Nutt's Case

By: Steve Eubanks
Foxsportssouth.com
September 3, 2010

Houston Nutt could not be happier. The coach of the Ole Miss Rebels usually speaks in measured tones, sounding more like a guidance counselor than an SEC head coach at times. But he had a hard time containing himself on Friday afternoon once he learned that transfer quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will, indeed, be eligible to suit up on Saturday. 

“We are appreciative and appreciate the system, and everybody involved,” Nutt said. 
Athletic director Pete Boone called Nutt the moment he got word, and according to the coach, “I’m surprised you didn’t hear me scream down in Pascagoula.” Nutt then told Masoli of the decision. “He was ecstatic,” Nutt said. “He was in tears talking to his mom. We’ll all so excited.” 

Masoli will not start in the Rebel’s opener. Nathan Stanley had already been slotted into the starting spot, and Masoli was very supportive of that decision, even going so far as to help coach Stanley and Randall Mackey after the initial ineligibility ruling came on Tuesday.  

Masoli’s transfer from Oregon had been controversial from the get-go. With one year of eligibility left, earlier in the summer it appeared more likely that the Heisman contender would be wearing prison orange than Rebel blue.

In March, he was arrested for stealing lap tops out of an Oregon fraternity house, a felony. Then, after a generous plea deal that kept him on the gridiron and out of the pokey, Masoli was arrested again for driving with a suspended license and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

He once again skirted jail time, but the second arrest got him the boot from the Ducks football team.

Enter Ole Miss and the NCAA.

Under current rules, any player who graduates from his current university with eligibility remaining may transfer to another football program without sitting out a year as long as he is accepted into a graduate program at that school, and the field of study within that graduate program is not offered at his current university.  Masoli graduated from Oregon (despite his arrest record) and was accepted into the graduate parks and recreation program at Ole Miss.

Coach Nutt put him in pads, and expected him to play.

“When he first came down here and visited, I saw a young man who really wanted to change his life, wanted to do what’s right, wanted to be a teammate,” Nutt said. “When you meet his parents and you spend time with him you realize that these are good, solid people.” 

But the NCAA saw it differently. Even though Masoli had followed the rule to the letter, the compliance officers at the NCAA felt as though he had violated the intent of the rule, applying to grad school at Ole Miss only after being kicked off of the Ducks. Initially, they ruled that his actions violated the spirit of the rule, and he was therefore ineligible to play. Ole Miss appealed that decision, and won that appeal on Friday afternoon. 

“What really showed me a lot about (Jeremiah) was Tuesday,” Nutt said. “To go out there and really encourage Randall Mackey and Nathan Stanley after what he’d been through that day – he was actually coaching them up – showed a lot of character. You find out a lot about people when things don’t go just right, when adversity hits. He’s been awesome.”