DJ, I agree with much of what you stated... Phil Fulmer will sink or swim depending on how well he recruits for his Defensive Line this year. He fell way short in this area last February and another poor showing could push Tennessee into the second tier in the SEC East. Tennessee will have an open field at the QB position. But they have some high quality players at the WR and Flanker positions to still be very dangerous no matter who they start at QB. It wil be interesting to see how Brett Smith does during his Sophomore year. He was the Freshman who push Tennessee over the edge in the Florida game with a few long receptions. Smith is from Arkansas and another home grown product that got away from Houston Nutt. I doubt that Arkansas will retain enough talent to be a serious contender in the SEC West next year. Nutt simply doesn't seem to be able to consistently win against strong SEC opponents. LSU and Auburn should once again be expected to be the top two teams in the West.
That brings me to ask people here why they think Nutt refused to go to Nebraska. He doesn't seem poised for huge success at Arkansas. It was clearly an upward move for him not only financially but also in terms of prestige. My thought is that there is something we don't know about Nutt (like a resume padding problem??) because otherwise there is no valid reason for his refusal.
I think Nutt's decision to refuse the Nebraska job could easily be explained by reasons other than some skeleton in his closet. Nutt could easily have viewed the NU job as involving unrealistic expectations that he would not be able to meet, not to mention the fact that your immediate superior, the AD, does not seem to have a clue about much of anything and is not a nice guy to work for. The money was good, but Nutt may have wanted to avoid having to look for a job three years from now after being unceremoniously dismissed from his employment at Nebraska. We also don't know what Broyles offered Nutt to stay put. There might not have been that much difference in the money at the end of the day. I also believe that Nutt has emotional ties to his alma mater, and that his loyalty also played a role in his willingness to walk away from Nebraska's money.
I guess you're right... It's just that it seemed to me that the thrill of being the Nebraska coach (as well as the prestige which would have always followed him if he'd had the job even for a short time) was pretty huge. I don't see him as being in the league Nebraska is shooting for, and I am sure he wouldn't have been the answer for them. I know money isn't everything but I had even wondered a couple of years ago if Nutt's job at Arkansas was secure. I figured he'd be better off in a honeymoon at Nebraska than under the gun this coming year at Arkansas.
The way Nutt chews his finger nails speaks volumes about his stress level to begin with. He would have to produce at Nebraska and his canned excuses simply would not work in Lincoln. Plus, the status quo alumni base in Arkansas seem to be happy enough with teams good enough to get to bowls, but that simultaneously don't end up within the top 25 ranked teams in the nation. Nutt would have to play more non-conference games against stronger teams and that would be his undoing at Nebraska. Nutt currently makes around 900K so he definately could improve on his paycheck, but I think he knows himself well enough to forecast how the Nebraska job would impact his career.
C'mon fellows...You're not givin' Awbun any love. They were supposed to win the national championship this year, weren't they ? Surely they'll get all the pre-season media love they can stand again this summer.....
Auburn has not earned any love! goldengirlsfan, I know that your post was meant as a dig at Auburn, but in all seriousness it is obvious that Auburn should not receive any love of any kind from anyone until their performance on the field is at a higher level. As LSU found out, it is much more fun to get the love after you have accomplished something great than it is to do something good and ask "where's the love" and be disappointed. Even worse, as Auburn found out, is the agony of getting undue love and failing to live up to the hype. The 03' LSU and 03' Auburn teams should serve as an example/lesson to every other team out there. Mainly that receiving love is great after your hard work pays off, but the resulting scorn and ridicule is tough to take when your results are not enough to pay for love received on credit. Hype and praise come in denominations like casino chips, and when a team cashes-in at the end of the year; their results had better equal or surpass the amount of love (chips) that they received on credit. If a team happens to come up short, they can forget about good faith love for a while and worse still their name will be published all over as a bad debtor. For some time now, the SEC West, (until this year for LSU) has been begging for respect, and asking the college football world to notice our good accomplishments. Well, Auburn learned that lesson the hard way. I hope Auburn never asks for good faith love ever again. It is simple really; we have heard it all of our lives. Keep your mouth shut and let your actions speak for themselves. You guys enjoy your championship and the respect that goes with it. You have EARNED it. Dave
Re: I guess you're right... Gimme a break. What made Nebraska a prestigious job? For the last zillion years their coaches were Bob Devaney who built the Huskers into a nationally prominent program in the first place. When Devaney retired the job went to his longtime assistant Tom Osbourne who maintained the program following the same philosophy and gave them a couple of National Championships. When Osboune retired his longtime assistant Frank Solich got the job. Under Solich Nebraska played for the National Championship as recently as 2001. They had their worst season in years in 2002, finishing 7-7 after losing to Ole Miss in the Independence Bowl. This year they won 10 game counting their bowl game against Michigan State. All 9 regular season wins came with Solich as their coach. Solich's reward for rebounding from a bad season and going 9-3? He got fired. Now you would think that an AD of a big time program would have a better coach already hired before he fired the coach with a successful record. BUT NO! Nebraska has already been turned down by the first 5 coaches they offered the job to. The Nebraska AD sounds like working for him might be as unstable as working for Redskins owner Dan Snyder. Houston Nutt probably didn't get as big a raise as the money Nebraska was offering but I'm sure he got a big hike in pay in a more stable situation. I hope Nebraska hires Curley Hallman or Lou Tepper. It would serve them right.
The Huskers are gettin what they deserve. Nutt turned them down, just like the other 4 guys, because there is no job stability in the Lincoln. Who in the hell fires a coach for taking a 7-7 team to 10-3 the following year? I hate to regurgitate what BB just said, but come on, it's pretty obvious why noone wants the job. The AD's a schmuck and should be the next one on the cuttin block. Possibly then the Huskers could find a coach for less than 3 mil a year.:cuss:
