Choosing Gus as OC..

[Born]

Ok, gang..

assuming the wide-spread reports are true, several items must have happened in the last 24 hrs to change things.

a. As many haave stated on here and elsewhere, AD Broyles and Lindsey both believe that Malzahn is the next big thing in coaching.. aka A future Bobby Bowden or Frank Beamer or Steve Spurrier or Bob Stoops. Someone who eventually takes over a program and catapults it to heights of football glory. There was no way in the Seven Hades that Broyles or Lindsey were going to let the next big thing get away to coach at another school. Keep that in mind.

b. With Mitch Mustain changing his mind, extreme pressure in the form of fan disdain, anger and outrage have kept all Razorback contacts hopping the last 3 days. I'm talking Harold Horton, Chuck Dicus, AD Broyles, Jim Lindsey.. even the poor secretaries such as Donita Hubbard and company.. have been told an EARFUL about the breadth and depth of fan anger. Keep that in mind..

c. With (a) and (b) as backdrop, it was clear that either Nutt would do whatever it takes to hire Malzahn.. or he would NOT be head coach of the Razorbacks. Two year pass extended only to the on-the-field record. It did NOT extend to staff shenanigans, recruiting muck-ups, or riling up the fan base.

d. Malzahn had a couple of other offers on the table, the minimum of which increased his salary by 25-30 grand.. and the upper end fully doubled his salary at Springdale or more. He had options. One option was OC in full at a Div 1-A program.

e. Thus when it came crunch time, Nutt apparently had two choices...

* keep the playcalling and offensive duties to himself and lose Malzahn. This likely also meant that Nutt would be out of a job as well.

* become a CEO head coach, give the keys to the offense to Malzahn, with full acknowledgement that Gus would run the offense he wanted with the blocking schemes he wanted. This also meant informing Markuson that he would be strictly o-line coach.

Given the pending outcome, we can see which choice Nutt made.

Edit :  Malzahn apparently has it or will have it written into his contract that he makes the play calls and the offensive substitutions.  Rumor part is that play calls will be charted during the game, to see how many are overridden by people who are not the offensive coordinator.

Oh, one more thing..Sure as the pumpkin pie I just grubbed on, if Nutt had not agreed to hire Malzahn as OC right now, the pending press conference would have been to announce Nutt's resignation/etc.

[idochog]

I see a huge resentment possiblility coming from Markuson/HDN and some of the other HDN cronies on staff.  How do you think this plays out?

Do you think HDN wants out but knows he needs a good year next year to make himself marketable?

Is Gus gonna stand on the sidelines and call plays?  Is he gonna decide who comes in and when.  Maybe w/ Mahlzan we can stop this patterned substitutions which tips off our plays.

[Hawgon]

I'm telling you, I just don't know if the HDN that we all know and "love" will be able to go through with it in the end.  He has to give up playcalling duties and may have to fire his best buddy.  I don't know.

[tophawg19]

nutt takes over a few games into the season life as usual .

[Hawgon]

Yeah, that could happen as well.

[hawgfan_18]

is malzahn going to be able to hire assistants.?

[Born]

is malzahn going to be able to hire assistants.?

not right away.. but he damn well will be allowed to change those out who don't fit.

Malzahn is not gonna cut anyone loose until he sees what they can or cannot do.

[Cornhogio]

is malzahn going to be able to hire assistants.?

not right away.. but he damn well will be allowed to change those out who don't fit.

Malzahn is not gonna cut anyone loose until he sees what they can or cannot do.

So in the spring when Markuson says "we can't block that" about one of Malzahn's schemes, what's going to happen?