Houston Nutt Reportedly Offers to Settle Defamation Lawsuit with Ole Miss

Former Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt has reportedly offered to settle the defamation lawsuit he's filed against the university in "exchange for a public apology and $500,000 to fund the creation of an integrity for college sports commission in Mississippi," according to Dan Wolken of USA Today on Monday.

Nutt has claimed in his suit that the school and its former coach, Hugh Freeze, publicly made it appear as though the recent violations alleged in the NCAA Notice of Allegations came under his tenure. The majority of the 21 potential violations came while Freeze was at the helm, however.

"Contrary to what some people have suggested about Coach Nutt’s motives, the settlement proposal we submitted today isn’t designed to put money in Houston’s bank account," his attorney, Thomas Mars, said Monday, according to Wolken. "This lawsuit was never about money."

"Beginning many months ago and continuing until today, Houston’s issues with Ole Miss have been about honor, the preservation of his well-earned good name and reputation for integrity, and accountability," he added.

On Tuesday, Mars said Ole Miss hasn't responded to the settlement offer, saying, "their silence has been deafening," per Wolken.

Indeed, the heart of the issue appears to be Ole Miss' unwillingness to apologize to Nutt. As Wolken reported, Mars used public records and "connected phone conversations from Freeze and Bjork to media members, who subsequently reported misleading information about the allegations shortly before National Signing Day in 2016."

Those public records also uncovered information about Freeze that ultimately led him to resign, including the discovery that he had called an escort service in Tampa, Florida. Ole Miss did more digging into his calls and claimed to have found a "pattern of personal misconduct," per Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, that would have led to his firing had he not resigned.

Ole Miss now faces an NCAA charge of lack of institutional control, which it will have to defend against in front of a Committee on Infractions in September, and a lawsuit from Nutt on top of that. Suffice to say, it's been a tumultuous offseason for the Ole Miss football program.