A former Arkansas quarterback who began his coaching career as a UA graduate assistant, Danny Nutt continues helping the Razorback program produce talented running backs.

In his ninth year on brother Houston Nutt’s staff, his backs helped Arkansas lead the Southeastern Conference in rushing for the third time in four years in 2005, and ranked No. 12 in the nation with 216.9 yards per game.

Freshman All-American Darren McFadden ran for 1,113 yards last year to rank fourth in the league while another freshman All-American, Felix Jones, ran for 626 and ranked 10th. McFadden recorded just the 10th 1,000-yard season in school history and three of those have come in the last four years with Houston as head coach and Danny the running backs coach.

McFadden was named first-team All-SEC, the SEC Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American. Jones was named a first-team All-American as a kick returner.

His backs helped Arkansas rank second in the Southeastern Conference and No. 22 in the nation in 2004 by rushing for 187.4 yards per game. De’Arrius Howard, DeCori Birmingham and Peyton Hillis combined for 1,225 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2004. Birmingham signed with the New England Patriots.

In 2003, tailback Cedric Cobbs led the SEC in rushing with a 110.0 yards per game average to become the first Razorback to lead the SEC in rushing. Cobbs was a fourth-round selection by New England in the 2004 NFL Draft and finished his career as the school’s third-leading rusher with 3,018 yards.

In 2002 under Nutt's guidance, UA running backs did not have a fumble during the regular season and Southeastern Conference Championship Game. The Razorbacks also led the SEC in rushing yards per game (218.9) behind All-SEC tailback Fred Talley.

Nutt has assisted his oldest brother, Houston Nutt, for 12 years since joining his staff at Murray State for the 1994 season and the Arkansas staff on Dec. 11, 1997.

His 2001 rotation of Talley, Cedric Cobbs and Brandon Holmes produced a total of 1,279 yards and 14 touchdowns while freshmen DeCori Birmingham and Mark Pierce added another 166 yards and four TDs.

In 2000, injuries limited UA's top two tailbacks – Cobbs and Talley – to just 11 games combined, but Nutt directed a backfield that saw Cobbs, Talley and Holmes top the 100-yard mark a total of five times. Holmes came off the bench to rush for 95 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-10 overtime win at Mississippi State and followed with 143 yards in a 14-3 win over LSU to earn the Hogs a bowl bid.

Cobbs, Talley and Birmingham are just the latest in a line of talented backs Nutt has mentored. During his tenure at Murray State, he coached two Racer running backs to 1,000-yard rushing seasons: Derrick Cullors tallied a school-record 1,765 yards on the ground in 1995, followed in 1996 by Anthony Downs’ 1,160-yard rushing season.

Upon his return to Arkansas in 1998, he coached the tailback tandem of Chrys Chukwuma and Madre Hill to a total of five games with 100 or more rushing yards – three by Chukwuma and two by Hill. In 1999, Cobbs, Chukwuma and Michael Jenkins each broke the 100-yard rushing barrier in a game with Cobbs going for 107 yards in the Razorbacks’ 28-24 upset of No. 3 Tennessee.

With 19 years of coaching experience, Nutt has developed a reputation as a hard worker both on the recruiting trail and on the practice field. Never was this determination more evident than when he was hospitalized and underwent a delicate surgical procedure to stop bleeding from his brain stem just days before the Razorbacks faced Michigan in the 1999 Comp USA Florida Citrus Bowl. Nutt endured an arduous rehabilitation and a relapse that forced him to miss spring drills in 2000 before returning to the sidelines for 2000 preseason practice.

Nutt began his coaching career at Arkansas where he helped the Razorbacks to three straight bowl appearances as a graduate assistant during the 1986, 1987 and 1988 seasons. After making his full-time coaching debut as the receivers coach at Appalachian State in 1989, Nutt joined the staff at Arkansas Tech, serving as the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers coach at the Russellville school from 1990 to 1993 before joining his brother’s Murray State staff. Nutt landed his first full-time Division I-A job when he followed Houston to Boise State for the 1997 season before returning to his alma mater for the 1998 season.

An all-state prep quarterback at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., Nutt was also a member of a state championship basketball team at CHS. Nutt began his career on the college gridiron at Central Arkansas. As a sophomore in 1982, Nutt was the Bears’ starting quarterback and passed for 1,092 yards during UCA’s first season under head coach Harold Horton, who now serves as vice president of The Razorback Foundation, Inc. Nutt later transferred to Arkansas where, as a senior in 1984, he passed for 520 yards and four touchdowns while helping the Razorbacks to the 1984 Liberty Bowl.

Nutt is third-born of four brothers (Houston, Dennis and Dickey Nutt), all of whom are collegiate coaches. Nutt’s older brother Dickey is in his 10th season as head basketball coach at Arkansas State while younger brother Dennis is an assistant at Coastal Carolina. Born May 7, 1961, Nutt is married to the former Carla Carlton. The couple has four daughters – Dallas (6/1/93), and triplets Ashley, Brenna and Caylan (2/21/96).