Houston Nutt Best Head Coach for NFL Talent Ever at Arkansas

A lot of folks will be surprised, but by draft number, Nutt crushes all other Razorback coaches

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Apr 29, 2023 11:16 PM EDT
Original:
Apr 29, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If the headline doesn't particularly impress you, then by NFL Draft first-round choices, Houston Nutt developed more than every other coach at Arkansas in the last 40 years ... combined. He also developed the most in program history.

Some won't even like hearing that. Others will make excuses. The numbers are what they are whether you like it or not. While some say it doesn't matter, clearly the number of players taken in that first round has a direct relation to winning championships.

Just look at the first round of the latest draft. Alabama had eight players taken by teams, including the No. 1 and No. 3 players selected overall. Georgia and Ohio State each had three. There are more championships with those three teams than anybody else and it's not really close unless you want to throw Clemson's name out there to have an alternative (they had two).

To all those trying to dismiss my argument, that's fine. As Bobby Bowden told his staff about recruiting the highest-rated high school players, "getting them doesn't guarantee you a championship, but I can guarantee you won't play for one without them."

The numbers say the same is true about the NFL Draft numbers reflecting directly on championships (conference and nationally). The Razorbacks haven't won either one of those or come close since joining the SEC in 1992.

Nutt had six players taken in the first round of the draft and he recruited them all to the Hogs:

2004 — Shawn Andrews, Ahmad "Batman" Carroll

2005 — Matt Jones

2007 — Jamaal Anderson

2008 — Felix Jones, Darren McFadden.

Just in case you have forgotten, the Hogs have only played in SEC Championship games three times and Nutt did it twice. Bobby Petrino had two 10-win seasons and finished third in his own division of the league behind Alabama and LSU and didn't send a single player to the draft in the first round. If you still think there's not a direct relationship between having the best players and winning, keep dreaming.

Lou Holtz had five players taken in the first round of the draft, but he only recruited three of them. He inherited Dan Hampton and Steve Little.

As for Frank Broyles, had three players taken in the first round.

It also shows how a coach and his staff develop players. A lot of people think it's all due to talent, but that's not the case. Alabama and Ohio State have five-star recruits stacked on top of each other. Getting good players makes it a little easier to develop first-round picks in the NFL.

Since Nutt left, Arkansas has only had two first round picks. A full decade after Nutt's final team at Arkansas netted two first rounders, center Frank Ragnow, developed under the the Bret Bielema regime, was selected by Detroit in the first round of the 2018 draft. Four years later, Warren's Treylon Burks was snatched up with the overall No. 18 pick of last year's draft. Current Arkansas coach Sam Pittman inherited him from Chad Morris, but developed him for a couple of years before sending him to the Tennessee Titans.

Nutt developed players. No, this is not intended to dredge up all the old arguments about Nutt. That's history now. But the numbers are the numbers ... whether you like it, agree with it or not.