Mizzou Basketball adds Dickey Nutt to coaching staff

Missouri Basketball and Dennis Gates have made a second Assistant Coach hire official, and it’s not the one that’s been rumored for weeks.

There were approximately a million twitter jokes, because yes, Dickey Nutt is a fantastic name. Instead of embedding them all, I’m just going to link this: RT With Comment

But jokes aside, Dickey Nutt is an experienced basketball coach. If you think the name is familiar it’s because yes, he is brothers with Houston Nutt. Houston was a long time coach at Arkansas (from 1998 to 2007) where he won three Western Division Championships and finished second all time in wins. He then resigned and took the job at Ole Miss where he coached until 2011. He’s a PROMINENT figure in the SEC because he’s been memed over and over again. But this isn’t about Houston Nutt, it’s about his brother Dickey.

Two of the four Nutt brothers went into basketball, and Dickey is really very accomplished. He grew up in Arkansas and played at Oklahoma State under two different head coaches. He was an assistant coach at OSU in Leonard Hamilton’s first season in Stillwater before moving to Arkansas State where he was an assistant from 1987 to 1995. In 1995 he took over as head coach, where he led the Red Wolves until 2008. He was fired his last season, which was his worst one, but just one season removed from finishing first in the West Division of the Sun Belt.

He moved to a stint at Southeast Missouri State before joining up with Hamilton again at Florida State. then Stetson, then Cleveland State, and then last year he spent as the Athletic Director and basketball coach at Gaston College in North Carolina.

Nutt isn’t going to blow anyone away like Charlton Young might have, but part of that is by design. Young was an expensive hire, and a coach who has proven he can land elite players. Because Dennis Gates had to spend big to get CY on board, that limits his budget a bit on the rest of the bench. Nutt is a smart hire because he’s an experienced coach who has run multiple programs and can help around the edges, without needing him to reel in big time talent. Gates and Young should be able to handle that part. With Nutt you get a coach who won’t cost you a bunch but can be a valuable teaching asset on the bench and help with preparations.

From the School release:

An experienced and talented coach, David “Dickey” Nutt, will join University of Missouri Whitten Family Men’s Basketball Head Coach Dennis Gates’ staff as an assistant coach, as announced by Gates Thursday afternoon. Nutt has over 30 years of NCAA Division I coaching experience, including 19 as a head coach.

Nutt joins Charleton Young, who was announced as the Tigers associate head coach last week, on Gates’ inaugural staff.

“David “Dickey” Nutt is a true veteran in this profession with an immense amount of passion for the game as well as for student-athlete development,” Gates said. “We are lucky to have someone with his level of experience on our staff. Coach Nutt has a wealth of basketball knowledge and recruiting relationships in our state which will be a tremendous asset to our program, our Athletic Department, our University and CoMo.”

Nutt previously served as the head coach at Arkansas State from 1995-2008 and Southeast Missouri State from 2009-2015. The 1998 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, Nutt guided Arkansas State to 189 wins, two Sun Belt Championships and the program’s only NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament appearance in 1999.

“I feel so fortunate and honored to be a part of Coach Gates’ staff here at the University of Missouri,” Nutt said. “I’ve seen firsthand his work ethic, his love for young people, game preparation and his masterful recruiting ability. I am excited to be reunited with him and eager to go to work in building a championship program – on and off the court.”

Following his head coaching stints, Nutt joined Leonard Hamilton’s staff at Florida State as a video coordinator and was a part of the Seminoles 2018 Elite Eight run. He also worked with Coach Gates at Cleveland State as a Special Assistant Coach for Student-Athlete Development. Most recently, Nutt served as the Head Coach and Athletic Director at Gaston College in Dallas, North Carolina.

Nutt played collegiately at Oklahoma State, and began his coaching career as an assistant at Stillwater High School from 1982-85. He then joined the coaching staff at his alma matter where we worked for current Florida State head coach, Leonard Hamilton, and alongside current Kansas head coach Bill Self.

Nutt has two sons, Logan and Lucas, and a daughter Lexis. Logan is a high school basketball head coach in Arkansas and Lucas runs 3:16 Athletics Training Center.

Nutt comes from a family of coaches, as his older brother Houston currently works a college football studio analyst for CBS and was previously the head football coach at Ole Miss and Arkansas. His younger brother Danny, served as an Assistant Athletics Director for Player Development at Ole Miss and was the running backs coach at Arkansas and Eastern Illinois. Nutt’s third brother Dennis was previously the head coach at Texas State and currently serves as the head coach at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Nutt holds a Master of Science degree in athletic administration and a Bachelor of Arts in physical education, both from Oklahoma State.

Dickey Nutt Coaching Career

1985-87 – Oklahoma State – Assistant Coach

1987-95 – Arkansas State – Assistant Coach

1995-08 – Arkansas State – Head Coach

2009-15 – Southeast Missouri State – Head Coach

2015-18 – Florida State – Video Coordinator

2018-19 – Stetson – Assistant Coach

2019-21 – Cleveland State – Special Assistant Coach

2021-22 – Gaston College – Head Coach/Athletic Director