Missouri Basketball and Dennis Gates have named a second official assistant coach, and it’s not the one that’s been rumored for weeks.
Source: Missouri’s Dennis Gates to hire Dickey Nutt as assistant coach.
Nutt and Gates previously worked together in Cleveland State and Florida State.
– Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) 14 avril 2022
There were about a million jokes on Twitter because yes, Dickey Nutt is a fantastic name. Instead of embedding them all, I’ll just link this: RT with comment
But joking aside, Dickey Nutt is an experienced basketball coach. If you think the name sounds familiar to you, that’s because yes, he’s brother to Houston Nutt. Houston was a long-time coach at Arkansas (1998-2007) where he won three Western Division championships and was second all-time in wins. He then quit and took the job at Ole Miss where he coached until 2011. He’s a PROMINENT figure in the SEC because he’s been a meme over and over again. But it’s not Houston Nutt, it’s his brother Dickey.
Two of the four Nutt brothers got into basketball and Dickey is really very accomplished. He grew up in Arkansas and played at Oklahoma State under two different coaches. He served as an assistant coach at OSU during Leonard Hamilton’s first season at Stillwater before moving to Arkansas State where he served as an assistant coach from 1987 to 1995. In 1995, he took over as as head coach, where he led the Red Wolves until 2008. He was sacked his last season, which was his worst, but just one season from finishing first in the Sun Belt West Division.
He moved for a stint in southeastern Missouri before joining Hamilton again in Florida. then Stetson, then Cleveland State, then last year he was athletic director and basketball coach at Gaston College in North Carolina.
Nutt isn’t going to blow away someone the way Charlton Young might have, but some of that is intentional. Young was an expensive rookie and a coach who proved he could sign elite players. Because Dennis Gates had to spend big to get CY on board, it limits his budget a bit on the rest of the bench. Nutt is a smart rookie because he’s an experienced coach who’s run multiple programs and can help around the edges, not needing him to attract big talent. Gates and Young should be able to handle this part. With Nutt, you get a trainer that won’t cost you much, but can be a valuable teaching asset on the bench and help you prepare.
From the school statement:
Experienced and talented coach David “Dickey” Nutt will join the staff of University of Missouri Whitten Family men’s basketball head coach Dennis Gates as an assistant coach, as Gates announced Thursday after- noon. Nutt has over 30 years of NCAA Division I coaching experience, 19 of which as a head coach.
Nutt joins Charleton Young, who was announced as associate Tigers head coach last week, on Gates’ inaugural team.
“David” Dickey “Nutt is a true veteran in this profession with an immense passion for the game as well as the development of student-athletes,” Gates said. “We are lucky to have someone with his level of experience on our team. Coach Nutt has extensive knowledge of basketball and recruiting relationships in our state which will be a tremendous asset to our program, athletic department, university and CoMo.
Nutt previously served as head coach for Arkansas State from 1995 to 2008 and Southeast Missouri State from 2009 to 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 appearance at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 1999.
“I feel so lucky and honored to be on the Coach Gates staff here at the University of Missouri,” Nutt said. “I saw with my own eyes his work ethic, his love for young people, his preparation for the game and his masterful recruiting ability. I’m thrilled to be reunited with him and looking forward to getting to work building a championship program – on and off the pitch.
After his stints as head coach, Nutt joined Leonard Hamilton’s staff at Florida State as a video coordinator and was part of the 2018 Seminoles 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 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 to 1985. He later joined the coaching staff at his alma where we worked for the current coach 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 the head basketball coach at a high school in Arkansas, and Lucas runs the 3:16 track and field training facility.
Nutt comes from a coaching family, as his older brother Houston currently works as a college football studio analyst for CBS and was previously head football coach at Ole Miss and Arkansas. His younger brother, Danny, served as assistant athletic director for player development at Ole Miss and coached running backs in Arkansas and Eastern Illinois. Nutt’s third brother, Dennis, was previously the head coach at Texas State and is currently the head coach of Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark.
Nutt holds a Master of Science in Sports 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
