Nutt Turns Down Nebraska Overture

Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt took himself out of consideration for the coaching job at Nebraska Saturday after Arkansas officials agreed to restructure his contract.

Nutt, 46, cited strong family ties and a job left undone at Arkansas in turning down Nebraska while acknowledging that his new deal is worth close to $1.5 million a year, a substantial boost from the $800,000 he was earning.

“They’re going to take care of me. There are some things still being worked out,” Nutt said.

A Nebraska charter plane waited four hours on Friday to take Nutt from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to Lincoln, Neb., before leaving without the coach. “I could not take my family, myself, and get on that plane,” Nutt said Saturday. “My heart was here.”

There were reports that Nebraska offered Nutt a $2 million-a-year deal. But, Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson said the coaching job hasn’t been offered to anyone yet and that he simply wanted Nutt to come to campus for a formal interview.

Nutt confirmed that there had been no offer.

“He didn’t actually ever offer me the job, but I’m protecting him a little bit, too,” Nutt said. “Things would have gotten very difficult if I had gotten on that plane.”

Nebraska fired Frank Solich in November after a 9-3 regular season, and the team finished 10-3 after defeating Michigan State, 17-3, in the Alamo Bowl under interim coach Bo Pelini.

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If USC finishes No. 1, as expected, in the final Associated Press media poll, Trojan Coach Pete Carroll will accept the AP national championship trophy at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Heritage Hall. The school plans to salute the team during a public ceremony when classes resume at USC in mid-January.

Jeff Schweiger, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive lineman from Valley Christian High in San Jose, announced that he will attend USC.

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Despite the likelihood of a split national championship, bowl championship series coordinator Mike Tranghese said a playoff system won’t be discussed among proposed changes for next season.

“We’re engaged in almost weekly discussions on the next BCS model, but a playoff is not one of the items we’re discussing,” Tranghese said. “And it won’t be when we sit down four months from now.”

He added: “The university presidents in charge of the system have told us not to go down that road. We asked about being able to look into it, simply to give them some idea of its monetary value. They just said, ‘No.’ ”

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Ohio State cornerback Chris Gamble says he will give up his final season of eligibility and declare himself available for April’s NFL draft.... Two Arkansas players also will give up their final season of eligibility in hopes of being selected in the NFL draft. Tight end Jason Peters and cornerback Lawrence Richardson announced their intentions on Saturday.