Tuesday, a letter on the Voices page asked that Houston Nutt be fired.

That’s not going to happen.

On Monday, at the Little Rock Touchdown Club luncheon, Bruce James and David Bazzel, both former Arkansas Razorbacks football players, gave the opinion that Nutt would leave on his own at the end of this season.

Monday evening, dozens of unhappy Hogs faithful from all over the state called Sports Rap, a statewide sports talk show on the Arkansas Radio Network, expressing concern for the shortterm and long-term future of the Razorbacks football program.

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An 0-2 start in SEC play does not make any head coach popular, and in Nutt’s case, he can’t expect too much support after the Razorbacks whip rent-a-teams like North Texas and Chattanooga, a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA ) team that will never be confused with the Volunteers.

Yet, anyone expecting action on Nutt’s job during the season is going to be widely disappointed.

What would Arkansas do ? Hire Ken Hatfield as an interim and run the Flexbone, an offense that would work with these running backs ?

It does seem likely that soon-to-be athletic director Jeff Long may be coming to campus during the football season for a reason.

It would be difficult to evaluate the football program if he weren’t on the job until after the season.

Of course, Long will reevaluate everything about the men’s athletic department.

Some things will stay the same with some tweaking, some things will be overhauled.

If the UA honchos wanted to maintain status quo, they would not have accepted Frank Broyles’ resignation.

And, by the way, if Bear Bryant deserves a statue outside Bryant-Denny Stadium, shouldn’t the Razorback Foundation Inc. commission the same for Broyles ?

But back to football.

James, a longtime resident of Little Rock who owns a successful insurance agency in the capital city (and he has not moved to Mississippi ), said later Monday his belief that Nutt will leave is based on history.

James, a former All-America defensive end for the Hogs, became something of a media darling seven years ago when he became a regular on KATV, Channel 7 ’s weekly show SportsWeek, which quietly disappeared this year from the station’s lineup.

James was brutally honest in his assessment of games, but his opinions were formed only after he broke down game film and those opinions were backed up with statistics.

James believes that the Nutt phone calls last season to people connected with Miami, Alabama, North Carolina and North Carolina State indicate a strong interest in a change of scenery for Nutt.

He also mentioned the LSU situation, when Broyles told Nutt that if he interviewed there, he would consider that a letter of resignation, and the Nebraska situation, when Nutt came close to getting on the plane.

While a large number of people are upset with the start of a season that features the best college football player in the country (Darren McFadden ), it is obvious that a great passion still burns deep in the fans for their program.

That is a good thing.

There is a very limited amount of apathy.

When apathy sets in, like it did in basketball last season, you start to lose your fans.

The loud boos as the game ended Saturday night were sounds of dissatisfaction, and to be unhappy, you have to still care.

The timing of the boos, after the game, left no doubt they were aimed at Nutt and his staff, and even he said he heard them and that he had heard them there before.

He said fans paid for their tickets.

Yes, more than 74, 000 tickets were purchased.

Even though there was a tiny section of blue in the east stands, it was obvious that people are still supporting the team.

And they should.

Fans should always be passionate about their program because it shows they care.