Ole Miss Helps Nutt Be With McFadden

NEW YORK — Houston Nutt expected to attend the Heisman Trophy ceremony with Darren McFadden.

But there was some doubt as to whether Nutt would be able to make it after he resigned from Arkansas on Nov. 26 and quickly accepted the head coaching job at Ole Miss.

Nutt said he spoke with retiring Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles to make sure it would be acceptable for him to still be by McFadden’s side when the Heisman Trophy winner was announced.

“I talked to Coach Broyles, and he thought it would be fine. And Darren’s mother and father wanted me to be here. Darren wanted me to be here,” Nutt said Saturday night before entering the Nokia Theatre for the ceremony. “So there wasn’t any lobbying.”

Before this weekend, Nutt said he hadn’t seen his star running back since Arkansas pulled out a 50-48 triple-overtime win at then-No. 1 LSU on Nov. 23.

Nutt offered his resignation to University of Arkansas Chancellor John White three days later. He was Ole Miss’ new coach only a few hours after that.

But in an odd twist, Ole Miss officials helped Nutt get to Manhattan to be with McFadden for the Heisman ceremony.

“I just asked Ole Miss, ‘Would it be OK to use their plane (to fly to New York)?’” Nutt said. “And they said absolutely.”

Attending the Heisman ceremony was perhaps Nutt’s final duty as Arkansas’ coach. He planned to return to Mississippi immediately after the event ended.

Nutt was part of a large gathering of coaches and family members to be with McFadden on Saturday night. Former Arkansas running backs coach Danny Nutt, current Razorbacks’ running backs coach Tim Horton and athletic trainer Dean Weber also attended the ceremony.

“I have been looking very much forward to (tonight) because (McFadden) had a better year than last year,” Nutt said. “So I just want him to take that trophy home because I think he deserves it.”

Not surprisingly, Nutt didn’t want to comment on the coaching search that has taken place at Arkansas since his departure.