Danny Nutt has always been the one most like his mom.

He tries to make everyone comfortable.

From the moment he smiled at someone, he was offering soft drinks or whatever he could find.

No, he wasn’t perfect. He could have a short fuse if he thought someone was being unfair to one of his players or family members.

Yet, it was his mostly kinder, gentler approaches that made him the most valuable to the Arkansas Razorbacks football coaching staff.

Anytime he went into a recruit’s home, they loved his humble, giving spirit.

A few weeks before the 1999 Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One ), he called for advice about taking his triplets on the trip.

Not quite 3 years old, he didn’t know if they were ready for Disney World.

It didn’t matter. Within days, Danny was at UAMS Medical Center, awaiting surgery for a bleeding brain stem.

On the day of the big bowl luncheon in Orlando, Fla., Houston Nutt kept leaving the head table.

That was the day of the surgery, and he was getting updates on his brother’s condition via cell phone.

Dr. Gazi Yasargil showed again why he was one of the world’s most respected neurosurgeons, and Danny came out of the surgery good, but with a long road of recovery facing him.

It was expected then, back in January 1999, Danny would never coach again.

He was on the field for the 1999 campaign and then had a setback and missed the spring practice.

It was again thought he would never coach again.

Danny, though, had other ideas.

He fought through it, worked harder than ever and despite the fact he had lost his hearing, remained an asset off the field recruiting and on it as the running backs coach.

Everyone knows the balance he used last season with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

McFadden rushed for a single-season school record 1, 647 yards and finished runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Jones rushed for 1, 168 yards.

The very fact that both are back for their junior seasons leaves no doubt of the seriousness of this condition and that the family would appreciate prayers.

Danny has four beautiful daughters, including triplets.

He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Carla, who is an All-American wife and mother.

Carla is so sweet she was the first female who wasn’t a relative to be a regular visitor in the Nutt home when the two were attending Central High.

Danny started his collegiate career as a quarterback for Central Arkansas but transferred to the UA and played extensively in 1984, many times when the Razorbacks were behind and needed to pass to catch up.

Like his brothers and dad, he was born to coach.

He had coached for seven years on the college level before hooking up with his brother in 1994 at Murray State, where he took on the lone role of coaching running backs, a position he kept at Boise State and, of course, at Arkansas.

Already a tireless recruiter, he stepped up big when he talked Cedric Cobbs into being a Razorback rather than a Georgia Bulldog.

Recruiting and selling the Razorbacks came naturally to him.

A few weeks ago, some whispers began that he may have had a physical setback.

That the brain stem was bleeding again.

They were only whispers, and like most families, the Nutt boys and their mother Emogene, who has had some physical issues as well, kept it quiet while they prayed for the best.

Tuesday, at 11: 57 a. m., sports information director Kevin Trainor put out the news release that Danny was stepping down.

Part of it read: “His condition will not allow him to coach this season and will likely prohibit him from returning to the football field as a coach in the future.”

If that is true, the Razorbacks family will need to find a place for him in another capacity. He’s too good at recruiting and selling the Razorbacks.