February Purges Under Way in Fayetteville or Some Fans Are More Equal Than Others

by SMQ on Feb 15, 2007 5:26 PM EST in News Comment 3 comments

Regular readers may have noticed SMQ digs historical/political allegory. And once one begins to think of Houston Nutt as a struggling dictator turning to propaganda to assure the righteous working people that, no, those once-coveted bodies currently fleeing Fayetteville en masse do not represent the eminent collapse of Arkansas football - which is doing wonderful, in fact, a progressive force that continues to grow stronger and stronger every day - it's all too easy to picture him as, well, a pig, of the Animal Farm variety. Hyperbole, without a doubt, but his Number Two having disappeared along with his idealistic proteges, former Nutt loyalists continue to receive the relative spike for criticism of the powers-that-be:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Arkansas Razorbacks football coach Houston Nutt revoked the sideline pass of a family friend over a critical e-mail she wrote to freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain, and the e-mail drew a rebuke from Chancellor John A. White, as well.
[...]
[The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette] obtained university documents related to the e-mails, which were sent to a number of people on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7.

In January, the university investigated at the behest of Mustain's mother, Beck Campbell. The newspaper said that [Theresa] Prewett wrote a letter of apology to Mustain, who was released from his scholarship, at his request, so he can seek a transfer. Nutt sent a reprimand to Prewett and White sent a letter to Campbell that condemned Prewett's e-mail.

Prewett also was told not to have any contact with university football players, and the school placed a filter on its computer system to ban her e-mails, the newspaper reported.

Sideline pass? What pass? Houston Nutt doesn't remember issuing any sideline pass. Such a pass to the glorious grounds of Razorback Stadium never existed, comrades.

How exactly were Nutt and Prewett acquainted? The original Democrat-Gazette story is hidden behind a pay wall, but the Associated Press is good enough to include the juiciest possible bit of icy-hearted perfidy eminating from this story's core:

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported in its Thursday editions that the e-mails were written by booster Teresa Prewett, a Little Rock physical therapist who helped assistant coach Danny Nutt rehabilitate after brain surgery in 1998.

(emphasis SMQ's)

None shall be spared.

You're a cold one, Mister Nutt.
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Update [2007-2-16 9:32:31 by SMQ]: Premier Broyles will offer to resign this weekend by the end of '07. Unless he actually won't. The university's Board of Trustees meets Saturday to discuss "a variety of real estate matters" and might talk about Broyles in an executive session. But beware the propagandist's lies.

Update, Part Deux [2007-2-16 12:54:31 by SMQ]: Orson at EDSBS delivers a copy of Prewett's message to Mustain, which is, without question, beyond worthy of excommunication, and of causing a rightly offended "little boy" to seek opportunities elsewhere. Here, Prewett expresses "regret" and disappointment "that Wally Hall and the Democrat-Gazette feels like this continues to be an issue" two months after the e-mail and a month after she says she sent an apology. But with the most highly-recruited quarterback probably in state history enjoying testing the waters elsewhere, local interest in a personal attack that demanded such a result is understandably persistent. After reading the letter, SMQ regrets the suggestion above that Nutt was wrong to cut her off from the program, regardless her past integral relationship with the family, which whatever his other mistakes he clearly was not. It's difficult to imagine such a missive to an 18-year-old from an adult who is supposed to realize the long-term consequences of very short-term catharsis (and also of having your picture snapped in a leotard).