CHRONICAS DE BOSS HAWG: MUSTAIN AND MOM LUVS FOIA
Yet another, yes still another chapter in the never ending saga that is…
Up the loco a few more degrees today to a degree we can only describe as plaid. The person who filed the Freedom of Information Act request to examine Houston Nutt’s cell phone records was none other than jilted qb Mitch Mustain himself. Mustain filed the request and included a release to his mother, Beckwith M. Campbell.
That’s a blue chip recruit college quarterback sifting through cell phone records using a piece of legislation usually reserved for uncovering government graft in coordination with his mother because the quarterback was benched after his former high school coach turned college offensive coordinator lost the reins to the offense despite winning their way through the SEC West, an act viewed as deceitful since the hiring of said offensive coordinator was key to blue-chipper committing in the first place to Arkansas despite the head coach saying all along that the hiring was merely coincidental and not a cheap bid to get the recruit into town following a lackluster season that had head coach in hot water with recruits, the sum total of which is this after all the hollerin’ and shoutin’: the coach is still in hot water.
Time to hit the Hawgberry, Don Hawg! Es muy importante! AHORA!
Addendum: Whole Hog Sports, in part of a much longer piece, has this bit of startling info:
In Fort Smith, Bragg’s exhusband requested extra police patrols in her neighborhood after people followed her home and a man drove by her house repeatedly with a video camera. Callers keep ringing her cell phone and hanging up, Russell Bragg said. Sgt. Jarrard Copeland of the Fort Smith Police Department confirmed the patrols.
That’s someone with a video camera hanging around Diana Bragg’s house, presumably to catch Houston Nutt driving over to visit her. Just. Speechless.
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1
HFS says:
That is quite possibly the greatest sentence ever, although I’m sure your H.S. English teacher would mark it all to hell.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am
2
Hook'em Tide says:
If the guy’s smart enough to use the foia and sift through cell phone records, I bet he was proficient at learning the playbook. Too bad his arm = wet noodle
April 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am
3
craig mclaughlin says:
“…sifting through cell phone records using a piece of legislation usually reserved for uncovering government graft in coordination with his mother because the quarterback was benched after his former high school coach…”
Don’t you mean ‘usually reserved for fishing expeditions by overpaid and underemployed newspaper hacks to justify their expense acount hangovers…’
Whatever side, if any, you take in the Fayetteville Follies, wouldn’t you have to admit that Mustain is making the best use of FOIA ever?
April 17th, 2007 at 10:48 am
4
maskedavenger says:
Well, if Mitch washes out as a QB, he has a great future as an agent . That was some impressive underhanded, yet legal, work. Perhaps this is his master plan. It would explain why he is going to a school that is already loaded with QBs. He is trying to go the Rob Pelinka route. If you don’t remember Rob, he was on the Fab Five Michigan teams, went to Michigan Law School, and at least at one time was representing Kobe Bryant. Mitch the future agent apparently knows where all the talent is.
Here is a Pelinka article for anyone who is interested:
http://www.prosportsgroup.com/SportsAgentNews/Mar2004/News/pelinka.htm
April 17th, 2007 at 10:51 am
5
Doug says:
On behalf of every other fan base in the SEC, I/we salute you, Arkansas, for making the rest of us look balanced and functional.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:58 am
6
Aerobab says:
That’s someone with a video camera hanging around Diana Bragg’s house, presumably to catch Houston Nutt driving over to visit her. Just. Speechless.
Let me guess…next, you’re going to tell me that it’s Mustain/Campbell doing the “drive-bys”??
April 17th, 2007 at 11:10 am
7
Cock D says:
Pleasanty Surprise of Groping
(see the pic at the top of http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/world/asia/17manners.html )
I wonder if that means something different in Columbus than it does in Beijing…
April 17th, 2007 at 11:14 am
8
maskedavenger says:
Not that this could get any more lurid, but is anyone else getting a strange Oedipal vibe here?
April 17th, 2007 at 11:14 am
9
Jerkwheat says:
Maskedavenger – I couldn’t agree more with that assessment of the situation.
Thank God for having at least one more year of Humanity Advanced on the field to make me happy.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:18 am
10
rob says:
I was gonna write something that had to do with Hamlet or even a “Twilight Zone” episode, but the one word that sums this up fully is “pwned.” and i hate that word.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:23 am
11
Kecalf Bailey says:
I wonder who the first to really go down will be…
I mean at least a firing/divorce, but more along the lines of a crowbar across the knee of the interceptioin king, or his mom, the interconception queen.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:23 am
12
jakldawg says:
You see, this is what happens when you don’t have a big rival team to despise to help channel away all the crazy.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:28 am
13
Brewster Crew says:
I think it’s sweet that Mustain and his mom have a hobby together. Sure sifting through cell phone records and filing FOIA requests demanding information on your coach aren’t the same as golfing, but maybe they just do things in Arkansas differently than we do up here in Minnesota.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:31 am
14
kwaj says:
Beckwith Marinovich….the Soccer Mom from Hell…..
FEMA needs to get a team of psychiatrists into Fayettville ASAP. Those folks are starting to make Crimson Tide fans appear sane.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:42 am
15
Tommy says:
For such a recent addition to the SEC, Arkansas sure has made the transition expertly. Right now, Alabama fans are saying to themselves, “Sure, we’ve got alums that pay $150K for o-linemen and said alums turn up accidentally dead with blood in every room of their Tudor home. And, yeah, we like to post the flight records of our coaches and athletic directors on message boards. So, yeah, we’re a little zany. But THOSE GUYS? (pointing at Arkansas) … those guys are loco.”
April 17th, 2007 at 11:42 am
16
The Hog Blogger says:
Jerkwheat,
Ditto on the Humanity Advanced. I’m a bit sick of all this.
Drive-bys?
Seriously?
April 17th, 2007 at 11:43 am
17
Boy Howdy says:
Well, that’s why you don’t bench him. You don’t bench crazy. You never bench crazy.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:45 am
18
DC Trojan says:
If I read that second linked article correctly, Mustain was one of multiple people who made a FOIA request for phone and other records for Houston Nutt. This whole episode is moving from farcical to surreal.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:48 am
19
George P. Budell says:
@ #17 – Chan is that you?
April 17th, 2007 at 11:52 am
20
Jerkwheat says:
I’m thinking of filing a FOIA just so I can be part of the crowd.
The anti-Nutt crowd likes to use the word “integrity” a lot – Maybe these folks will get what they want, we’ll ditch Houston (IN THE MIDDLE OF SPRING) and hire a coach with “integrity” like the Gary Barnett or Rick Neuheisal – I hear they are both available.
Oh that’s right, I keep forgetting, Butch Davis is coming in a heartbeat – he doesn’t actually WANT to coach a single game at UNC.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:58 am
21
NDTom says:
DCT, I’ll bring the bathtub full of lawn flamingos if you bring the 27 toaster ovens
April 17th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
22
Will says:
A few notes from a sane Hog fan:
#2– That Wet Noodle went 7-22 against your Tide– and still managed to throw the gamewinning TD. Scoreboard, jerkoff.
#5 — Your day will come, no matter who your team is in the league. Whether its $20k in counterfiets, a trailer park shooting over a rivalry game, or your newest linebacker being arrested for having a larger armory than the national army of Ghana, it will happen on an SEC campus.
#15– Spot on observation, man.
#17 — I tried the suggested strategy with women through both undergrad and grad school. You do bench crazy, after the third set of slashed tires.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
23
Blue says:
Did we mention that we DON’T WANT Mustain to transfer? Please stay in Hawgville and keep this freak show going!!!
April 17th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
24
DC Trojan says:
DCT, I’ll bring the bathtub full of lawn flamingos if you bring the 27 toaster ovens
I shall bring them on a small chariot towed by several disgruntled platypuses (platypi?)
April 17th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
25
CapstoneAlum says:
# 15
Logan Young never took a single class @ UA, so he is not an alum.
#22
During undergrad, I also operated under the policy of “Don’t cull shit”. My policy led to the list 1) insane phone messages that you cannot understand through the crying. 2) angry notes left on the porch 3) inevitable trip to Goodyears.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
26
Dave K. says:
So, for me the big question is this …where the hell is Mustain going to be able to transfer to after other D-I coaches find out he pulled this crap? I sure as hell wouldn’t take him…
April 17th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
27
Will says:
Dave K: It is the Ron Artest/Terrel Owens Rule: For amazing talent, you overlook history. It often doesn’t pan out at all, but there are no shortage of teams or schools willing to sell out to win.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
28
crimson9 says:
I think the time has come for the four letter network and others to quit using Alabama fans as the only example of over the top craziness. Some of these arkys are nuttier than crackhouse rats…
April 17th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
29
maskedavenger says:
DCT – If I were took all the peyote in Arizona, I still don’t think I could conjure up disgruntled platypus. Nice work.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
30
maskedavenger says:
Grrr. Read first – post second: Edit “were took” to “were to take.”
April 17th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
31
HFS says:
This may be different, though, Will. Artest/Owens, etc. are side shows. They embarass themselves, and if they over do it, then you can boot them off and keep up your display of integrity. Randy Moss may be a tangible college football example of this (although he never got kicked out of Marshall).
But Mustain has gone all Andy Barker, and any coach knows that if he ever has any problems with Mustain, then the coach is going to be in the cross hairs with Mitch’s investigative prowess.
“Win at all costs” does not mean “Win at the expense of my job”. That would be self-defeating.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
32
Will says:
Last I checked, HFS, HDN still had his job.
Avoidance of a Mustain isn’t going to help, either; coaches will have to learn how to deal with the new age of Helicopter parenting as it becomes ever more commonplace in their intereactions with young student athletes.
Throw in that any coach in America is a 3-8 from being fired, if they’re not named Paterno, Bowden, or Meyer, and it is a no-brainer that potential will woo someone to take him.
Mustain’s career starting mark is 8-0, and 6-0 vs the SEC. Someone, somewhere, will be all over that. Right now, the odds on favorite is Pete Caroll and USC
April 17th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
33
Dave K. says:
And its not like Mustain tore it up to the point where you would risk your job to take him.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
34
Will says:
Dave K.:
Undefeated as a starter in the toughest conference in the country, with a non-traditional power.
That’s enough for most people.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
35
italiangator says:
I actually think jackldawg might have something there (#12)- Ark. doesn’t really have a big rival in the conference (or out of it for that matter), so they really don’t have any way to distract themselves. If UF was infighting, it’d end the second UT or FSU made a misstep, Auburn hates themselves they’re still willing to hate Bama more. Notice too that no one is really taking any rivalry joy out of all this- it’s more laughing and amazement, no gloating.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
36
Out of Conference says:
Man, getting busted for running from the cops and keying a professor’s car sure look pretty minor now.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
37
italiangator says:
edit: “if” Auburn hates themselves.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
38
AtomicDog says:
Will,
Croom is another 3-8 from a lifetime contract!
April 17th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
39
Will says:
#38– Man, there’s no need to hate on MSU; they do it themselves, every year, when they put out a football team.
I like Sly Croom, he’s a great guy– he’s just in over his head at MSU. If Jackie Sherrill can’t buy your way to national prominence, no one will ever do so in Starktopia
April 17th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
40
oc phil says:
I disagree on #12’s thesis is the lack of a rival for Arkansas. The other batshit crazy fanbase they remind me of is UCLA, who obviously do have a rival and still have fans who indulge in the furious self-destructive attacks on the program and the coach.
I think it is an issue of being a mid-range power in the college fooftball world. The have had just enough success in the past that the gonzo fans can convince themselves that they are (or “should be”) on of the elite programs. But they are not. So when the program has some success they feel they should be going all the way and they turn on the coach. Since they are just deluded fans they get crazier and crazier when they can’t get what they want (the coach being fired and a coach who WILL bring them the national title they feel entitled to hired).
Plus in AK’s case they are clearly in the shadow of the power teams of the SEC and former SWC rival Texas similar to the way that UCLA is in the shadow of USC and Cal.
At least Arkansas hasn’t hired a juggler, at least yet.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
41
Rollo Tomasi says:
As an alum, I would like to put it this way.
What if (NAME REDACTED) accidentally won a bunch of games and bought himself a couple years. Everyone knows that he is going to win 8 games for the rest of that time and will embarrass himself and his fanbase the entire time.
NAME REDACTED – coaching ability = bag of rabid weasels
April 17th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
42
Will says:
OC Phil is closer to the truth than most Arkansas fans would like to admit.
There is a particular mindset among a segment of Arkansas fans, that it is still 1964, we’re still to measure ourselves by Texas, and we should be playing for National titles, or at least in National Title significant games every year; that we are 40 years removed from that era really doesn’t sink in to them, especially with a resurgent Texas program. It doesn’t help that Nutt has twice crushed Texas in a fashion that encouraged the mindset that Arkansas is Texas’ equal.
When Arkansas joined the SEC, the program was a winner, albeit in a conference that had more in common with the quality of the WAC, than the SEC. The Hogs took a quantum leap up in weight class, and it’s taken 15 years of facilities work and capital investment to put the Razorbacks back on equal footing to their new conference mates, and is beginning to flex its athletic muscles appropriately.
Unfortunately, Nutt had things going at Arkansas a bit ahead of schedule; the Stoerner fumble aside, there is little doubt that Arkansas overachieved early under Nutt, and that merely whetted the appetites of the Razorback fan base for bigger and better things.
10-3 and the Cap One Bowl would have been mana from heaven in 1998. In 2006, it just wasn’t enough, for many.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
43
IJ says:
Will, what I want to know is why were many Hawg fans desperate for Nutt to open up the offense?
With Humanity Advanced and Felix Jones in the backfield, why even pass the ball at all? That Wildcat formation gave me plenty of sleepleess nights, as I’m sure it did for defensive coordinators.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
44
HFS says:
Yes, HDN still has a job. I’m sure his clear, long term job security will be solace to any other coach having second thoughts about bringing in someone with a track record of investigating his previous coach.
Tuberville’s line about “leaving in a pine box” is something HDN shouldn’t try, because somebody over there might take him up on it.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
45
Brewster Crew says:
IJ, allow me to answer that for you. I feel qualified.
Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney
10-3 (5-3)
7-5 (3-5)
April 17th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
46
JD says:
And now, Hogs and the Hill is offline.
Has the Springdale Mafia struck again?
Que Mas Loco!
April 17th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
47
JD says:
#40 – “Plus in AK’s case they are clearly in the shadow of the power teams of the SEC and former SWC rival Texas similar to the way that UCLA is in the shadow of USC and Cal.”
The only kind of shadow that Cal throws is the Hitchcockian double-chin found on its non-heroin-addicted cheerleaders.
April 17th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
48
Tiffany says:
No. 43, because you can’t run it all the time…which I think we’ve more than proved.
April 17th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
49
RBG says:
Maybe Mustain should transfer to TN. He and Fat Phil can get form a detective agency together.
April 17th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
50
NewAZTiger says:
#15, bravo. Best post of the bunch.
Someone in Memphis drive across the state line on I-40 and see if the “Welcome to Arkansas” sign has the new state motto on it: “Go sell crazy somewhere else, we’re all full-up here.”
April 17th, 2007 at 5:23 pm