wanted to be Razorbacks despite the inept coach the Nutt was and still is. HDN will ultimately fail at the UM because he can’t recruit, and he can’t coach either.
this is SPIN AND MIRRORS.
so your saying with Kale saying with the PRESSURE on the staff him not believing the STAFF would be there is a FACT the staff knew they would not be there.
HOGWASH
I have nothing bad to say about Houston Nutt we as fans pushed Nutt away I cant blame him for trying to be truthful to a recruit when most of the fans were trying to run you out of town. The writing was on the wall and he knew it.
Hey younghog,
Did you just say that you’re now an ole miss fan? I wasn’t sure, but it sure sounded that way to me. Hogwash? Of course nutty knew he was leaving ARK one way or another. Then……. he did everything he could to sabotage the recruiting class. I’ll bet he doesn’t win 20 SEC games in the next 5 years combined.
I am neither a HDN hater nor lover, but would tend to agree, jdc4. Nutt inherited a much better team in Oxford than the one he left in Fayetteville - just like 1998.
Jevan Snead is a great quarterback, like Clint Stoerner, but in 3 years, Ole MIss will be very plain vanilla and predictable on offense. In three years, on the other hand, Petrino will have the Hogs playing BCS ball.
Those that didn’t like Houston Nutt have put him in a no-win situation with this story. If he had lied to a recruit and told him that he was certain to be back this year, you’d blast him for being a liar. If he was honest and told a recruit that he wasn’t sure about his status for this year, you’d say he was trying to sabotage the program’s recruiting. I prefer to give the man some credit for being more honest than dishonest with recruits. And why are you mad that he went to another SEC school when you were very eager to push him out the door? If he is truly so inept, I would think you would look at it as a way to put a game in the sure-fire win column. As for the losing bowl game record, I don’t think any UA coach has had a winning record in bowl games, so singling out HDN for criticism there is unjustified, in my opinion.
My enthusiasm for HDN had waned at the end, but he did make the Hogs competitive in the SEC, which can’t be said for Danny Ford or Jack Crowe. Saying HDN will ultimately fail at Ole Miss is kind of like saying the sun will shine sometime in the next week. Name one coach in the last 50 years that HAS succeeded at Ole Miss. It’s just too hard to win in Oxford. As for the Hogs, I’m anxious to see how much improvement Petrino can make with us in the next couple of years.