Nutty opinions abound that Kansas football job does not attract quality applicants

By Staff     Nov 21, 2017

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Charlie Weis, 55, waves to media members at the Lawrence Airport on Thursday night around 8:30 p.m. after arriving in town with Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger, at right. Weis has agreed to become the 37th head football coach in KU history.

Far too often, athletic directors seeking head football coaches put “hot name” on the list of qualifications.

They do so because they place winning the press conference above building a winning football program on their list of priorities.

So if the hot name of the moment is the coordinator from a national powerhouse program, they like that. If Art Briles before his fall from grace happens to be the coach drawing the most praise at the moment and he used to be a high school football coach in Texas, then having high school football coach in Texas on your resume heats up your name.

Typically, “hot name” takes precedence over the three-word combination that should trump all else: good football coach.

Every time I write about good football coaches who wanted the Kansas job when the last three vacancies surfaced, I remember another, or someone reminds me of another.

Consider the blind resume of, we’ll call him John Doe before revealing his name later in the blog.

In his first assignment as a head coach, at the FCS level, his team’s went 4-7, 5-6, 11-1, 11-2. He stayed for one year at his next job, an FBS school, and then earned a promotion to an SEC program.

Coach Doe inherited an SEC program that made it to two bowl games in the previous eight seasons. He took that same school to bowl games in each of his first six seasons. His team played in three New Years’ Day bowls in a five-year period.

He coached two different schools to victories over LSU in Baton Rouge, once when LSU was ranked No. 1, the next time when the Tigers were No. 8. He moved to another SEC program, had two good seasons, two bad ones and was fired.

Houston Nutt, who played quarterback for Lou Holtz at Arkansas and was head coach for Murray State, Boise State, Arkansas and Ole Miss, wanted the Kansas job when it went to Charlie Weis and again when it went to David Beaty.

He’s working as a broadcaster now and turned 60 last month and last coached in 2011.

Nutt most recently made national news when he gained a settlement in his favor in court. He wasn’t suing Ole Miss for money. He was suing for an apology to restore his good reputation. Nutt alleged a smear campaign designed to pin the Rebels’ NCAA violations on him instead of successor Hugh Freeze.

Nutt won, receiving the following apology last month: “Certain statements made by university employees in January, 2016, appear to have contributed to misleading reports about Coach Nutt. To the extent any such statements harmed Coach Nutt’s reputation, the university apologizes, as this was not the intent.”

Good football coach.

Why do I continue to write about coaches who wanted the KU job in the past? Because I don’t believe the contention of many that the Kansas job is not an appealing one. Don’t buy that for a second. It’s a very difficult one, but many good football coaches, Nutt included, would embrace the challenge.

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51365Nutty opinions abound that Kansas football job does not attract quality applicants