Football Teams and Church Commitment

More good stuff from Mark DeVries’ Family-Based Youth Ministry, Rev. Ed., pp. 148-49 (emphasis added):

“I have often wondered what would happen if football coaches approached their work like most youth ministers are expected to. For example, I wonder what would happen if, when a player was too busy to show up for practice, the understanding coach simply said, “We’ll miss you. I hope you’ll be able to make it next week sometime. ” Imagine the players leaving practice and hearing the smiling coach say, “Thanks for coming. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow.” 

If a football team operated like a typical youth ministry, we might expect concerned parents to call the coach, saying, “Can you tell me what’s been going on in practice? My son says it’s boring, and he doesn’t want to come anymore. I was wondering, could you make it a little more fun for them? And by the way, you might want to talk to the coach at the school across town. He seems to have the right idea.” The coach might send out quarterly questionnaires about what the players would like to change about the team. (I can just imagine the answers: “shorter practices,” “more winning”).  

Responding like a typical youth minister, this coach might first feel guilty that the practices were not meeting the boy’s needs, and he would try to adjust his program to suit this boy (and every other boy who complained). Between trying to keep everybody happy and giving every student a good experience, the coach would squeeze in a little football practice. And what kind of season would this coach have? It’s a safe bet that the coach wouldn’t be the only one who felt like a loser. 

But this is the very way that most churches expect to run their youth ministries. To expect that youth be committed to the church with the same level of commitment that would be expected of them on an athletic team would draw the charge of legalism and insensitivity. Our culture has been so carried away by the current of religious individualism that the expectation of commitment to the church has become implausible to most Christians in our culture. Because the god of individualism pressures us to program to the lowest common denominator, we seldom raise the expectations high enough for teenagers to experience real community. 

Real community means real responsibility for each other. It means a commitment to be there for each other even when the schedule is tight and the motivation is low. But the typical Christian adult in our culture knows little about commitment to community.”

How true this is! I would love to be able to count on the same sort of commitment that a football coach expects. An unfortunate by-product of the extreme individualization of Christianity is a de-emphasis on the importance of Christian community, specifically in the context of the local church body.

The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation. 

Friday Summary Report, September 28

It has been a while since the last Summary Report, but things continue to be busy.

One of the grad school classes I’m taking this semester, Greek Readings, is taking a ton of my time. I’m doing well in the class (we have weekly quizzes), but between the translation assignments, the memorization of paradigms and principal parts, listening to the class lectures, and learning new vocabulary, it is just a lot of work. It’s just the end of September, and I know I’ve still got a lot of the class left, but I am looking forward to December.

I’ll be going to Memphis in a couple weeks for Global Evangelism, which is the second class I’m taking this semester. I have been so busy with the weekly work for Greek that Global Evangelism has taken a backseat, which means that I have a plethora of reading to do over the next two weeks. I honestly don’t know how I’ll be able to get it all done.

In addition to my classes, I have all of my regular ministry responsibilities, so it’s a full plate. My blogging will likely take somewhat of a hit for a few weeks.

Some random tidbits:

• This weekend is Bikes, Blues & BBQ in Fayetteville; I will be doing my best to completely avoid it.
• The Arkansas Razorback football team continues its complete nose dive. We are currently at 1-3, and are facing an unlikely opportunity for a road victory at Texas A&M this weekend. And we thought we had a shot at contending for the SEC title?!

And finally, a few articles from around the net worth reading:

• As Chipper Jones nears retirement, here’s a great article from ESPN on the significance of his career. A first-ballot Hall of Famer, no question. Seriously, indisputable.
• Matt Marino writes a really good blog post entitled “What’s so uncool about cool churches?” in which he critiques the craving for trendy, relevant churches and/or youth ministries. He makes a lot of good points, and some of his thoughts closely mirror some of my own reflections on current problems with youth ministry.
• Here’s another great ministry article (this one more directly related to youth ministry) entitled, “The Myth That Can Kill Your Ministry.” It’s a really good read for anyone who works in youth ministry, or anyone that ever talks to someone who does.

On Being A Razorback Fan

A sad pig drawn by a talented artist. An appropriate representation of my current feelings about the Hogs.

Following last week’s humiliating loss to Louisiana-Monroe, and leading up to tomorrow’s seemingly impossible game against Alabama, I had intended to write a post on how frustrating and disappointing it is to be an Arkansas Razorbacks fan.

But then I came across this article, which really sums it all up nicely.

I hope that we’re able to pull off a shocker on Saturday, but honestly, I have very little faith that the Hogs will ever be nationally relevant on a consistent basis.

Friday Summary Report, September 7

I don’t have anything too exciting to report on this Friday morning, but here are some interesting/good/important links from around the worldwide web:

(1) First, a story from Louisiana, where, in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, a father and son teamed up to rescue 120 people over a 12-hour period with boats. Jesse Shaffer, the father, insisted that he and his son are not heroes, but their neighbors would disagree. A great story, and a glimpse of what Jesus meant by “Love thy neighbor.”

(2) Here’s a cool story (with picture) about Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins getting baptized   after football practice.

(3) The last couple of weeks have been dominated by politics, with both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions taking place. I am not a fan of politics, in large part because it takes place in some weird twilight zone where the truth neither matters nor is really expected. I heard a ton of people raving about President Clinton’s speech, but was it accurate? Similar articles could probably be (and probably have been) written about every other speech that was given at either convention.

(4) Matt Dabbs wrote a really good blog post on the heinousness of abortion. The fact that abortion has been relegated to the political arena and has been turned into a mere talking point by both parties shows how warped and skewed our society has become. I mentioned this in the comments section of the blog I linked to above, but I’ll repeat it here: I am convinced that the legalized genocide against our own unborn is the greatest evil of our society. It is all too often discounted as ‘just another political issue’, but it far transcends politics. I sometimes wonder how long a nation that shows such little value for life will be allowed to continue.

(5) For those who are involved in youth ministry, here is a great post with some very practical suggestions for ways to get your students involved as leaders within your youth group. As Joseph points out, student leadership doesn’t have to be part of some big, elaborate, complicated program.

Wise Words I Once Heard…and Bobby Petrino

If you pay any attention to sports at all, you are likely aware that Arkansas Razorback football coach Bobby Petrino was in a serious motorcycle wreck eight days ago, and that as more details of the incident came to light, it was revealed that a female passenger on the bike turned out to be an employee with whom Petrino was having an inappropriate relationship.

The national media has been quick to pick up on this story and has been decidedly anti-Petrino (a quick Google search on ‘Bobby Petrino’ will confirm this). Perhaps neither of those facts is very surprising—our culture (and by extension, the media) is always interested in a juicy story about the misdeeds or failure of public figures, and Bobby Petrino has never been very popular with the media anyway (ESPN’s Pat Forde has been on a personal crusade against him for years).

I don’t know if Petrino will be fired or not, and I have mixed feelings about whether or not he should be. I am disappointed in him and embarrassed by his actions, but at the same time, he has been the most successful football coach that Arkansas has had in my lifetime (or at least, in my memory), and I was never under the impression that he was hired because of his reputation for upstanding character.

All of this—the initial report of the accident, the rumors flying around after that report, the revelation of Petrino’s female passenger and his relationship with her, and the response of the national media—has reminded me of some wise words I once heard from Jimmy Allen.

Jimmy Allen is well-known within Church of Christ circles as an evangelist, and additionally, within the Harding University community as a Bible professor. It’s in the latter role that I know him best, as I took his outstanding class on the Book of Romans during my time at Harding. It was in that class (I don’t remember the specific context) that he said these words which I’ll never forget:

“If I hear something bad about someone, I never believe it. If it comes to the point that I have no choice but to believe it, I do not delight in it.”

I’m not entirely sure what it is about us as humans that makes us crave and delight (cf. Proverbs 18.8) in hearing of the failings of others. It likely stems from our own insecurities, and our tendency to feel better about ourselves when we see the shortcomings of others. But that craving and delighting is all closely related to the sin of gossip, which is a topic that the Bible has an awful lot to say about.

In the case of Bobby Petrino, I’m not delighting in the story like a lot of people in the National media and fans of other programs are, but if I’m honest, a lot of the reason for that is because he’s the coach of my team, and I don’t like the ramifications of all this for me. When it comes to hearing gossip about someone I might not like as much, I don’t always do a very good job of following Dr. Allen’s words.

Instead of gleefully focusing on the failings of others, the Apostle Paul suggests an alternative course of action in Philippians 4.8:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Brady Quinn on Tim Tebow

Apparently, in an interview for GQ, Broncos backup quarterback Brady Quinn had some unflattering things to say about his teammate and former fellow backup Tim Tebow’s headline grabbing 2011 season. Quinn seems to question Tebow’s ability, his humility, the showiness of his faith, and even the overall success of the team.

I thought Quinn was pretty good at Notre Dame and have been surprised by the degree to which he has completely flopped in the NFL. Regardless of your opinion on Tebow, does anyone see this as anything other than sour grapes on Quinn’s part?

I mean, Brady, I know your career hasn’t exactly gone as planned, but do you really think running down your teammate (who happens to be arguably the most popular player on the planet right now) is the way to go about improving things? 

If you don’t have anything nice to say…

Tim Tebow’s Viability As An NFL Quarterback

Photo by Chris Schneider of the Associated Press.

Since he emerged as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow has become the dominant storyline of this year’s NFL season. It’s a story that has been analyzed from a number of different angles, ranging from Tebow’s abilities as a quarterback, to his personal faith, to whether or not God cares about football games, to the relationship between Tebow and Broncos General Manager John Elway.

One angle that hasn’t been discussed as much is the assumption made by many NFL experts and fans that the quarterback position can only be played successfully a certain way in the NFL, and that because Tebow doesn’t fit into that mold, he is by definition a bad quarterback.

I think it’s a close-minded and somewhat arrogant perspective that needs a closer look. To put it another way, if the only way to successfully play quarterback is to do it like Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers does it—using pinpoint throwing accuracy to sling the ball all over the field to multiple receivers and amassing tons of passing yards along the way—then Tebow clearly isn’t successful. But is that the only way a quarterback can succeed?

Well, I think if you consider all levels of play, the answer is clearly, "no".

First, looking at kids playing football (whether you reflect back to your days of playground football or whether you’re watching an organized Peewee game), you see a fairly common theme: the quarterback is a kid who can usually throw the ball well, but he’s almost always the kid who is athletic enough to beat the pass rush and scramble for long runs. Moving on to junior high and even smaller high school football, it’s unusual to have a heavy pass offense—instead, the running game is the focus, and usually involves a lot of quarterback option play.

Now, it is true that as you move up in skill level (peewee to junior high, to small high school ball, to larger high school ball, to college, to the pros), you tend to find more of an emphasis on passing and the quarterback becomes more of a specialized skill position rather than just the stud athlete on the field who runs around and/or over everyone. But even at the highest levels of college play, there are notable exceptions.

When Tim Tebow broke into the college game at Florida, he started off by sharing quarterback duties with Chris Leak. Tebow came in almost exclusively to run the ball (or throw the jump pass!) while Leak was the more traditional QB, and the tandem combined to lead the Gators to the 2006 National Championship. The general thinking at the time was that, despite his success as a freshman, Tebow would struggle to make the adjustment when the full quarterback responsibilities fell on his shoulders, but everyone knows what happened: Tebow went on to have one of the greatest careers in college history, leading Florida to another National Championship in 2008, and also winning a Heisman Trophy (though I still think he shouldn’t have won the Heisman).

But still, despite the previous success of Tebow, you still had the overwhelming majority of scouts and observers saying that he couldn’t be successful in the NFL, and as I mentioned above, if the measure of success is putting up statistics like Aaron Rodgers, then Tebow hasn’t been a success. But if success for a quarterback is measured by the ability to make plays, move the offense down the field, and win games, it’s hard to completely discount what he’s done this season, regardless of his pass completion rate.

Ultimately, I don’t know if Tebow will have a successful career in the NFL or if his recent success is just a flash in the pan. What I do know is that the traditional NFL-Quarterbacks-Must-Play-In-A-Specific-Way perspective needs to be reexamined. Because regardless of what happens with Tebow himself, a quarterback like Tebow, who is smart enough to read defenses, athletic and strong enough to make plays with his legs, and good enough with his arm to catch defenses off guard will enjoy prolonged success in the NFL someday.

And who knows—it may start next year in Denver.

“He just sets the example…”

An interesting comment from a guy on an ESPN article on Tim Tebow (specifically in regard to Tebow’s overt Christianity):

“There’s a guy who doesn’t waiver. What I haven’t heard from Tebow is a demand that you live like he lives. He just sets the example and hopes others see the benefits. I’m not a religious man, but that’s exactly the way it should be done. Lead by example.”

I’m an unabashed Tim Tebow fan. I have no idea how he continues to win games while completing less than 50% of his passes, but I think he is an overwhelmingly positive role model.

Not So Fast

The stories coming out of Penn State concerning former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual assault of multiple boys and the subsequent cover-up by the university have been shocking and sickening.

I came across the following picture and caption today:

“State College artist Michael Pilato paints over the portion of his mural that shows former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in downtown State College, Pennsylvania, November 9, 2011. REUTERS/Pat Little”

I thought the picture was more than a little ironic—it’s only natural that Penn St. fans would like to paint over Sandusky and pretend the whole thing never happened, but isn’t that the same feeling that led to the cover-up?

Here’s the deal: Sandusky’s sick actions, and especially the ensuing cover-up, tainted the entire football program. Either leave the mural the way it was and try to convince yourself that the on-field success isn’t tainted by Sandusky and Co., or whitewash the entire wall.

Gus Malzahn Is A Genius

Here’s a good article from Sports Illustrated which basically describes how Gus Malzahn, the current Offensive Coordinator at Auburn and formerly a high school coach in Northwest Arkansas, is a genius when it comes to running an offense.

This comes as no surprise to me; I’ve been saying it for a long time.

Thanks to Jared for the article link.

The Return Of Michael Vick

The news came out Thursday that the Philadelphia Eagles had signed Michael Vick to a 2-year contract, and little else has been talked about on ESPN since.

Vick became the ultimate athletic taboo when he got in trouble in the summer of 2007 for his involvement in an illegal interstate dog fighting ring. Since that time, Vick has served 23 months in prison, declared bankruptcy, and is now on the verge of re-entering the NFL.

I was never a huge Michael Vick fan in the first place—I thought he was overrated on the field and had somewhat of a “character problem” off it—and like everyone else, I was disgusted by his treatment of the dogs that he fought.

That being said, I really thought the public outcry against Vick was (and, judging by the reaction of many to his signing with the Eagles, still is) excessive. What Vick did was wrong and abhorrent, but at the end of the day, he killed dogs, not people. Meanwhile, Donte Stallworth kills someone while under the influence, and the response of the media and the public is nowhere near as hostile as it was for Vick.

Vick showed a lack of humanity in his treatment of his dogs, and he paid for those actions by serving two years in prison, having to declare bankruptcy, losing two seasons in the prime of his career, and falling far from the summit of the athletic world where he had been.

Now having paid for his crime, he’s been given a second chance, and I wish him nothing but success as he tries to make the most of it.

An Open Letter To Brett Favre

Hey Brett,

So the news outlets continue to report on the possibility of you coming back, again, to play in the NFL after “retiring.” I just wanted to write you to say—please don’t.

As you may or may not know, I vigorously defended your decision to come back last year. While you took a lot of flak in the press about how you had turned your back on Green Bay and sold out your fans, I took your side.

I pointed out that in an NFL where criminals like Pacman Jones and Ray Lewis can get repeated chances to play, and where screwups like Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco continue to have the opportunity to screw up, it seemed unfair for a Hall of Fame quarterback who has always served as a good role model to take so much heat for making the mistake of simply changing his mind about retiring.

I still believe that, but c’mon Brett, enough is enough.

After spending all those years with the Packers, are you really going to play for your third team in three years? Did moving to a new team last year really work out so well that you want to do it again? Is it just that you want to go out on top? Do you really think that playing for the Vikings is going to give you that chance?

You’ve had a great career—one of the best ever. Isn’t that enough? Realistically, what can you do at this point except tarnish your legacy?

If you come back, again, I won’t root against you, or hope that you get injured while playing. I might even be happy if you play well.

Just don’t expect me to take your side anymore when everyone calls you a dork for not knowing when to call it quits.

Redundancy Defined

Darren McFadden on his rookie season in Oakland:

“I felt like overall it was a good year without the injuries,” McFadden said. “Other than the injuries I thought it was a good year for me overall.”

This makes D-Mac sound pretty foolish, but I blame the sportswriter for not editing the quote.

Not A Good Idea

I’m not a Florida fan, but since I’m an SEC fan in general and since I don’t really think Oklahoma deserves to be playing for the National Championship in the first place (after losing head-to-head against Texas), I had already decided that I would be rooting for the Gators tomorrow night.

Those feelings have only changed slightly after Oklahoma cornerback Dominique Franks said that Tim Tebow wasn’t as good as the top three quarterbacks in the Big 12. Now, instead of just wanting the Gators to win, I’m hoping that they destroy the Sooners and that Tim Tebow puts up about 500+ total yards in the process.

A word of advice to Dominique Franks: when you’re a member of the nation’s 98th best pass defense, you probably don’t want to provide motivation for a former Heisman Trophy winner. Good luck with that.

Cheaters Never Prosper…

Except all too often, they do. Which makes the times when they don’t really, really nice.

The Best Player In The Country

Tonight on ESPN, the winner of the 2007 Heisman Award will be revealed. Although four finalists were named, everyone knows that this is really a two horse race between Florida QB Tim Tebow and Arkansas RB Darren McFadden.

Make no mistake—Darren McFadden is the best player in the country, but due to the love fest that Tebow has received from the media all season long, I fear that D-Mac, the best player in college football for the last two years, will go home empty-handed again.

My thinking is supported by the results of two other Player of the Year Awards which were handed out on Thursday—the Maxwell Award, voted on by members of the media, went to Tebow while the Walter Camp Award, voted on by coaches (i.e. people who know what they’re talking about) went to McFadden.

Those who favor Tebow largely rely on three arguments to prove that he is superior to McFadden. Let’s examine them more closely.

“McFadden has a lot of talent, but he was inconsistent this year.”

This is the favorite argument of Mark May, ESPN “analyst” and President of the Tim Tebow Fan Club. Proponents of this argument are quick to point out that McFadden had three games this season where he didn’t rush for 100 yards. How can such a player expect to win the Heisman Award?

Against Auburn, the Auburn defense played incredibly well and keyed in on McFadden the whole game, holding him to 43 yards on 17 carries in a 9-7 Arkansas loss. It was a legitimately bad game for McFadden.

Against Florida International, McFadden ran for just 61 yards in a 58-10 Arkansas victory. Another bad game, right? Maybe, until you consider that Florida International turned the ball over so often that Arkansas was often starting possessions in the Red Zone—there just weren’t many yards available. McFadden also ran for 4 touchdowns in that game. 61 yards, 4 touchdowns; those are the kind of numbers that people are hailing as amazing from Tebow.

Against Mississippi State, McFadden ran for just 88 yards. The fact that he had a 57-yard touchdown reception (on a 5-yard pass) and also threw for a touchdown are generally forgotten about.

So while it’s true that McFadden had three games this season where he didn’t rush for 100+ yards, only one of them was actually a bad game. And having good games in 11 out of 12 isn’t inconsistent.

“Tebow has better numbers.”

Much has been made of the fact that Tebow became the first player in NCAA history this season to throw and run for 20+ touchdowns in the same season. A lot of people want to stop the argument right there: Tebow ran for more touchdowns than McFadden and threw 29 more, how can he not be the better player?

Well, if an 80-yard touchdown run and a 5-yard touchdown run are equally impressive, then maybe they have a point. But they’re not. And they don’t.

The vast majority of Tebow’s touchdowns came on short runs and short passes. Tebow broke runs of 20+ yards in four games. McFadden accomplished that feat in 10 games.

And while we’re at it, if we’re going to use statistics to reach bogus conclusions, let’s look at QB ratings: McFadden’s is 268.5 while Tebow’s is 177.8. Does that prove that McFadden is the better QB?

The “better numbers” argument is a bogus one.

“It shouldn’t matter what class the winner belongs to.”

The thinking here is that the Heisman Award should go to the best player in the country, regardless of his age. For what it’s worth, I entirely agree.

The problem is that McFadden was the best player in the country last season, but didn’t win the Heisman in large part due to the fact that he was just a sophomore, while winner Troy Smith was a senior.

My point is this: if McFadden was penalized last year for being a sophomore, Tebow should be penalized this year for being one. It just isn’t fair otherwise.


Tim Tebow will likely win the Heisman tonight, no matter what I say. But he still won’t be the best player in the country.

A Long Time Coming: The Resignation Of Houston Nutt

There are some other topics I need to write about, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say something about Houston Nutt, who resigned yesterday as the Arkansas Razorback Head Football Coach.

Nutt has had enemies throughout his 10-year reign at Arkansas, but over the past 12 months or so, the number of fans calling for his head has grown exponentially.

A lot of people outside of Arkansas, and especially outside of Northwest Arkansas, can’t understand this—why would you want to fire a coach who won 10 games last year and just knocked off the number one team in the country last week?

Houston Nutt as a Coach
To start on a positive note, let me say that Nutt is not without some good qualities.

First of all, Nutt is a pretty good recruiter. Although he has missed out (especially recently) on some big prospects, during his years at Arkansas, he has brought in a lot of talent. Cedric Cobbs, Matt Jones, Marcus Monk, Peyton Hillis, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones were all Nutt recruits, although they were all pretty much “local” finds—all of these players were from Arkansas except Jones, who came all the way from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Secondly, Nutt has always been able to get his players to play with emotion. This makes Arkansas especially dangerous in big games, as LSU found out on Friday. But it’s hard to play on emotion for an entire season.

When it comes to the Xs and Os on the field, I am certainly not the most qualified to talk, but in my opinion, Houston Nutt is not a terrible coach. In fact, he’s the best football coach Arkansas has had in my memory (although, admittedly, being the best out of three isn’t necessarily a sterling accomplishment). But by no means is he a great coach.

Arkansas is 8-4 this season with a team that has three potential first round running backs including Darren McFadden who, with all due respect to Tim Tebow, is the best player in the country, hands down. This is a team that could be 11-1 and in the National Championship picture were it not for critical coaching mistakes made by Nutt in the first three losses of the season.

My basic feeling is that Nutt is not the guy who will ever get you to a National Championship, but that he is more than capable when it comes to building teams that are a little better than average and are capable of winning (or losing) just about any game.

With Arkansas not having won a national title in 40+ years, that probably would have been good enough for most fans, were it not for Nutt’s actions off the field.

The Springdale Problem
Most people who follow college football are at least vaguely aware that much of Nutt’s trouble stems from the fact that he brought two Northwest Arkansas heroes (I use that term without exaggeration), to the University of Arkansas and then basically ran them off. Mitch Mustain, a highly-recruited quarterback, and Gus Malzahn, a very successful high school football coach, both came to the U of A prior to the 2006 season, only to leave for other schools once it had finished.

In the national media, this was largely blown off–Mustain was written off as a high-maintenance prima donna, while Malzahn was belittled as an arrogant high school coach who should have been more grateful for the opportunity he had been given.

But that was in the national media.

Locally, as I said earlier, both Mustain and Malzahn were basically heroes, and when they committed to the University of Arkansas, everyone was ecstatic.

Mustain was simply the most highly-touted high school prospect to ever come out of the state of Arkansas. The Parade Player of the Year as a senior, Mustain set state passing records while leading Springdale High School to a State Championship and a dominating season in which they outscored opponents 664-118 while playing in the state’s largest classification. Since his junior high years and including his time at Arkansas, Mustain was 61-2 as a starting quarterback.

Malzahn was Mustain’s high school coach. In addition to the 2005 state title, Malzahn won other titles in a smaller classification and was widely regarded around the state as a football genius. He was particularly noted for his offensive ability, and had written a book on his Hurry-Up No Huddle (HUNH) offense which routinely shredded defenses to the point of laughability. Malzahn’s 2005 Springdale team was ranked in the Top 10 nationally, and was generally considered the best high school team in Arkansas history.

It was considered so good in fact, that many people joked that the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs could beat the 2005 Arkansas Razorbacks, who had struggled through a 4-7 season on the heels of a similarly disappointing 5-6 record in 2004.

After amassing a 9-13 cumulative mark in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Nutt had come under considerable pressure prior to the 2006 season. Two other developments occurred to provide the ingredients for Nutt’s off-field behavior which would turn the stomachs of thousands of Razorback fans and ultimately, turn public opinion within the state against him.

First, Mitch Mustain, who had committed early to the University of Arkansas, backed out on his commitment due in large part to Nutt’s unbalanced run-oriented offensive mindset. Mustain, a passing quarterback, wanted to go somewhere where his skills would be used. After news of Mustain’s wavering surfaced, the pressure on Nutt intensified.

Secondly, Nutt’s play-calling (to this point, Nutt served both as Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach) had come into question to the point that he was strongly encouraged to bring in an Offensive Coordinator.

Gus Malzahn was the Offensive Coordinator that he chose. While people around the country were shocked that Arkansas had hired a high school coach to be the Offensive Coordinator at an SEC school, people in Arkansas, and especially in Northwest Arkansas, were delighted.

The good feelings only increased when Mustain, encouraged by the news of his former coach’s new position at Arkansas, renewed his commitment to the Razorbacks.

Hog fans were euphoric with the vision of the Razorbacks running the HUNH offense with a young Mustain at the helm balanced with the running abilities of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. With Gus Malzahn in charge and such weapons at his disposal, the Arkansas Razorbacks as a perennial SEC power and National Championship contender didn’t seem too far-fetched.

What became clear though, from the events of the 2006 season, much of which came out after the fact, was that Houston Nutt never shared that vision.

You can find a fairly encyclopedic version of what happened, and all the ways that Mustain and Malzahn were mistreated here—from Malzahn being condescendingly referred to as “high school” by other members of the coaching staff to Houston Nutt’s wife talking in an email about how she wished she had taken part in a near-fatal attack on Mustain’s mother that had happened several years earlier—but I’m not going to go into all the details here. What it comes down to is this: Houston Nutt had to bring in Mustain and Malzahn in order to save his job, and he resented and hated them for it as soon as he did.

• That’s why he pulled Mustain early in the South Carolina game, despite his unblemished record as a starter that season.
• That’s why Mustain continued to watch from the bench as QB Casey Dick got to starter and played poorly in Arkansas’ three consecutive losses to end the season.
• That’s why Malzahn’s HUNH offense was dismissed and only used on a handful of downs all season.
• That’s why Nutt intended to downgrade Malzahn to Co-Offensive Coordinator, despite the fact that Malzahn was named the National Offensive Coordinator of the Year by Rivals.com.
• That’s why Malzahn and Mustain both ended up leaving.

The Aftermath
Malzahn, ridiculed by some as being in way over his head, is now the Offensive Coordinator at Tulsa (9-3), where he is no longer referred to derisively as a high school coach, and where he has been allowed to implement his offense. An offense which leads the nation at 548.6 yards per game.

Mustain, who Nutt supporters wrote off as an overrated mama’s boy who couldn’t hack it in the SEC, transferred to USC, a school not exactly known for handing out scholarships to talentless players. Because of his transfer, Mustain had to sit out this season, but has been able to practice as the QB for the Scout Team, and has reportedly impressed Head Coach Pete Carroll to the extent that it is widely suggested that he will end up starting next season.

And Nutt stayed at Arkansas, enduring what must have been a trying season, as more and more condemnatory off the field evidence came out, while on the field, Arkansas struggled at the end of games and with inconsistent play from the QB who Nutt picked instead of Mustain.

At the end of a regular season highlighted by last week’s defeat of top-ranked LSU, the overall feeling among the Arkansas fans is one of “what might have been.”

The Future
And now, the man who sacrificed “what might have been” for the sake of own ego is gone too, leaving behind what seems to be a largely depleted 2008 team with no Malzahn, no Mustain, no McFadden and likely no Felix Jones. Certainly a high price to pay to get rid of him, but it’s what needed to happen.

And for those of you who insist on toeing the (uninformed) national media line and feeling bad for Nutt, don’t—he received a $3.5 million going away present and has already found himself another job at Ole Miss, which isn’t surprising, since the Rebels were one of the only SEC teams Nutt could consistently beat.

On second thought, he is now coaching for Ole Miss, so maybe you should feel sorry for him after all.

A Busy Few Days In The World Of Sports

I am supposed to be working on the second halves of other posts (and I am), but there have been several momentous developments in the world of sports, and I wanted to mention them briefly before they were all old news.

• Barry Bonds has been indicted on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Apparently, the Federal Government is not convinced that Bonds told the truth when he claimed that he had never knowingly taken steroids. Go figure. Bonds could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all counts (no matter what, he won’t serve nearly that much time), so he’s facing some pretty serious charges.
  
• News reports have confirmed that Houston Nutt will not be back next season as the head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. No one knows for sure yet if he is being let go, is stepping down on his own or is off to ruin someone else’s football program, but whatever the specifics, the majority of Arkansans will now have one more thing to be thankful about on Thursday.
  
• The Razorback Basketball team lost its first game under new head coach John Pelphrey yesterday, suffering a 16-point defeat at the hands of Providence at an early season tournament in Puerto Rico. The alarming thing is that the Hogs have committed 58 turnovers over the course of the last two games, which, outside of Junior High games, has got to be about the highest total I have ever heard.
  
• It looks like A-Rod will be a Yankee next year (and several years after that) after all. Rodriguez swallowed his pride a little and went back to the negotiation table, this time without agent Scott Boras. Analysts have surmised that Boras’ reputation will take a hit from this episode, which might be supported by the fact that Kenny Rogers has already fired him.
• Oregon QB and Heisman hopeful Dennis Dixon saw his season end Thursday night in the first quarter of his team’s loss to Arizona when he went down with an ACL tear. Dixon is another in a long line of Heisman candidates who have had disappointing seasons due to injury, inconsistent play, or being on a bad team. The injury will help out the chances of Arkansas’ Darren McFadden, but after another mixed performance today (D-Mac had a 50+ yard TD reception and threw for a score as well but ended up with less than 100 yards on the ground), it will probably take a huge game against LSU to give him the Heisman hardware.

There are probably a couple of other developments that I missed. I don’t remember the last time so many big sports stories broke at the same time.

An Update On The D-Mac-Mobile

Well, I saw that really ugly car again yesterday.

Fayetteville is a town of about 70,000, so seeing an unusual automobile isn’t quite like finding a needle in a haystack, but at the same time, seeing Darren McFadden cruising around in his “car” for the second time in less than a week after having never seen it before was a little surprising.

This time though, I saw him driving down a side road.

After that 17 carry, 43 yard Heisman-hopes-destroying performance he had in Arkansas’ anemic 9-7 loss to Auburn on Saturday, he may be trying to avoid attention.

Quite Possibly The Ugliest Car I Have Ever Seen

I was stopped at a traffic light with my dad yesterday when he pointed out an unusual car as it passed by.

We agreed that the Razorback red Ford Crown Victoria with 26” rims was hideous, and were wondering who would drive it, when suddenly my dad exclaimed, “Oh, it’s D-Mac’s!”

“D-Mac,” of course, being the nickname of the Arkansas Razorbacks’ superhuman, Heisman Trophy-favorite running back, Darren McFadden.

We then watched in amusement as D-Mac drove on in his Pimp My Ride version of a monster truck.

Darren McFadden is, by far, the best college player in the country, but his taste in automobiles leaves a little bit to be desired.