Two weeks ago the future looked quite bright for the University of Arkansas.  A rebuilding year which started with a 50-14 pasting by Southern Cal turned into a 10-3 record, an appearance in the SEC Championship Game and a Capital One Bowl berth against Wisconsin.  Darren McFadden, nicknamed Run DMC by fans, was invited to the Heisman ceremony as a sophomore and his backfield mate Felix Jones is also considered one of the best and most versatile backs in the country.  Additionally, a great recruiting class contributed several key players to this year’s run including quarterback Mitch Mustain, wide receiver Damian Williams and tight end Ben Cleveland.  With such unexpected success and such youth in tow, what could go wrong?
 
The heart of head coach Houston Nutt’s 2006 recruiting class was a group of players who played together in High School at Springdale, Arkansas.  Four of the top 5 players from that team followed their head coach, Gus Malzahn, to Arkansas.  Malzahn just happened to be hired as the new offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas.  A move many considered to be one of self-survival for Houston Nutt who was under growing pressure and scrutiny for his lack of recent success.  Three of these players were the highly touted players Mustain, Williams and Cleveland from Springdale High.

 
At Springdale these players, and freshman wide receiver Andrew Norman, operated in a very effective passing offense that set numerous records during its domination the state’s 5A high school football landscape.  Recently it has come out that during the recruiting process these players were assured that the conservative, run-oriented offense run at Arkansas would be altered to resemble the potent, high flying passing offense run at Springdale High.  Two of these players who had verbally committed to Urban Meyer at Florida changed their commitments to Arkansas prior to signing day.  Mitch Mustain had committed to Arkansas early, wavered on his commitment and then reconfirmed his intention to attend Arkansas, presumably after he received the proper assurances that the Razorbacks would become a much more pass friendly team.
 
It should be of no surprise that Arkansas, with its stable of talented running backs, is the WORST passing team in the conference.  As such the players and the parents of the players who were promised one type of offense have grown very concerned at the direction of the program.  Adding to this fear is the speculation that Gus Malzahn is also unhappy with the direction of the program and could leave to take a coaching opportunity elsewhere in the next few years.  Its my guess that promises were made to the kids AND to Malzahn that have not been implemented.

“The reason for the meeting was very simple,” Rick Cleveland said.  “We wanted to know what is the direction of Arkansas football program.  Are we eventually going to get to Gus’s offense?  Or are we going to stay with the way we are at present?” (NW Arkansas Times)

Recently a meeting was held with the Athletic Director Frank Broyles and the parents.  According to Rick Cleveland, Broyles stated experts had informed him that the Springdale offense would not work in the SEC and in order for it to work the quarterback has to run the ball 15 to 18 times a game.  It seems clear that Arkansas will not be running the offense Malzahn designed for his State 5A High School team.  Broyles also stated that the person they needed to meet with was not him but rather coach Nutt to discuss these issues.
 
Damian Williams and Ben Cleveland both want to catch around 60 passes a year.  Based on their high school careers in the Malzahn offense these are reasonable expectations but at the college level and in the SEC they are delusional.  Only 5 players caught 60 or more passes in the SEC this season and only one wide receiver has ever caught more than 60 passes at the University of Arkansas.  It seems both the players and parents allowed themselves to believe some recruiting fantasies that will never happen.  The Razorbacks are a team loaded with great talent at the running back position and are primarily a running team.  Williams and Cleveland realized that they were going to be utilized as blockers 90% of the time they were in the game.
 
Based on this information, Damian Williams has decided to transfer from the University.  His teammates Mitch Mustain and Ben Cleveland have publicly stated they intend to stay but Ben has done so clearly against the advice of his father who has repeatedly stated that Arkansas is not a good fit for his son and that Ben will not be happy in the current offensive system.  Mitch Mustain, whose primary job is handing to the Jones and McFadden, seems to be saying the right things.  However it must be noted that he is currently getting half of the snaps at practice with fellow quarterback Casey Dick which suggests that the quarterback position for the Capital One Bowl seems to still be open.
 
I think it is only a matter of time before Cleveland and possibly Mustain follow in Williams’ footsteps and announce their intention to transfer.  With 6′6″ sophomore receiver Marcus Monk on the team the loss of Williams can be overcome.  While one of the most talented tight ends in the country, Ben Cleveland doesn’t play at a vital position and even his loss won’t greatly affect the team.  Mitch Mustain though is the future of the quarterbacking position at Arkansas.  Expect the coaching staff and administration to do whatever they can to keep him placated and at the School.  The loss of Mustain would be as much a public relations loss as personnel loss.
 
Adding to this current drama is the recent release of a book “The Year of the Dog” chronicling last years Springdale season.  Written by a sports reporter who was allowed absolute access to the team and its players one comment by Mitch Mustain has sparked a message board maelstrom.

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.” LINK

Despite speculation that both Nebraska and LSU had interest in Houston following the departures of Frank Solich and Nick Saban respectively, coach Nutt was under tremendous pressure this year.  He was forced by Broyles to give up his play calling and hire an offensive coordinator.  This was most likely a result of pressure from influential boosters who had grown weary of two consecutive losing seasons in a program they believed should win consistently (especially with all the huge donations to enhance the school’s stadium and facilities).  In his tenure as Athletic Director, Frank has hired a succession of conservative and antiquated coaches.  Houston Nutt is simply another in a long series of head coaches who share the same outdated football philosophy that Broyles used when he was the Razorback’s head coach back in the 1960s and 1970s.
 
The parents went to Broyles because they knew, as anyone who closely follows Arkansas would know, he is the real power in the Athletic department.  Arkansas athletics is a kingdom and Broyles is the lord and master of the empire.  Broyles would no sooner bring an innovative, modern thinking, offensive minded coach to Fayetteville as allow his school to schedule a game with Arkansas State.  I cannot actually decide which was the less intelligent assumption of the Springdale parents - believing that Arkansas was going to become a run and shoot style offense or thinking that Frank Broyles didn’t know exactly what was going on or what was promised to their children.
 
Houston Nutt found himself in a precarious position this season - win or prepare for unemployment.  The pressure has mounted against Broyles whose record with coaching hires is pathetic at best and tragic at worst (Danny Ford, Stan Heath, Jack Crowe, etc, etc).  The Broyles clones haven’t had anything but sporadic success since Lou Holtz left the school in 1984.  Broyles fired (aka forced a resignation from) Holtz despite a 60-21 record and 6 bowl appearances in 7 years citing that he wasn’t performing up to the ‘best of his abilities’.  The Razorbacks most successful college basketball coach, Nolan Richardson, also left in an embarrassing media circus after he openly accused Broyles of treating his program as second class citizens.
 
So Nutt knew his place, he remained the obedient coach and hired Gus to placate the fan base for Mr. Broyles.  No real fundamental philosophy change was ever expected to take place but Malzahn brought with him the kinds of players who could keep Arkansas competing for SEC West titles for several more years as well as a “perception” of offensive improvement.  Whether Nutt ever intended to alter his offense over time is debatable, clearly his immediate concern was winning enough games to keep his job.  And to do that he played to the strength of his team: their running backs.  He didn’t allow Malzahn to install his hurry up offense and instead instructed him to utilize McFadden and Jones as the centerpiece of the Razorback offense.
 
These kids and their parents were misled, a common occurence in High School recruiting.  Broyles contention that “experts” have determined Malzahn’s offense can’t work sounds like sheer nonsense and this would have been known prior to hiring Gus and recruiting his kids from Springdale.  Plus how effective will these claims be if Florida ever gets its spread option to operate effectively (or if Alabama had hired a coach like Rich Rodriguez to install a similar system at Alabama).  I believe Houston lied to both Malzahn and his recruits making promises he really couldn’t keep.  But Houston did so under extreme duress from his AD.  The Arkansas players and Malzahn can say they are satisfied and want to be Razorbacks but it looks to be nothing more than a smokescreen to obscure growing discontent within the program. 
 
I cannot say exactly what is going on behind closed doors in Fayetteville but its a smart guess that this resolution is nothing more than a temporary fix to affix calm to the team before their bowl game against Wisconsin.  This situation will be a good indication of how good a coach Houston Nutt really is.  Coaching isn’t just knowing schemes and plays, its about managing players and understanding a teams psychology.  Don’t turn the channel because I suspect this soap opera has yet to completely play itself out.