Enough is enough: it's time for a change

Off the foul Pohl

By: Bart Pohlman

Posted: 9/28/07

Razorback fans deserve better than this. Razorback players deserve better than this. And the UA deserves better than this.

It's time for the Houston Nutt era to come to an end. It's time for a change.

After all the e-mails, the text messages and the transfers, it's time. After the Gus Malzahn and Mitch Mustain fiasco, it's time. After the terrible coaching in the first three games, it's time. After the possible NCAA infractions related to Danny Nutt sitting in the coaches box with a headset on during the Kentucky game, it's time. But perhaps most importantly, after 10 years of pure mediocrity, it's certainly time for a change.

In his nine seasons at the helm of the Razorbacks, Nutt's teams have posted a winning record in Southeastern Conference play only three times. He currently has a 38-36 record in SEC games.

Nutt has led the Razorbacks to only two bowl wins in those nine seasons. That should not be what Razorback nation hopes to accomplish. That, ladies and gentlemen, is mediocrity at its finest.

Think about this. After the 1983 season, Arkansas fired Lou Holtz after the Razorbacks posted a 6-5 record. This was despite the fact that Holtz posted a 60-21-1 record in his seven seasons as head coach and led the Razorbacks to bowl games in the previous six years.

If Holtz was fired after going 6-5, why was Nutt not dismissed after going 6-6 in 2000? Or after going 5-6 in 2004? Or after going 4-7 in 2005?

To quote John McEnroe, "You cannot be serious!"

But alas, this is the type of mediocrity Razorback fans have been forced to endure.

This season, the coaching has been especially atrocious. Arkansas should have handily beaten Alabama if not for some bone-headed coaching.

Despite Reggie Herring's unwillingness to switch to a zone defense until it was far too late, Arkansas still could have won the football game if they had run out the clock. But on a third-down play, instead of running the ball to eat up more clock, the Razorbacks ran a pass play. Believe it or not, the experts say running the football will, in fact, take more time off the clock than passing the ball.

The Razorbacks should have also knocked out Kentucky fairly easily, if not for another dose of dreadful coaching.

Arkansas amassed nearly 500 yards of total offense, yet scored only one offensive touchdown during the game. That's just bad. On multiple occasions, the Razorbacks were in a position to score, but they couldn't get the job done because of bad play-calling. Don't fault the players for that, they're just running the plays that the coaching staff calls.

It seems as though it's not as easy to get the ball into the endzone without a smart guy like Malzahn calling the plays, doesn't it?

You can blame David Lee all you want for the inept play-calling, but in the end, it all comes back to Nutt. He's the one who essentially ran Malzahn out of town and brought in Lee to call the plays.

This argument won't get into the whole Malzahn issue - it's best to save that one for a rainy day.

But if you want something besides stats or controversies to give added incentive as to why it's time for a coaching change, look no further than the precedent this year has already provided.

This spring, Arkansas dismissed one basketball coach and brought in another one. The athletic director is retiring, and a new one is being brought in to replace him. Shouldn't the next logical choice be to fire a mediocre football coach and bring in another one? Shouldn't this be a mortal lock?

Just last week, Nutt said to blame the Razorbacks' loss to Kentucky on him.

It's time to take him up on that offer. It's time for Nutt to step down or be dismissed.

Simply put, it's time for Arkansas to castrate itself and get rid of Nutt. The Razorback community deserves better.

Bart Pohlman is the assistant sports edtior for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Friday.