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Mustain & Arkansas Desperation (Merged)

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My brother lives in Little Rock and the mood there is that they now have a top 10 recruiting class and are set up for a national title run in the next two-three years.

Never mind that they have not recruited another player rated in the top 20 at their position in this class. They did land a WR named Chris Baker in 2003. As the #17 WR in that class Baker is the ONLY WR or OL in the top 20 at their position recruited in the past FOUR classes.

This kid must have had some serious pressure to stay home.
 
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Two of the top WRs in the country committed to Arkansas today, including Damian Williams who decommitted from Florida to do so.

Maybe there will be a 'Mustain effect'.

They already have a pretty good RB. Now all they need is a line. And maybe some Defense.
 
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Sounds to me like Arkansas just hired the coach to get the players he'd possibly bring with him. I realized this goes on to some extent at every school, but what's going on at Arkansas seems completely shameless.
 
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Link
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]Book offers insight on season and recruiting[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]Wednesday, Dec 6, 2006[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK - When reading the scathing critique of Houston Nutt by Mitch Mustain, remember the circumstances.

The quarterback was 17 at the time and preparing to abandon his commitment to Nutt and the Arkansas Razorbacks. Mustain's reaction to Nutt's interview with Chuck Barrett will get too much attention from those who disdain the Arkansas football coach and buy "Year of the Dog," with that predisposed notion. Also dog-eared will be Chapter 18, which casts Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis as a weasel.

It is a shame that readers will pick and choose because Kurt Voigt's book (www.yearofthedogbook.com) is about much more than Mustain and mother Beck Campbell vs. Nutt and Weis and others who tried to sign the No. 1 high school quarterback in the country.

Gus Malzahn, the Springdale coach during the Bulldogs' remarkable 2005 season and now Nutt's offensive coordinator, granted Voigt unlimited access and such carte blanche is obvious throughout the 196 pages. There is inside football galore, from a summer of 7-on-7 all the way through the pasting of West Memphis in front of a record crowd in Little Rock. There are petty parents, a heart-wrenching section on the death of a player's mother, a pre-game recitation by fullback Victor Pongonis, Bartley Webb's love affair with Notre Dame and much more.

Voigt, who writes for The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, was there for each and every development.

Still, some will read Mustain's words and claim his demotion from starter to backup is the price he paid. Conveniently, they will overlook his shortcomings in the weeks leading up to an early interception vs. South Carolina. Besides, it's hard to believe that a head football coach at a major university would start a player for several weeks and then decide to invoke the grudge rule.

Mustain was at Voigt's home on that Sunday night after Arkansas' 2005 victory at Ole Miss when a still picture of Nutt appeared on the TV screen. He heard Barrett ask Nutt if Casey Dick had checked into a play that resulted in a touchdown pass and he heard Nutt respond, "That was a called play, and I called it, Chuck."

After more back and forth between coach and announcer, Mustain stood up, pointed at the television, and said, "Oh my God, did you hear that? Old 'H' has lost it. He has absolutely lost it. How can they let him get away with that? They ought to fire him on the spot. Of course, they'd have a better chance of getting me if they did."

A few weeks later, Mustain backed out on Arkansas and kept silent about his plan to attend Notre Dame, waiting on a promised scholarship.

Voigt recounts how Notre Dame offensive coordinator Michael Haywood was fine with Mustain's timetable until a few weeks before signing date. Then, the squeeze began. On his cell phone, Mustain heard Haywood say the Irish needed an answer in 48 hours.

It was at that point that Mustain called Nutt and requested a meeting. Nutt agreed and then realized it was a dead period and called right back to ask, "Does your mom mind you being out late tonight?"

Mustain thought Nutt meant 10 p.m.; the coach was talking about a minute after midnight. When Mustain arrived on campus that night, Nutt was there along with Malzahn, offensive line coach Mike Markuson and new quarterbacks coach Alex Wood.

They talked and Haywood called again the next day. Mustain reminded him he wanted to visit South Bend before making a commitment. He could wait only 24 more hours, Haywood said. That day, Mustain and Wood talked for almost an hour, drawing up plays on a dry-erase board. Markuson entered the room, acknowledged the rumors of a rift between himself and Malzahn, then wrote the names of his wife and children on the board, and told Mustain, " ... I'm not going to screw this up."

A short time later, Mustain decided to re-up with Arkansas and ignore Weis and Haywood. However, a recruiting writer penned a piece that said Weis wasn't interested in Mustain because he had verbal commitments from two quarterbacks and had told them he wouldn't take a third.

Mustain's mom was furious and said Weis planted the story "just so they could look good for the national people."

For the book jacket, I wrote: "The everyday fan who thinks he has some idea of recruiting is in for an education."[/FONT]
 
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Mom needs to step back..

Link

Parents not pleased

The mother of Arkansas freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain said players? parents who expressed concern about the Razorbacks offense respect coach Houston Nutt?s prerogative to shape the team?s strategy.
The team?s offense was discussed in a meeting between athletic director Frank Broyles and the parents of several freshmen.
Beck Campbell, Mustain?s mother, said in a statement that she discussed concerns about her son?s future as a football player. Campbell said she did not seek promises or guarantees, and that playing time was not an issue.
Mustain started eight games for the Razorbacks ? all wins ? before being replaced late in the season by Casey Dick.
Campbell, along with the parents of tight end Ben Cleveland and receiver Damian Williams, visited Broyles last week. The three athletes played together at Springdale High School last year under Razorbacks offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who was hired by Nutt after the 2005 season.
Last night, Nutt said Williams will be given his release to transfer.
 
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It's a lot easier for him to stay strong when the next two years of the Hogs' program are filed under "McFadden". Mustain and company aren't showing a lot of intelligence by calling out a coach who has next year's Heisman front-runner at RB.

Unproven sophmore QB, or the best returning RB in the country? Hmm...let me think about what MY offense would looking like if I were HouNutt...

Why is this whole thing giving me echoes of Morelli? A prima donna, highly ranked QB who acts like he's doing a program a "favor" by being there, a pushy parent, and an on-field performance that's less than stellar sounds like an awfully familiar song...
 
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BrutusBobcat;688687; said:
It's a lot easier for him to stay strong when the next two years of the Hogs' program are filed under "McFadden".
Click to expand...


That is true but the McFadden situation also proved to many of those "unclassified" athletes that Nutt will get you on the field somehow. That is always good for recruiting...and for other jobs.
 
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Well I like the Morelli parent-kid analogy, and saying his on field performance is less than stellar is likely on mark. After all Casey Dick did supplant him (though Mustain did not lose a game in which he started). It is a stretch though to compare Mustain's on-field efforts as a freshman with those of the supposedly more mature, yet far less effective, Morelli.
 
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My brother was up from Little Rock this weekend and brought an article from the local rag. When Arkansas hired Mustain's HS coach Mustain and two other of his players followed him to Arkansas. They were all told Malzahn would have complete control over the O and would run it pretty much like he did in HS.

Well, the three sets of parents asked for a meeting with Frank Broyles (not Nutt) after the season ended to discuss what would be happening next year since this year was not exactly the sort of wide open passing attack they had expected. One of the three has since left the team.

Mustain has apologized and is saying everything is cool, but there appears to be trouble in river city.
 
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Who's in control of the team? It's just Nutt's.

sportsline

Nutt scores contract extension until 2012, will receive raise

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Arkansas added a year to coach Houston Nutt's contract Monday and intends to give him a raise as reward for leading the Razorbacks to the Southeastern Conference championship game.

Continued ...
 
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osugrad21;687526; said:
The team?s offense was discussed in a meeting between athletic director Frank Broyles and the parents of several freshmen.
Click to expand...

Pathetic.

Hopefully Houston Nutt shows up at the workplaces of the parents in question to give them some helpfull tips on how to do their jobs as well...
 
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Muck;691286; said:
Pathetic.

Hopefully Houston Nutt shows up at the workplaces of the parents in question to give them some helpfull tips on how to do their jobs as well...
Click to expand...

I agree with you in principle. However, it is a different story if promises were in fact made. After all, whatever jobs they do are not likely affecting Nutt's family.
 
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Mustain is a freshman and so are the other two. You can understand their bad judgement. The parents should be held to a different standard.

First, if you have a running back like McFadden, you don't ignore the skills he brings to the field. Second, Mustain has not exactly shined and, if you're Nutt, you probably are always gonna lean toward putting Dick in first given performance in the past.

Nutt has no choice but to stand firm and get the team focused on Wisconsin.

The parents are certainly old enough to realize that having McFadden in the offensive attack and having another quarterback of apparently equal or better skills means that this is not the time to challenge Nutt about Dick or McFadden. In a couple of years, McFadden is gone and things would turn to Mustain's favor.
 
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