Nutt to become Mississippi coach

One day, Houston Nutt was leaving Arkansas. The next, he was heading to Mississippi.

Ole Miss will introduce Nutt as its new coach today, ending a whirlwind hiring that began when he resigned at Arkansas on Monday and agreed to become the Rebels’ coach about four hours later.

Mississippi was without a coach for less than three days. Ed Orgeron, a former USC assistant, was fired on Saturday after three losing seasons.

Rebels Athletic Director Pete Boone said Tuesday he contacted Nutt on Sunday after hearing a rumor the coach would be resigning. Nutt didn’t really want to talk then “because he had a job,” Boone said. That soon changed.

“This all happened overnight with me,” Boone said.

Nutt agreed to a contract Monday night, a four-year deal that will pay him $1.7 million to start and increase by $100,000 each year.

He has an option for three more seasons as well, with the opportunity to earn more money with incentives.

“I think we were thorough in our discussions and covered all the things we needed to cover, but I felt like let’s get this thing done,” Boone said.

Nutt, 50, is 111-70 in 15 years as a head coach at Arkansas, Boise State and Murray State.

Sonny Lubick is out as Colorado State coach and hasn’t decided whether to accept the school’s offer to stay on as a fundraiser and goodwill ambassador.

“I have no plans right now. It’s too early to speculate,” Lubick, 70, said.

Athletic Director Paul Kowalczyk said Lubick has a job as associate athletic director available to him “if and when he wants it.”

Lubick’s coaching staff was also let go with the exception of Tom Ehlers, the director of football operations, who will be kept on to oversee the transition period.

Kowalczyk said he had no timetable for hiring a new coach.

Lubick gathered his players Tuesday before the news conference and told them he wasn’t leaving on his own accord. He wanted to stay and help turn around the program. The team was 3-9 this season.

“He told us he wanted to come back,” Colorado State quarterback Caleb Hanie said. “He said, ‘I would never quit on you guys.’ That’s what we wanted to hear from him.”

Tulsa has filed a complaint with Conference USA regarding a halftime performance by the Rice marching band ridiculing Coach Todd Graham, who left Rice after one season to coach the Golden Hurricane.

The theme of the performance by the Marching Owl Band was a search for Graham through nine circles of hell based on Dante’s “Divine Comedy.”

“I think anyone has an opinion and can express a view about people’s behavior, but creating a production and presenting it to fans is entirely different than expressing an individual’s view of behavior,” Tulsa Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham said.

Virginia exercised an option to add a year onto the contract of Coach Al Groh, who has guided the Cavaliers to a 9-3 record. Groh’s deal will now run through the 2011 season. . . . Boston College backup running back A.J. Brooks has been suspended from the team indefinitely after allegedly beating and kicking a 20-year-old man on campus.

The Western Athletic Conference has reprimanded Hawaii receiver Davone Bess for taunting fans after the Warriors’ 28-26 victory at Nevada two weeks ago. . . . California receiver DeSean Jackson isn’t sure he’ll play against Stanford after sitting out of practice because of a bruised right leg.

Connecticut accepted a bid to play in the Meineke Bowl on Dec. 29 in Charlotte, N.C. The Huskies will play an Atlantic Coast Conference team, expected to be named after the league’s title game on Saturday. . . . South Florida accepted a bid to the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31 in El Paso, the Bulls’ third consecutive postseason appearance. South Florida will play a team from the Pacific 10.