I’ve been a Houston Nutt fan from day one of his tenure at the University of Arkansas. When he took over for Danny Ford in 1998, Nutt was given the task of rebuilding a program that had struggled to a 4-7 record the previous season.

All Nutt did during his first year was guide the Razorbacks into Neyland Stadium to face Tennessee with an undefeated 8-0 record and an outside shot at the national title. While nursing a 24-21 lead near midfield in the final two minutes, quarterback Clint Stoerner made a colossal mistake and fumbled after slipping before executing a hand off.

You know the rest. The Vols rallied for a 28-24 win and eventually won the national title by beating Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Nevertheless, the Nutt Era was off to a running start in Fayetteville. From ’98 to 2003, the Hogs posted a 48-27 record (64%) and went to six bowl games.

Nutt had his dream job in the state he grew up in, a state with a fane base that doesn’t have a pro team and worships the Razorbacks, especially on Saturdays in the fall.

He was on top of the world, but the next three years would turn into a rollercoaster affair that has Nutt on the verge of entering the most important season of his career, one that will have to meet expectations if Nutt wants to continue to call Arkansas home.

Back to the 2004 season, when the Hogs limped to a 5-6 record. Even worse, Nutt flirted with Nebraska and LSU for their coaching vacancies, only to end up staying at Arkansas, but not without chafing the fan base and aging AD Frank Broyles.

Then in ’05, Arkansas limped to a 4-7 record, but there was one bright spot – the emergence of a freshman running back named Darren McFadden.

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And here’s where the story gets good. Before the 2006 campaign, Nutt brought in a banner recruiting class, highlighted by the signings of four players from nearby Springdale High School, the state champs in ’05.

Not only that, but Nutt also made Springdale head coach Gus Malzhan his new offensive coordinator. Malzahn would implement a new no-huddle offense.

But Nutt would change his mind about the no-huddle offense, opting instead to pound the running game with McFadden and another terrific change-of-pace speedster in Felix Jones.

Mustain became the starter in Week 2 and helped produce eight straight victories. However, the offense had no balance with Mustain getting very few passing attempts.

What more could a true freshman ask for? He was piloting the offense without much pressure on his shoulders, handing off to Jones and McFadden as the victories continued to pile up and Mustain gained more experience.

But at some point during that eight-game winning steak, the Springdale Crew became unhappy, and that shows their character, as in a lack thereof.

Whether it was Malzahn, WR Damian Williams, Mustain or the parents of these kids stirring the pot, they were putting their individual wishes ahead of the team.

And that’s a no-no, especially from a rookie coach and a pair of prima-dona freshmen that were challenging the competence of a coach with nine years of success under his belt.

Mustain became bitter after losing his job in the first quarter of a win at South Carolina. Then after a loss to LSU, the strange (and childish) drama started to unfold.

Williams, Mustain and Ben Cleveland, accompanied by their parents, went over Nutt’s head by going to Broyle’s office to voice their concerns about the direction of the program.

Direction of the program? At the time, the direction was toward Atlanta and a looming game at the Georgia Dome to win a league title, but this group of freshmen had the audacity to be critical of the coaching staff in the midst of a banner year.

Needless to say, the Springdale Crew quickly became a national punch line. Williams promptly announced he was transferring to USC despite garnering Freshman All-SEC honors.

After sitting behind Casey Dick in the SEC Championship Game loss to Florida, Mustain started talking about transferring, even before his team was to face Wisconsin in a bowl game.

Essentially, Mustain was quitting on his teammates, the ultimate bush league move from a selfish freshman who obviously had no respect for the team concept.

Malzahn also bolted, leaving Arkansas to become the co-offensive coordinator at Tulsa.

Arkansas would finish the year on a three-game losing streak, but the Hogs still had a 10-4 record and an SEC West title. And their only losses came to teams ranked in the top five.

McFadden finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, lending plenty of credence to the fact that the running game should’ve no doubt been the focal point of the offense in 2006.

But there was more drama to come. A bitter fan in Springdale requested Nutt’s phone records through the Freedom of Information Act, discovering that Nutt and local TV anchor Donna Bragg had exchanged 1,063 text messages over a short period of time.

This information, implying that Nutt was cheating on his wife, was passed along to nearly every media outlet across the country. Can you say witch hunt?

In defense mode, Nutt was moved to write a letter to the Razorback fans, insisting that he has never been unfaithful to his wife of 24 years, Diana.

Then there was the botched coaching search by Broyles after he fired basketball coach Stan Heath. Broyles struck out on his first two choices, Billy Gillispie and John Calipari. Next, he made a vanilla hire by signing Creighton’s Dana Altman, only for Altman to change his mind 24 hours after being introduced as the new coach.

Broyles ended up getting it right, albeit belatedly, with the hiring of John Pelphrey, who I think was an excellent choice who will be a good fit.

But you get the picture. It’s been chaos in Fayetteville over the last year.

Nutt’s still got his dream job, but the pressure is on in 2007. It says here that he’ll rise to the occasion.

Brian Edwards can be reached via email at briane@vegasinsider.com.