Masoli Rumors Heating Up; Nutt Should Take Him

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What’s a coach to do?

When asked a week ago if he was chasing after dismissed Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, Houston Nutt simply said, “No.”  Then — as a complete surprise — redshirt freshman quarterback Raymond Cotton decided to transfer.

With just Nathan Stanley and juco transfer Randall Mackey on his roster, Nutt is now changing his tune on Masoli.

The former Heisman hopeful was booted from the Oregon team in June after his second legal run-in in 2010.  In January, he was charged with burglary for taking part in the break-in of a frat house.  Then this summer he was cited for possession of marijuana and driving with a suspended license.  (NOTE: We have changed the word “arrested” to “charged” and “cited” in this paragraph.)

Masoli was interested in Ole Miss once he was dismissed.  Nutt did not feel the same way.  But down to two quarterbacks on his depth chart, UM’s coach now says that he has received Masoli’s release papers from Oregon.

Parrish Alford of The Northeast Mississippi Journal writes that “Nutt will get blistered if he takes this kid, but the fact is, things have changed now.  In the minds of a lot of people that shouldn’t affect Nutt’s position on whether to accept Jeremiah Masoli into the program.”

Here’s the rub for Nutt.  If Masoli comes to Ole Miss, performs well on the field and is a good citizen off of it, no one in Oxford will give two hoots what the outside press say about Nutt’s decision.  Any knocks on Nutt will be used as “they’re all out to get us” rallying cries.

But if Nutt does not take Masoli — on principle — and his offense struggles without Jevan Snead, Shay Hodge and Dexter McCluster this fall, he’ll go into Year Four in Oxford on a quickly warming seat.

Principles only matter when it comes to someone else’s program.  Fans rip other coaches for giving second chances to miscreants and repeat offenders, but if those same salvation projects win games for THEIR coach and team, well, then their guy made the right decision.  For both the school and “for the young man,” of course.

So what should Nutt do? 

What every other coach in the SEC would do if faced with the same predicament — grab Masoli, keep him on a short leash, and pray that he doesn’t get in trouble in Oxford.  And turn a deaf ear to the jabs and jibes that will be sure to come from the media and rival fans.



UPDATE — ESPN.com’s Chris Low wonders if gambling on Masoli is a wise idea. 

From a reputation sense?  Probably not.  But as I wrote above, from a football sense, the answer — sadly — is probably yes.

Nutt has a reputation for being a good coach who can never quite get his team to the “great” level.  Rebel fans believed that last year would be their season to climb the national rankings to a Top 10 finish.  Instead they “rose” to their second Cotton Bowl berth in as many years.  That’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s not the SEC title game or a walk on Bourbon Street to end the season, either.

If Nutt’s team disappoints this year (even with the losses they’ve suffered in terms of personnel), he will have overseen two “disappointing” seasons in his three in Oxford.  Add that to his good-not-great reputation in a decade’s work at Arkansas and he would be on the verge of catching some real flak from Rebel fans heading into 2011.

In the end, that’s all that matters. 

There are plenty of former Alabama players who would tell you that they love their old coach, Mike Shula.  Do you think anyone aside from those players care that Shula was a good guy?  Heck no.

We talk a lot about NCAA investigations, APR scores and keeping players out of jail, but coaches usually don’t get fired over any of those issues.  Unless one or more of them are coupled with this, the most important factor in coaching: Losing.

If you lose, your days are numbered regardless of what Boy Scout is quarterbacking your team. 

Conversely, how much money and how many wins did guys like Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer rack up during their careers?  They ran bad boy programs, but they won.

On a personal level, I’d like to see Nutt avoid bringing Masoli onto his team.  But I’m smart enough to know that a) Masoli didn’t commit a violent crime (which will make bringing him in easier) and b) winning trumps integrity in college sports.  Sad, but true.

For that reason, if it’s an option, Nutt should hold his nose and roll the dice on the former Oregon star.