Revisiting Houston Dale and Orville, December 1997

[Jim Harris]

This is the column that ran in the Arkansas Times on Dec. 19, 1997 (note, this is not the column that ran in Donrey papers after the hiring in which Orville said the decision frustrated him immensely, but it's a telling piece nonetheless).
I have highlighted two key components of the latter section of the column. Think about that with eight years' hindsight.

Broyles bows to emotion, chancellor
Houston Nutt in 'Alice in Wonderland' finish

Houston Dale Nutt is unique.
He is the only Arkansas Razorback football coach to have been chosen by players.
Former players, and present ones.
He's the only Arkansas coach whose choice was based on emotion, not reason or the facts of the matter.
He owes his selection to the new chancellor, John A. White, who laid down a Mary Poppins (some say junior high) set of rules for the selection process. And he owes the athletic director, Frank Broyles, who, out of loyalty to the chancellor, his boss, and in respect for his former players who made the semi-final recommendation, did not, as he might have in the past, manipulate the designation to the man he actually thought best qualified.
It all came down to an Alice in Wonderland finish.
And as you read this account of the selection process, you may decide that this may be the last time the University of Arkansas will permit gossip exchanged between players at Arkansas and Mississippi to decide who is the best coach to direct the Razorbacks.
Or, maybe not.
Houston Nutt may turn out to be the best thing to hit Arkansas since, as they used to say, sliced bread. He obviously can move people. Eventually, that won't be the telling factor. My experience is that you win with good athletes who are taught what to do and who then can go out and do it without thinking and who then can call on their emotions when this is what is required. The recruiting, the organization and the teaching is what does this.
Houston, one believes, knows this, and this doesn't mean he can't call on emotional gimmickry that he has used at Murray State and Boise State.
In the long run, as well as immediately, he and his staff (suspect at this point, inevitably, and maybe unfairly so) will have to out-recruit and out-coach the most seasoned, savvy coaches blessed with the strongest, fastest, most aggressive players in collegiate football.
And maybe they will.
*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
The formula for obtaining a replacement for Danny Ford, whose three-year contract was bought out Sunday, Nov. 30, the day after his fifth team finished 4-7 for the second year in a row, was laid down immediately by Chancellor White, who was said to have brought it with him from Georgia Tech, where it had been used.
The key people were the six members of what might have been called a Captains Committee: All six either were or functioned as quarterbacks or captains of notable Razorback teams. They were:
•Eddie Bradford, originally of Little Rock, a tackle for Bowden Wyatt's 1954 SWC champions, a career hospital administrator who now runs NARTI, a cancer facility, in Springdale.
•The Grim Reaper of Arkansas Football, originally of Forrest City, a wingback and leader on the national championship (11-0) team of 1964; a player-coach in the kicking game with the Minnesota Vikings for seven years; the main man in Lindsey & Associates (Broyles is one of the latter) who has revamped burgeoning Northwest Arkansas with his real estate expertise.
•Bill Montgomery, originally of Carrolton, a Dallas suburb, THE quarterback during Arkansas' 29-5 spree of 1968-70, a successful Grand Prairie (Dallas) businessman, strong U of A supporter.
•Scott Bull, originally of Jonesboro, quarterback of Broyles' last Cotton Bowl team (a 31-10 win over Georgia); briefly San Francisco 49ers quarterback; a top executive of Pace Industries and its successor.
•Quinn Grovey, originally of Duncan, Okla., only quarterback to take Arkansas to two straight Cotton Bowls, 1989-90; holder of school records until Barry Lunney came along; a rising major supervisor in the Wal-Mart organization.
•Earl Scott, originally from North Little Rock, over-achieving center who survived to provide leadership and earn rewards for the SEC-West title in 1995; now back at the U of A working toward a degree after a stint in Europe as a pro footballer.
The function of these six was to interview candidates and, eventually, to recommend one, two or three to the Search or Screening Committee, which would then join the Captains Committee in making a choice and pass it on to Broyles who would then pass the nominee on to the chancellor, the president, B. Alan Sugg, and the Board of Trustees.
Broyles served as consultant to both groups, but, whether on his own or at the instruction of White isn't clear, Broyles did not sit in on any interviews. He would wait for them to end, and then, in private give the candidate the job specifics--salary, perks, working conditions, etc.
For purposes of this article, I did not speak with White or Broyles. My information comes from what I call the Captains Committee, where the decision was actually made.
From the start, the obvious front runner would be Tommy Tuberville of Ole Miss, who had come in under adverse circumstances and done a live-wire job for three years at Ole Miss. Indeed, he would be named SEC coach of this year the day Nutt was hired.
Obviously, Tuberville was not interested in an interview or a drawn-out, public process. He needed this to be done the old way, a couple of phone calls, no visits (he knew Arkansas, his home state, very well), a quick announcement, done.
Except, he was told, no one would be hired without an interview, although it could take place privately at a remote place. In that case, he said, making a fatal mistake, he wanted his interview to be the last one, and not at all if he were not to be offered the job. Tuberville, who DID work around Jimmy Johnson a lot, as well as Larry Lacewell, can be wittily waspish at times. (A Captains Committee man did allow, "Bear Bryant was Hitler at times, but he won, and we want a winner.")
Tuberville's interview took place in a room at the Quality Inn near a New York City airport that caters to private jets, like the Kingair one of the Captains had borrowed from his firm (which was probably reimbursed by the Razorback Foundation for this trip.)
By this time, the Captains were nearly exhausted, as well as short-tempered, when they reached Fayetteville that night, where the decision was made. And that proved to be a heckuva break for Houston Nutt.
Coming from a $125,000 job at Boise State, which would forgive him what would seem to be a perfunctory bid for the job at his home state university, Nutt could appear in outgoing form in Fayetteville, greeted by an entourage that had been preparing for this day for a month.
Houston Dale was charming, and the Captains, who listened to him for going on four hours, were charmed.
The Broyles Center became infused with enthusiasm for the onetime War Memorial Stadium ball boy who could come back talking of a national championship for his Hogs. Under-40 fans from Little Rock ran to their faxes, seconding the nomination. Writers and TV people from the little boomtowns on the Highway 71 corridor penned and broadcast immediate hosannahs for Houston.
Beyond belief, for one with no head coaching experience at this level, Nutt became the front runner--in the media.
No one in the past, of course, had been allowed to use the interview process as a mighty advertisement, a political-type rally.
"He impressed us totally," one Captain says. "I do believe that he won us over with something Danny hardly ever had showed us: his enthusiasm, his lack of negativism."
The big thing? "We did not hold it against Houston that he did not have any head coaching against the likes of the SEC in his background. We already knew that Terry Bowden had gone from little Samford to do well at Auburn and Jim Donnan from Marshall to Georgia. Others, as well. That was not a consideration to us."
They worked, these Captains did.
"None of us had any experience at this, but we learned," one of them said. "We were NOT going to violate John Barnhill's old rule that says don't hire anything but proven head coaches. We interviewed several of Danny's assistants, though, to get practice and also to learn from them if things people were saying had been true. None of them knocked Coach Broyles. They said he'd never butted in and they kinda wished that he would have. They wanted to win just like he did."
They did see that contact was made with Butch Davis, the Springdale product who had been a scholarship athlete at Arkansas, although injuries kept him from making the team, and who said in all his days at Miami, Dallas, and now at Miami, he'd wanted to be head coach at Arkansas.
A Captain said, "Butch had a clause in his contract which would cost any school taking him $925,000, I think. We knew that John Tyson (son of poultry magnate Don Tyson) had volunteered to pay that for us, no problem. Butch said that as much as he appreciates Johnny, he doesn't believe that would be appropriate. Besides, Butch said, he felt he had a blemish against him at the University of Miami and that he needed to erase that and finish the job there. We sorta got the idea, too, that the taste of the NFL he got with the Cowboys has left him with an eye for the pros. No hard feelings, though."
Of the 27 names submitted, eight were head coaches.
There was so much interest in The Other Bowden, the one who turned Tulane around in one year, that the Captains had Bill Montgomery make the only call they made.
"You know," said one Captain, "I know that Bobby, the daddy, at Florida State, and Terry, at Auburn, talk every week. I think that's a big thing. And I think the latest one would get a lot of help from that."
But the new Bowden told Montgomery that he had 21 returning starters at Tulane and that he thought he could get to the top there quicker than at Arkansas. He probably had looked at Arkansas' killer schedule.
Of the aides who did visit, the Captains listened in awe to Tennessee play-caller David Cutcliffe three hours. "It was the first time I've seen one of those guys pull out his computer, give us the facts and tell us what play he'd call next," said one. "After watching him, I feel for Houston," one said. The assistant they truly loved was George Stewart, late of Notre Dame, now of the 49ers.
They went to Oklahoma City for a visit--"a courtesy call, really," with Bob Simmons, the miracle man at Oklahoma State. "Splendid, impressive," but Simmons says he has more work to do at OSU.
Late, Dennis Franchione of New Mexico entranced them. He probably would have finished No. 3 on the list--if they'd ever finished one.
The Louisiana Tech head coach who declined to interview called back asking for one, but too late.
The interview with Tuberville in New York (where many would attend the National Football Hall of Fame banquet) began at 5:30 a.m. Arkansas time. It lasted until 9:30.
Tuberville had no problem stating his case, a good one, but sharp questioning followed. He had been an assistant at Miami on the day the Hurricanes suffered more than 200 yards in penalties in the Cotton Bowl, mostly by seniors taunting Texas, which had a player who started this sort of thing at parties attended by both during the week.
Yes, they were out of control, but he was not the head coach, Tuberville said. He maintained discipline at Mississippi. Oh? someone asked him. How about the five-minute fight just before the kickoff of last month's game against Mississippi State? Recruiting violations came up. Ole Miss was clean, Tuberville said. The NCAA had spent a month last spring clearing the program (In which violations by Billy Brewer's regime had led to Tuberville's hiring.)
Still, one Nutt man granted that, "Tuberville could win an SEC championship in the next three years."
But one Captains man said, "The way Arkansas pushed them around at Fayetteville last year (coming from behind to win on a Pete Burks pass in the fourth quarter), I didn't see much motivation."
By then it was 3-3, Nutt and Tuberville. Strangely, as the Captains filled out grades for each in the various categories, a truly impossible and dubious system, they stood even, 441 points to 441.
Broyles, who had questioned the validity of the latter measurement system, part of the chancellor's plan, one is told, went with Tuberville to talk terms.
According to various reports, and the rest of this is sketchy and barebones from a rather frantic scene, Tuberville had been offered around $1 million each for five years or maybe $850,000 each for seven.
It then occurred to them that they couldn't meet Tuberville's 12-hour deadline and also get home and submit findings to the big committee plus White and Sugg, as they'd been instructed. Broyles was told to telephone Tuberville and inform him that he had a 3-3 tie and could not give him a decision within 12 hours. When he made the call, he apparently was talking to Tuberville's agent--and he could hear Mississippi people talking offers in the background. This report jolted the Captains.
Was there an offer? An acceptance? Who knew?
Furthermore, when the Arkansas party picked up a report from Mississippi they felt sure that the Ole Miss folks were quoting the exact figures Broyles had written on a slip of paper for Tuberville. They felt they could deduce only that Tuberville was using the offer to milk more from Ole Miss, something still in the realm of only conjecture.
These weary people got into the plane to return to Fayetteville for a major meeting. The plane's pilot reported a strong headwind. They had to stop in Terre Haute, Ind., to refuel. When they landed in Fayetteville, they heard from a four-man group of athletes who said they'd been talking to Ole Miss players who put the knock on Tuberville, saying that he was "more negative" than Ford had been. Two-bit, questionable stuff, that.
The exhausted, nettled Captains re-caucused. By 5-1, they opted for Nutt.
Broyles, though a Tuberville man, telephoned Nutt that the plane from Fayetteville would leave shortly to pick him up as Arkansas's  next head football coach.
Shortly, Tuberville sent word, probably through Lindsey (or a friend) at Helena, that he'd accept Broyles' terms. Too late.
Montgomery, the Tuberville holdout, had stayed in New York. He agreed to change his vote, make it unanimous, 6-0.
Houston Dale, do good.

[Feralhog]

Unfrken believable.  I knew when I clicked on this thread I would be reminded of something said in the job hunt that either smacks of hypocracy or shows how friken ignorant we were.  Just my luck it's friken happy hour.  I get two for one. 

[HogDodging]

Incredible.  It sounds like Nutt had the hiring committee completely buffaloed from the get-go.

Thanks for digging up the article.

[JJHog]

He's the only Arkansas coach whose choice was based on emotion, not reason or the facts of the matter.

wow, nail meet head.

[JJHog]

Houston Nutt may turn out to be the best thing to hit Arkansas since, as they used to say, sliced bread. He obviously can move people. Eventually, that won't be the telling factor. My experience is that you win with good athletes who are taught what to do and who then can go out and do it without thinking and who then can call on their emotions when this is what is required. The recruiting, the organization and the teaching is what does this.
Houston, one believes, knows this, and this doesn't mean he can't call on emotional gimmickry that he has used at Murray State and Boise State.
In the long run, as well as immediately, he and his staff (suspect at this point, inevitably, and maybe unfairly so) will have to out-recruit and out-coach the most seasoned, savvy coaches blessed with the strongest, fastest, most aggressive players in collegiate football.
And maybe they will.


OH knew HDN that's for sure.

[HogInMemphis]

Holy shissa.  Brings back all the horrible memories. And there is so much good stuff in there, so much  prophetic stuff from O. Can you dig up the article O wrote the day Holtz was fired?

Some of the better parts of this article:

"My experience is that you win with good athletes who are taught what to do and who then can go out and do it without thinking and who then can call on their emotions when this is what is required. The recruiting, the organization and the teaching is what does this." - Bingo, baby. Nutt and his Murray St. mafia have never figured out how to do any of this consistently.


"In the long run, as well as immediately, he and his staff (suspect at this point, inevitably, and maybe unfairly so) will have to out-recruit and out-coach the most seasoned, savvy coaches blessed with the strongest, fastest, most aggressive players in collegiate football." - Wow, calls Nutt's staff "suspect". He couldn't have known how right he was when he wrote that.

"But the new Bowden told Montgomery that he had 21 returning starters at Tulane and that he thought he could get to the top there quicker than at Arkansas. He probably had looked at Arkansas' killer schedule."  - Ouch. A coach back then thought he would be better off at Tulane than at Arkansas. How telling on the pull of the Arkansas program...then as well as now.


"Furthermore, when the Arkansas party picked up a report from Mississippi they felt sure that the Ole Miss folks were quoting the exact figures Broyles had written on a slip of paper for Tuberville. They felt they could deduce only that Tuberville was using the offer to milk more from Ole Miss, something still in the realm of only conjecture." - This comment is comical today, in light of Nutt doing this very thing to his own program with the Nebraska flirtation two years ago.

"Houston Dale, do good." -  Sorry, O. He hasn't..unless you consider a losing record in the SEC over 7+ seasons and a losing SEC record AT HOME since RRS opened to start the '01 season to be "good".

[GorillaJMonsoon]

Thank you so much for bringing this up.  I bet if we posted Orville's piece on Clay's board we would get banned for bashing Nutt. 

[hawgjowls]

i wish someone would post this over on HI so folks there could see how little OH's son actually learned from dear ole dad.

[JJHog]

i wish someone would post this over on HI so folks there could see how little OH's son actually learned from dear ole dad.

That's the truth. No comparison but he made a bundle on selling HI to the Stephens.

[GorillaJMonsoon]

Drake,

I put it on Clay's site to see the reaction.  I give them 15 minutes before its gone again.

[hawgjowls]

i wish someone would post this over on HI so folks there could see how little OH's son actually learned from dear ole dad.

That's the truth. No comparison but he made a bundle on selling HI to the Stephens.

if he wasn't OH son he couldn't even get a job with Grit Kirk.

[Razorback Jedi]

Drake,

I put it on Clay's site to see the reaction. I give them 15 minutes before its gone again.

Update?

[mikeirwin]

There's nobody around like Orville these days, that's for sure.
He knew his stuff.

[nwarazfan]

Little OH should move to Bama to be with his brother.  He can take a couple of other members of his posse with him and they go to Florence and host talk shows and message boards about the Univ of N Alabama.  That is about their level.  Nutt can join them as coach over there.  Maybe they can get Dickey a job there too since our friends in JB would like rid of him too.

[GorillaJMonsoon]

I bet Clay will have to really think about this one.  It puts him in a quandry, or a conundrum, or something similar.  Either way its confusing.  Only one response:

"I gather Orville favored Tuberville. Was he right? Probably. Would Tuberville still be here? Probably not.
As for the selection committee, I liked it alot better than previous methods. Like Broyles giving the job to Jack Crowe on a whim."

I'm really glad that Drake found this and posted it.  I would be interested where he found it, and if there are other OH columns from that period on that subject. 

[nwarazfan]

Tuberville likely would have had either the 98 or 99 team in the SEC Ch game at least and then would have taken off a short time later for another job.  But, I believe the momentum gained from him would have allowed us to get a better quality coach than what we have now and things would be better.

No matter, TT handled the process correctly as an SEC level coach should.  No big interview process.  Do it quickly, quietly and make a decision or he has to move on.  Something HDN has not learned.

And no SEC level coach will EVER subject themselves to the hiring committee circus.

[HogInMemphis]

Tuberville likely would have had either the 98 or 99 team in the SEC Ch game at least and then would have taken off a short time later for another job.  But, I believe the momentum gained from him would have allowed us to get a better quality coach than what we have now and things would be better.

No matter, TT handled the process correctly as an SEC level coach should.  No big interview process.  Do it quickly, quietly and make a decision or he has to move on.  Something HDN has not learned.

And no SEC level coach will EVER subject themselves to the hiring committee circus.

Nutt is our next Nolan. When Nutt is fired, he'll resurface either as an assistant at a school in a lesser conference than the SEC or he'll never coach again. I would bet it's the former since he's not nearly as old as Nolan was when he was fired in '02. Nutt willl never be a head coach again at anywhere near the SEC level.

[Anti-OtisII]

Reading this article almost brings tears to my eyes.  First, because it shows how close we were to actually having a decent head coach that could have taken our program to the next level.  Secondly, because it painfully shows how lacking we are now in this state with regards to having a real big time sports writer that knows what he is writing about.  Little Wally is to Orville Henry as Houston Dale Nutt is to Paul "Bear" Bryant.  There simply is NO comparison.  wps.

[JJHog]

Reading this article almost brings tears to my eyes. First, because it shows how close we were to actually having a decent head coach that could have taken our program to the next level. Secondly, because it painfully shows how lacking we are now in this state with regards to having a real big time sports writer that knows what he is writing about. Little Wally is to Orville Henry as Houston Dale Nutt is to Paul "Bear" Bryant. There simply is NO comparison. wps.

Amen to that, we used to anxiously await what OH had to say.

I don't read any columnists much anymore

[JJHog]

Tuberville likely would have had either the 98 or 99 team in the SEC Ch game at least and then would have taken off a short time later for another job.  But, I believe the momentum gained from him would have allowed us to get a better quality coach than what we have now and things would be better.

No matter, TT handled the process correctly as an SEC level coach should.  No big interview process.  Do it quickly, quietly and make a decision or he has to move on.  Something HDN has not learned.

And no SEC level coach will EVER subject themselves to the hiring committee circus.

Nutt is our next Nolan. When Nutt is fired, he'll resurface either as an assistant at a school in a lesser conference than the SEC or he'll never coach again. I would bet it's the former since he's not nearly as old as Nolan was when he was fired in '02. Nutt willl never be a head coach again at anywhere near the SEC level.

He sold most everybody in 1997...hook , line and sinker. I would not be surprised if he did it again, he has too much enthusiam and will get hired based on emotion (again).

[JIHawg]

I'm to this day trying to figure out the 3-3 tie, who was for Nutt and who was for Tubby.  I've got Scott and Grovey for Nutt, Montgomery for Tubby.  Lindsey?  I always thought he was there to do Broyles bidding, and if Frank wanted Tubby, Lindsey knew that and would have considered it marching orders.  Scott Bull?  The older guy from LR?  Anybody know?

[corndo]

I'd be curious to hear how the former players on the committee feel about HDN now and the current state of Arkansas football. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wonder if there is any sense of regret.

[HogDodging]

I'd be curious to hear how the former players on the committee feel about HDN now and the current state of Arkansas football. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wonder if there is any sense of regret.

I know for darn sure one of them who is still a big Nutt hugger.

[mikeirwin]

I'm to this day trying to figure out the 3-3 tie, who was for Nutt and who was for Tubby. I've got Scott and Grovey for Nutt, Montgomery for Tubby. Lindsey? I always thought he was there to do Broyles bidding, and if Frank wanted Tubby, Lindsey knew that and would have considered it marching orders. Scott Bull? The older guy from LR? Anybody know?

Grovey was for HDN as was Lindsey. There was a guy from the '54 team who was for Nutt too as I recall. Montgomery was totally opposed to Nutt until it became obvious that he had the votes. I have heard that Montgomery is not very active as a booster these days.

[Jim Harris]

I'm to this day trying to figure out the 3-3 tie, who was for Nutt and who was for Tubby. I've got Scott and Grovey for Nutt, Montgomery for Tubby. Lindsey? I always thought he was there to do Broyles bidding, and if Frank wanted Tubby, Lindsey knew that and would have considered it marching orders. Scott Bull? The older guy from LR? Anybody know?

Grovey was for HDN as was Lindsey. There was a guy from the '54 team who was for Nutt too as I recall. Montgomery was totally opposed to Nutt until it became obvious that he had the votes. I have heard that Montgomery is not very active as a booster these days.

Mike is right on all counts. Eddie Bradford was an early Nutt supporter. Montgomery now can be classified as inactive booster until changes occur.

[Thehammer]

Unfrken believable. I knew when I clicked on this thread I would be reminded of something said in the job hunt that either smacks of hypocracy or shows how friken ignorant we were. Just my luck it's friken happy hour. I get two for one.

OH never really forgave JFB for allowing that search committee to over rule him.   At the time, I was ticked at OH, because I really thought Nutt was a good pick.   How wrong I was!!!!

[SultanofSwine]

Talk about prophetic and point on. Awesome read, thanks.

[DirkPiggler]

Even from the grave Orville has a better feel for the current state of the program than the rest of the Arkansas media.

[Oklahawg]

While OH looks prophetic at this juncture I remain happy that we didn't offer the job to Tubby. Sorry for raining on the parade. I am impressed by the other names on the list and wonder how the hell HDN beat the whole stinking bunch.

[JIHawg]

Great, great post by the way, Drake.  I still can't come up with three who would be solid for Tubby.  I can't imagine that Earl Scott was for him.  What other two do you have with Montgomery in Tubby's corner?