Ole Miss not a mess with Houston Nutt

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Sporting News -
Posted: April 13, 2008

And you people thought that little soap opera last summer was tough on Houston Nutt.

"The problem here," Nutt says of his new job at Ole Miss, "is these guys have grown callous to losing."

There you have it -- no more innuendo or double talk, no more overreaching boosters or overzealous fans. It's just plain football in Oxford.

And it stinks.

"It's not complicated," Nutt says. "It has to eat your guts out when you lose, and right now, it doesn't."

Anyone else see the irony? For the last year, all Nutt wanted to do was coach. Now he couldn't have a bigger job on his hands.

He's still coaching in the biggest, baddest conference. Only now, the obstacles loom larger and the road back is longer.

Ole Miss has lost 18 of its last 20 SEC games, and most SEC snobs quickly point out those two victories -- against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State -- don't count, anyway. In other words, this team's marquee wins over the past two years have come against Memphis. Memphis.

So much for that convoluted nightmare of he said/he said at Arkansas. That goes down easier than the catfish gumbo at the Downtown Grill on The Square compared with the mess Nutt inherited.

Players late for class, or not going to class. Players missing meetings. Players skipping appointments with team trainers. Players giving up and giving in.

When Nutt arrived in Oxford, he told the players he had a road map to victory. Then he watched game tape and realized what many SEC coaches already suspected: This group has talent.

Former coach Ed Orgeron's teams struggled on the field, but his three years at Ole Miss only reinforced his reputation as one of the game's best recruiters.

"There are at least 10 guys on that roster right now who can start for any team in our league," says one SEC coach. And one player who hasn't taken a snap but holds the key to Nutt's reclamation project. Last summer, Orgeron told me if he could just make it through 2007, this team would turn the corner in 2008 when quarterback Jevan Snead became eligible after transferring from Texas.

A week into spring practice, Nutt had this assessment of the dual-threat Snead: "Oh my goodness, does he look good. He's going to be something else."

So, too, will Ole Miss. In 10 years at Arkansas, Nutt developed a reputation for getting more out of less. Now he has more talent than he ever had at Arkansas -- Orgeron's last three recruiting classes were ranked higher than Nutt's last three with the Razorbacks, according to Rivals.com.

Last week, Nutt opened practice with the classic drill Bull in the Ring, and he had offensive tackle Michael Oher and defensive tackle Peria Jerry -- both likely first-round NFL picks in 2009 -- go head to head.

"You can't lose Monday through Friday and win on Saturday," Nutt says.

There's nothing complicated about that.