JACKSON, Miss. -- One day, Houston Nutt was leaving
Arkansas. The next, he was heading to Mississippi.
Ole Miss will introduce Nutt as its new coach Wednesday, ending
a whirlwind hiring that began when he resigned at Arkansas on
Monday and agreed to become the Rebels' coach hours later.
Mississippi was without a coach for less than three days.
Athletic director Pete Boone fired Ed Orgeron on Saturday after
three losing seasons.
"It's human nature not to like change, but I think in this
case, change is going to be a good thing," fullback Jason Cook
said. "Especially as a player, you get excited when a guy gets
hired like coach Nutt. He's more than proven in the SEC and proven
as a coach that he can take talent and work with it. We're very
excited."
Nutt agreed to a contract around 10 p.m. Monday, less than four
hours after announcing he was resigning. He led Arkansas to an 8-4
record and a likely Cotton Bowl berth while the Rebels stumbled to
a 3-9 finish under Orgeron and were winless in the SEC for the
first time since 1982.
Nutt will be introduced at a news conference on campus Wednesday
in Oxford, ending a frenetic 48 hours for the school and its new
coach.
"You know the old metaphor," Boone said. "When you smell
blood you need to go and find out if you can get the job done. I
think we were thorough in our discussions and covered all the
things we needed to cover, but I felt like let's get this thing
done."
Nutt agreed to a four-year contract that will pay him $1.7
million to start and increase by $100,000 each year. He has an
option for three more seasons as well, with the opportunity to earn
more money with incentives.
Ole Miss was searching for a proven winner after years of
mediocrity. Nutt neatly fits the description.
He is 111-70 in 15 years as a head coach at Arkansas, Boise
State and Murray State, and he's been a winner in the SEC. The
Little Rock, Ark., native revived the Arkansas program, going 75-48
since he replaced Danny Ford in 1997. Nutt was 42-38 in conference
with one of his biggest wins coming last week when the Razorbacks
beat then-No. 1 LSU 50-48 in triple overtime.
While the Razorbacks head into the postseason, Nutt will be
going to the homes of recruits attempting to hold together the
promising class Orgeron was assembling.
The 50-year-old Nutt said Monday he left Arkansas to help mend a
split among fans after off-the-field problems were compounded by a
difficult season. The Razorbacks started the year ranked and were
expected to contend for the SEC West title.
A source told ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel that Nutt turned down a two-year extension from Arkansas worth $2.4 million annually after the Razorbacks upset No. 1 ranked LSU last week.
Arkansas lost its first three SEC games and dropped out of the
poll in September, fueling fan discontent over last year's transfer
of quarterback Mitch Mustain and the loss of offensive coordinator
Gus Malzahn, who left for Tulsa.
Calls to Nutt's agent, Jimmy Sexton, were not immediately
returned.
Arkansas officials said they would not comment until after
Wednesday's formal announcement.
Nutt takes over a program that's won four or fewer games a
season since 2003's 10-win effort under David Cutcliffe. The Rebels
won a share of the SEC West that season with Eli Manning at
quarterback.
Since the Rebels are 14-32. Boone fired Cutcliffe in 2004 for
not recruiting well enough. He had hoped Orgeron, who helped build
two national title teams at Southern California as Pete Carroll's
recruiting coordinator, would bring the kind of energy needed to
compete in the tough SEC.
Orgeron finished 10-25 and was routinely the target of fan
discontent.
Boone and Chancellor Robert Khayat endorsed Orgeron midway
through the season, but decided to go in a new direction after the
Rebels lost five of six to end the year.
The Rebels have been looking for a coach who can produce
championships since Johnny Vaught retired in 1970. Vaught won three
national titles and six SEC championships between 1947-63.
The school has fired six of the eight coaches who have come
since and a seventh, Steve Sloan, likely would have been fired
after five losing seasons had he not left for Duke.
The last three coaches have been assistants in their first job
as leading man. Orgeron, Cutcliffe and Tommy Tuberville went 73-69
over the last 13 years.
Only Tuberville left on his own, taking the job at Auburn in
1998.
Boone thinks he's finally found the right coach. He contacted
Nutt on Sunday after he heard the rumor the coach would be
resigning.
Nutt didn't really want to talk then "because he had a job,"
Boone said. But that changed Monday.
"This all happened overnight with me," Boone said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.