Houston Nutt Era Ends at Ole Miss

Houston Nutt's departure from Arkansas in 2007 wasn't due to his coaching ability.  In fact, his team that year knocked off the No. 1 team in the BCS. 

Nutt was forced out of Fayetteville for other reasons that I would prefer not to delve into.

Now, only four years later, Arkansas was just recently playing for an outside shot at a BCS crown while Ole Miss limped to their worst season in school history.

Epic collapses in a program takes failure from all sorts of places.  So where did it all go wrong the last two years? 

You can blame Nutt's on-field tactics, but he didn't become a bad coach overnight.  The guy is a proven winner in the SEC.

It's no secret either that, when Ed Orgeron left, the talent level at Ole Miss was arguably the best it's ever been.  Numerous players from the 2008 team are now starting in the NFL. 

And say what you want about Jevan Snead, but at the end of his redshirt sophomore season he was a legitimate Heisman candidate heading into 2009.

In 2008 the Rebels were well-balanced on offense and had one of the better passing attacks in the SEC with guys like Shay Hodge, Mike Wallace and Dexter McCluster.  Defensively, they were just as sound with one of the best front sevens in the nation.

A highly touted group returned in 2009 and, quite frankly, underachieved.  That being said, I'm positive Ole Miss fans would take a nine-win season. 

Furthermore, it took spectacular individual performances from McCluster to win a few of those games.  And to be honest, the Ole Miss defense was very porous at times in games against Auburn and Mississippi State.

Mid-tier teams such as Ole Miss can compete every now and then with the Alabamas and the LSUs of the world when their front line talent is above average like it was in '08 and '09.

However, it's why teams like Ole Miss have up-and-down years.  It's simple—they lack depth at key positions, which is why Alabama and LSU are typically very good every year.  The fact that those teams' second units could walk onto Ole Miss' starting lineup is something in itself.

Nutt's claim that Snead bolting for the NFL hurt the 2010 outlook couldn't have been further from the truth.  Ole Miss may have beaten Jacksonville State at home with Snead starting, but then again, do you really deserve to win if you give up 49 points at home to an FCS team? 

Given the talent around him, Jeremiah Masoli played better than I expected.

But Nutt should have been concerned about losing three starters from his secondary to the NFL.  The 2010 pass defense was among the worst in the country.

As bad as a year ago may have seemed, the foundation of the program was only beginning to crumble. 

Don't forget that the 2010 team competed respectably against the defending national champs, Alabama.  The game against Arkansas was close in the fourth, and they nearly knocked off an LSU team that has looked unbeatable this year.

The actual capitulation of the team started the summer before one of the most hyped years in the program's history.

That summer, a number of Ole Miss signees from the 2009 recruiting class never made it to campus. 

In late July it was announced that Jamar Hornsby would be released from the team after being charged with felony assault the previous March.  The former Florida Gator looked to be a big factor down the road for the Rebels' secondary.

Eventually, by the start of the 2011 season, over 60 percent of the 2009 class would be absent from the Ole Miss roster.

Losing that many players would even hinder an elite program.  But for a mid-level one such as Ole Miss, it's devastating.  Hence, their worst season in school history.

As for this season, it's difficult to point to one source as the ultimate problem.  It certainly appears as though Randall Mackey's early suspension foreshadowed a tumultuous road ahead.

I never liked the hire of David Lee.  It made the offense look more vanilla with each game.  You can use the excuse of dumbing down the offense because of youth all you want, but to be fair, there are more complex offenses being run in high school football programs.

The defensive line was extremely porous and underachieving.  The defense as a whole looked slow at times and very undersized. 

The offensive unit was the worst I have seen at Ole Miss.  Whoever was at quarterback was continuously under duress, and outside of a few games, there was no run threat.  The overall play-making ability was well under par.

Getting rid of the program's two biggest figures (Nutt and AD Pete Boone) was probably the only way to go about the situation.  As much disarray as the team was in, the fanbase was in it too. 

And it looks like the majority of fans received their wish.

Having Archie Manning in the search for a new coach was even more crucial than the dismissals of Nutt and Boone.

With that being said, whomever they hire has to bring stability to the program.  When you lose players to transfers or legal issues, it's a quick sign you're losing control of your program. 

I realize, as a coach, you can't police your players 24-seven.  But if you think a prospect has the potential to cause harm to the program, don't sign him.  Not only are you wasting a scholarship, but you could also be missing out on the recruitment of another kid. 

David Cutcliffe may not have been the best recruiter, but rarely did you hear of his players having discipline problems.

Who knows what the future holds for this program.  They probably reached their ceiling with back-to-back Cotton Bowl victories.  And you would have to imagine they hit rock bottom with this past season. 

The only way left to go is up.

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