Nutt says reports aren't true, decries 'rumors'

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS - Arkansas coach Houston Nutt scolded the media Saturday about reports indicating this will be his last year with the Razorbacks.

``Stop predicting and stop making up rumors,'' Nutt said after Arkansas beat Mississippi State 45-31. ``I would wait until after the meeting with the athletic director the new athletic director, Jeff Long and then make comments to get some facts.''

Various reports have surfaced saying Nutt won't be back next year, although they did not give a clear indication of whether Nutt would be dismissed or leave on his own.

``It wasn't true yesterday and it's not true today,'' Nutt said.

The university strongly denied Friday that any decision has been made on Nutt's future. Athletic director Frank Broyles is retiring at the end of the year and has said he'll leave a decision on Nutt's status to Long, his replacement.

Long was at Saturday's game but would not comment on Nutt's situation.

Arkansas entered the season in the Top 25 but quickly fell out. The Razorbacks lost their first three Southeastern Conference games this year, and fan unrest has been noticeable.

``I haven't talked to one athletic director except for coach Broyles and (Arkansas) Chancellor (John) White, and so to make statements like that and try to disrupt your team and create all these stories, it's kind of foolish,'' Nutt said. ``I felt sorry for our team because everybody's asking them what's going on, 'Is it true?' It's just a bad deal.''

Nutt praised his players for playing through the distractions Saturday.

``I was just really pleased and proud of how they performed with everything going on,'' he said.

Star tailback Darren McFadden said it wasn't too hard to focus.

``We've seen and heard about everything,'' McFadden said. ``It's just something we have to overlook. ... It is something coach Nutt told us was going on. I don't think there was any truth to the rumors that were going around.''

Nutt was asked to assess his future.

``I go one day at a time,'' Nutt said. ``All I want to do is coach this season, and then we have an evaluation time after the end of each year with the athletic director this time, probably with Jeff Long.''