Ole Miss Football: Obviously Houston Has The Problem!
By Jim Shute
Everyone is now well aware of the lawsuit that Houston Nutt has filed against Ole Miss football to include Hugh Freeze.
Nutt’s lawsuit claims that he could not land another head coaching job because of disparaging remarks that Ole Miss football made about him regarding the NCAA investigation. Right after signing day in 2016, The University of Texas fired assistant coach Chris Vaughn.
Many think he was let go because of his connection to the David Saunders ACT scandal while they were both on Houston Nutt’s staff at Ole Miss. Before the lawsuit was filed I contacted Houston about conducting an interview for this site. He declined. Now I know why.
Ole Miss Rebels Football
Houston Nutt lives in the Dallas area. I know him from some past contacts when I was working on a start-up college sports talk radio gig. After Vaughn was fired, I contacted Coach Nutt to have lunch at a great Hamburger restaurant in Dallas.
We met for lunch on February 11, 2016 two weeks to the day after another top 10 recruiting class was reeled in at Ole Miss by Hugh Freeze and his staff. We discussed the Saunders and Vaughn situation and Houston spoke highly of both of them especially Chris Vaughn.
Over Fries
One of the interesting things that I learned is that the NCAA had never contacted Coach Nutt about the ACT situation even though Saunders and Vaughn were on his staff.
We talked a lot about his days at Ole Miss and the problems he had with a certain AD during his tenure. I asked Houston about coaching again. He said that he wants to coach. In fact he said he had inquired about several openings. The schools to include SMU and others obviously weren’t interested.
I asked him why he thought that was the case and he didn’t say anything about Ole Miss or any comments that Ole Miss was making about him. Remember this is right after signing day of 2016. He told me the reason schools want the younger coaches was as they relate to the millennials of today’s sports world. These kids and the young coaches are very active on social media in which the millennials of today spend most of their time.
While he was vocal to me about that certain athletic director at Ole Miss. However, he didn’t mention anything about Ole Miss, Freeze or anyone at Ole Miss disparaging him. I find that odd in light of this lawsuit that he didn’t say a word to me about that as we enjoyed a delicious Dallas hamburger. When the lawsuit was filed last week, I thought back to that lunch and had doubts about this lawsuit.
Next: Yes Houston! We Have A Problem!
Maybe Houston needs to look in the mirror. Houston should realize his last two seasons at Ole Miss played a big part in not getting another coaching job. So who has the problem again?