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WALLY HALL: Houston Nutt's 'touch base' call gives sliver of insight into UA football coach search

It was the first and only crack in the great wall of privacy surrounding the search for a head football coach at the University of Arkansas.

Wednesday morning during his weekly appearance on 103.7-FM, The Buzz, Houston Nutt said he had been contacted by UA deputy athletic director Jon Fagg.

Nutt said it was one of those "touch base" calls, and it seemed the search had zeroed in on a few other guys.

It already had been written that Fagg was helping Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, which is actually in Fagg's job description.

That tells us several coaches have been contacted by either Yurachek or Fagg to gauge their interest.

No sense in wasting time vetting guys who aren't interested, and some said they were not interested.

It also tells us that Yurachek and Fagg are, as Yurachek said, taking their time.

An educated guess is they are vetting several guys and have made courtesy calls to them or their agents.

Yes, there is more than one agent in the world.

Jimmy Sexton is the most powerful in the SEC. In fact, he created the first ever buyout for Arkansan and former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.

Everyone knows that in 2003, upon the command of a powerful booster, Auburn officials made a secret visit to Louisville to meet with Bobby Petrino. The secret got out and ended the courtship. Tuberville went 13-0 in 2004 and got a new contract with the new clause.

If anyone associated with Auburn contacted another coach during the season, Tuberville could exercise a $7 million buyout.

In 2008 with about a week to go and Auburn staring at a losing season, a wealthy booster called a coach who also had Sexton as an agent.

Tuberville took the buyout and coached three years at Texas Tech and four at Cincinnati before retiring. He is now running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.

Now it appears Gus Malzahn's seat at Auburn is so hot it is almost on fire. Two years ago, he signed a $49 million contract with a $27 million buyout.

The red-hot rumor Tuesday night was Malzahn and Auburn were negotiating a lower amount in a lump sum, and he could go coach somewhere else, presumably Arkansas.

That rumor was false. There are no negotiations in progress at Auburn, at least not yet.

Only Yurachek and Fagg know whether there is interest in Malzahn, who used Arkansas to help get that $49 million contract, but beating Georgia and Alabama that year were the biggest factors.

For the number of Razorback fans who want Malzahn, most likely there's an equal number who want Nutt.

They were polarizing figures during the 2006 season, a time not worth rehashing.

Apparently Yurachek has been treating this as his personal no-contact period. He is moving slowly and cautiously, and he has stated he has to get the hire right.

More than likely, the Razorback Foundation jet will be flying high next week.

Yurachek proved during his search for a basketball coach that he wants an eye-to-eye meeting with any and all prospects. He's a hands-on interviewer.

He'll rely on his instincts, but even more so on all the research he and Fagg are in the process of gathering.

That's where the search is today, still collecting data that should be finished in plenty of time for a Sunday departure to parts only Yurachek and Fagg know about.

If there is a front-runner, only those working on the search know who it is. Like Nutt said, there's probably three or four they will be focusing on.

The real fun starts Sunday.

Sports on 11/21/2019

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