Kicking it with Houston Nutt, Part 2

Posted by ESPN.com’s Chris Low

OXFORD, Miss. — It’s obvious that the way it all ended for Houston Nutt at Arkansas still cuts deeply. He’s done his best to bite his tongue about the whole situation since taking over at Ole Miss, but shares some of his feelings in Part 2 of my Q&A with him. The thing that stuck out to me while spending some time with Nutt on Saturday morning was that any bitterness he might have harbored has been replaced by the anticipation of taking on this new challenge. Ole Miss hasn’t won an SEC championship in more than 40 years, and Nutt would love nothing more than to bring a title back to the Square. He likes what he sees in the defensive line and at linebacker, especially some of the younger players, and is excited about the possibilities with Jevan Snead at quarterback. The concerns are at cornerback and depth in the offensive line, especially next season after tackle Michael Oher is gone:

How refreshing has this move been for you?

Houston Nutt: It’s been awesome and has really just re-energized me, my family, all of the coaches who’ve been with me. It’s just been great.

How hard has it been for you not to rehash some of those bitter final days at Arkansas and instead look straight ahead at the challenge you have here?

HN: Not at all. It’s all about these players now, this town, this program. It has been nothing but full steam ahead. There’s no reason to look back.

Who’s happier to be here — you or your family?

HN: Boy, that’s a close call. I think both of us equally are really glad. I really thought I’d be in Arkansas for life, but things change and things happen. But this has been a great move for us all.

When you decided that you could no longer put your family through some of the things they’d endured at Arkansas and made the decision to walk away, did you have any idea that you’d be coaching in the SEC again a few days later?

HN: No way. Now I did know (that he was leaving Arkansas) after the LSU game, after we won that game, and you get back home and people are still on you. It wasn’t that many people, but they were so loud. I told (wife) Diana that it was time to go. But we had no idea that it would be this quick, this sudden, in the SEC, in the Western Division and at Ole Miss.

What about the irony of coaching in the Western Division where you’ll get to face Arkansas every year?

HN: Walking out to the bus after we played Ole Miss here this past year, I had about five or six people from Arkansas following me out and saying some pretty bad things, even though we won 44-8. I’m on the bus waiting for the motorcycle to get in front of us, and there’s this elderly couple with Ole Miss on their hats knocking on the bus door. I told the bus driver to see what they want. They’d seen what some of the Arkansas people were saying and said, ‘If they don’t want you, we’ll take you over here, Coach Nutt.’ You talk about ironic. Who would have ever thought?

How quickly did everything go down with Ole Miss after the LSU game?

HN: It was inside 48 hours. Jimmy Sexton (Nutt’s agent) called me and said there were two other possibilities (Baylor and SMU), but then this one happened. And to stay in the SEC just excited me. Here’s the other thing: It wasn’t, ‘Why don’t you come over and look things over and all that?’ It was happening right then.

Will your family go back for the Arkansas game on Oct. 25 this season?

HN: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Have you allowed yourself to think about what that week’s going to be like?

HN: You can’t help but think about it a little bit. There will be a lot of football and a lot of water under the bridge by the time we get to that point, but it will still be very unique coaching from that other sideline.

Do you have more good memories or more bad memories when you look back on your time at Arkansas?

HN: More good. We had 10 great years there, went to eight out of 10 bowls, three (divisional) championships and two times that we went to Atlanta (for the SEC championship game). It’s just that that last year was so bad.

Do you believe that familiarity breeds contempt in this era of college football coaching? Can you be at a place too long sometimes?

HN: The days of the Bobby Bowdens, Frank Broyles, Paternos … I don’t know if you’ll have that anymore. Your words get old, and people are looking for something new.

How much pressure is there in a league like the SEC that chews up and spits out coaches?

HN: How about this one: There have been 27 head coaching changes since I first came into the league. The pressure of wanting to win is enormous. Stadiums are full. TV packages are big. Tailgating is the best. There’s more competition than ever before in recruiting. Recruiting is an individual sport now. Everybody keeps up with it.

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