Houston Nutt is out at Arkansas

It looks like Houston Nutt is out as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Before you cry for the ball coach keep in mind he's going to get a nice settlement check (ESPN.com says about $3.5 million) for his troubles. How did Houston Nutt end up here you might ask? In 10 years Nutt won 61% of his games, won three SEC West titles and took his team to the SEC Championship game twice. Yep. Pretty decent I'd say.

There were some problems along the way. Houston Nutt was a serious candidate for the Nebraska job when it came open and I don't think Arkansas fans ever got over that. Mitch Mustain, who was proclaimed to be the greatest Arkansas high school football player ever, went to Arkansas for a year and then transferred. Apparently he thought he, a freshman, should be getting more playing time than the kick-ass run duo of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. They also had some ass clown receiver whose dad said he'd be getting 80 catches at another school. As a fan I understand the situation. In 2004 a little running back tandem of Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown were beating the shit out of everyone in the SEC on their way to an undefeated season. Jason Campbell was a solid reliable quarterback, but we weren't relying on him. Arkansas fans used the Freedom of Information Act to get Houston Nutt's cell phone records because there were rumors he was having an affair.

These are some REALLY grateful fans, huh? Here's the problem with Arkansas fans: they're expecting too much. You're the Arkansas Razorbacks. You should be happy with 8 wins in a season and SEC championship-contention every 4 years or so. You just aren't an elite program and probably never will be. It's that simple and when this guy goes you're screwed.

Besides the money, Houston Nutt will get another job somewhere else (Ole Miss should throw money at this guy) and there's another reason to be happy to leave now. Darren McFadden is definitely gone--he could've left last year and decided to stay. No way you get another year out of him. Felix Jones is a junior and chances are he's a lock first-rounder as well. He might stay only if he thinks being the feature back will improve his NFL stock and get him some top 5 considerations next year. Marcus Monk, who was hurt this year, but is a beast, is a senior and will be gone. This team relied on its Wildcat (or Wild Hog) formation--if you saw the Arkansas-LSU game you realized they ran out of that formation something like 75% of the time. Houston Nutt should thank his lucky stars he's leaving because next year's team will be seriously fug.