Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated wrote a hit piece Monday on Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt's decision to allow Jeremiah Masoli on the team, and the column seems to have sparked a firestorm of activity from those critical of giving Masoli another chance to play college football.
I am anxious to read Mandel's column in November discussing Masoli's chances of winning the Heisman Trophy and acknowledging that Nutt made a great decision to bolster an otherwise rebuilding offense with an experienced quarterback custom made to run the Wildcat offense.
But until then, I'm going to re-read this week's column and point out the many errors in it, starting with...
• Nutt didn't hire Gus Malzahn to keep a quarterback recruit. He was forced to hire Malzahn by then-AD Frank Broyles because Broyles thought it would appease the fan outcry for Nutt to hire an offensive coordinator (a fan cliche anytime they are not being entertained by enough passes in the offense when the team isn't winning) and at the same time deliver a heralded quarterback and his overbearing mother.
• Nutt did not get the nickname "Right Reverend" for his strong Christian values. I never heard the name in Arkansas until it was delivered through the magic of television by ESPN's Rece Davis, who I assume dubbed him that for his sometimes preacher-like inspirational locker-room speeches. As a sidebar, I will add that the Right Reverend probably has stronger Christian values than Pastor Floyd, who leads the church where Malzahn and Mustain attended and whose school is responsible for ruining it for every other private high school in Arkansas thanks to its unscrupulous recruiting and then running up the score on the likes of Lavaca and Hector.
• Nutt's hiring of Malzahn and signing of the infamous Springdale players had very little to do with the 10-win season and SEC West title. In fact, it probably worked against the team the entire year. What led to so many wins? Try current NFL stars Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.
• Nutt is correct that Malzahn's offense wasn't working, and to this day it has yet to be effective at Auburn. In fact, Gene Chizik said at SEC media days that the team needs to run the ball more this season to control the clock, which is exactly what Malzahn's offense doesn't do.
• To say that a vocal minority of Razorback fans unleashed the hounds is an understatement. They unleashed a disgusting campaign of hate for a guy who was giving everything he had to win games for this group. It was the second time Razorback fans formed a mob to run a coach out of town, the first time being against Nolan Richardson. Both instances revealed a very ugly side of Razorback fans that I have yet to see anywhere else in the country, college or pro. Dale Brown said it best: "What happened to Nolan Richardson at Arkansas is a crime." What happened to Nutt wasn't too far behind.
• Nutt packed his bags for Oxford because our idiot fan base and chancellor were going to fire him anyway. What do you expect him to do? Not pursue a great job in the best conference in the country? And he's been a great success at Ole Miss, much more of a success so far than his successor at Arkansas.
• Masoli is a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender who wanted to come to a team that had just lost its back-up QB and was considered to be in a rebuilding year after losing its primary offensive weapons. What coach in his right mind would not consider that? Let's face it, fans only remember wins. After losing seasons, you never hear a fan say, "Well it was really a great year because all the kids had a lot of character even though we went 4-8."
• Nutt's attitude toward discipline? You just cited a player he kicked off the team, for crying out loud. You are really bending the facts to support your argument here.
Morally ambivalent? Dirty? Nothing could be farther from the truth in describing Nutt. Just ask his players. You owe him an apology -- and I expect to see it when the experiment pays off for Masoli and for the Rebels.
And in case you forgot, scoreboard says...
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5 comments:
hogwash
Get your facts straight about Malzahn's Offense. Watch some replays from the 2006 season when he was at Arkansas(it's available for free on secdigitalmedia.com)Malzahn was able to find creative ways to get Mcfadden and Jones the ball and he did throw when he needed to but it was anything but a pass happy offense. Look at the Auburn game that year we fed them the ball the whole game.
Look at the stats of his team last year at Auburn they averaged 212 yards rushing and 33 points a game. I'm no Malzahn fan. I'm a Petrino fan but you're just wrong about this one.
That's always the stepford fan argument, that all us crazy Hog fans wanted was a pass happy offense. But that's not the case. No one ever wanted to be the Texas Tech of the SEC. We wanted balance and offensive production. We wanted to be able to throw when we needed to.
Funny how when the offense was a success, it was always Malzahn's doing, and whenever the offense stalled, Nutt was always to blame.
Nutt is an egomaniac. Never does anything wrong and is a legend in his own mind. He is the perfect example of what is wrong with the world today and a pathetic excuse for a human being. I worked for UofA while he was there and new him well.
-First point, if Malzahn had no positive influence on the offense in 2006, and it was all McFadden and Jones, then why did Nutt go 4-7 with McFadden, Jones and Hillis in 2005?
-Second point, You said-"Nutt is correct that Malzahn's offense wasn't working, and to this day it has yet to be effective at Auburn."
You are both wrong as last year, Auburn had the 3rd best Total Offense in the SEC and 2nd best Scoring Offense in the SEC. And if you want to talk abot a failed Rushing Offense, then look at these stats:
RUSHING OFFENSE
Auburn 550att 2756yds 5.0avg
24TD 212.0ypg
Which was better in every recorded category than Nutt:
Ole Miss 503att 2387yds 4.7avg 22TD 183.6ypg
These are facts, not opinions or personal attacks. Just facts which refute your statements.
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