John White is an intellectual giant.

A scholar among scholars.

The chancellor of the University of Arkansas never misses a chance to tell everyone how smart he is, and he often does it with a play on words.

During his act Monday night — worthy of an Academy Award nomination — it became abundantly clear what is wrong with the UA.

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There are too many egos and too little common sense.

If he had been a stronger leader, maybe he could have truly helped Houston Nutt, rather than just cover up areas that should have been addressed.

White is a master at the art of spinning.

He admitted on statewide radio and television, with a room full of reporters, that he brought Nutt in after the South Carolina game and told him no matter what happened he would make sure Nutt was financially secure.

Ironically, that was just a few days after Ole Miss had been billed for 20 stolen clock radios, pillows and blankets.

White told a story about golden handcuffs and giving Nutt the same compensation he would receive if he were terminated, but that he wasn’t going to be terminated.

Yet, if Nutt wanted to leave, he would be taken care of royally.

In the end, White gave him $ 3. 65 million to go away, straight to Ole Miss, where he got a halfmillion dollar a year raise.

Nutt, who was resigning to allow the Razorbacks nation he fractured to start healing, won. Big time. He is the victor, not the victim.

He takes over a program that has had three excellent recruiting classes and a quarterback who transferred from Texas and sat out this season.

In fact, by not having a buyout condition forbidding Nutt from coaching in the same division as the Razorbacks, the fracture between huggers and haters might now be deeper.

If White had no idea Nutt was interested in Ole Miss, and vice versa, then he should have paid closer attention.

Archie Manning, the most powerful man in Rebels history, was talking up Nutt on television Saturday, less than 24 hours after Ed Orgeron had been fired.

Monday morning, about seven hours before the news conference announcing Nutt’s departure, one of Danny Nutt’s nephews sent a scathing e-mail (he had a letter to the editor in this paper that day, too ) and said he would be an Ole Miss fan next year because he would have relatives coaching there.

So the deal was made long before that news conference, which was more a bubble bath of brotherly love between White and Nutt than anything else. Ole Miss would not have been Nutt’s only offer if a deal was not already in the makings to coach the Rebels. What White did was give Nutt $ 3. 65 million and a golden arrow to shoot at Arkansas every year. Maybe White doesn’t care that what he has done is leave the divided fan base divided. But it does appear that those who supported Nutt were fans of Nutt more than the UA.

If Nutt did leave Arkansas so the healing could begin, then perhaps it would have been in his best interest to not immediately jump in bed with a conference opponent that the Razorbacks play every year. When Tommy Tuberville did that — he jumped from Ole Miss to Auburn — the Rebels were closer to kicking him in the backside than they were filling his pockets with long green.

What President B. Alan Sugg needs to do is tell White to keep his hands off athletics.

So far, White’s athletic legacy is hiring Susie Gardner, hiring Stan Heath, paying a head-hunting outfit $ 90, 000 for John Pelphrey’s name and giving Nutt $ 3. 65 million so he could take a job with a conference rival.

White has been a brilliant fundraiser for academics at the UA, and he truly is an intellectual giant, but his record in athletics speaks for itself.

In fact, he probably needs to be told to keep his hands out of the Razorback Scholarship Foundation while there is still money in it.