Houston Nutt says University of Arkansas Chancellor John White and retiring Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles want him to remain the Razorbacks’ head football coach.

And the Little Rock native says he would like to remain in “ his dream job. ” It’s the degree of wantto by White, Jeff Long, the vice chancellor of intercollegiate athletics / athletics director effective Jan. 1 and the Board of Trustees on one hand, and Nutt on the other, that will determine whether Nutt coaches an 11 th year at Arkansas in 2008 or coaches elsewhere.

Nutt has become a hotter item with the school many presumed had cooled on him, though none from the UA ever publicly disavowed him.

He’s also bound to be a hotter item with the increasing number of schools seeking a head coach. Nutt’s bowl-bound Razorbacks concluded an 8-4 season upsetting the nationally top-ranked SEC West champion LSU Tigers, 50-48 in three overtimes last Friday in Baton Rouge, La.

At his regularly scheduled season wrapup press conference Sunday, Nutt said he’s already begun the annual postseason evaluation talks with the UA brass.

“ We had some little prelim discussions, ” Nutt said. “ We’ve got some more coming this week, and we’ll wait till that time and let’s see what comes out of it. I’m excited, Chancellor White and Coach Broyles, they want me here. They want me to stay, and that’s a good feeling. I’m excited about that. ”

Was Long included in those initial discussions ?

“ They were with Chancellor White right now, ” Nutt said. “ Jeff Long was still at the LSU game, I think he had relatives there. We’ll wait until about mid-week, until he gets back. And probably have some more formal discussions. ”

Nutt said matters could be resolved as early as Tuesday.

“ There’s always evaluations, as y’all know, ” Nutt said. “ I have to evaluate for my staff, myself after each, the last regular season game, and they have to do the same, you know, on the Hill and the athletic director, they do the same. ”

Unlike the days of coaching icons like Broyles, Texas ’ Darrell Royal, Alabama’s Bear Bryant, etc. time seldom seems on the side today of a longtime coach.

It’s likely no coincidence Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer and Nutt, the SEC’s longest tenured coaches, began the season under the most criticism. Some still wax hot, criticizing Nutt even off Friday’s triumph. And there are probably some in Tennessee still critical of Fulmer even with the Vols winning the SEC East and headed to Atlanta to play LSU in Saturday’s SEC West championship game.

Not that it’s easy for first year coaches, either.

Nick Saban, the former LSU national championship coach paid $ 4 million annually by Alabama, was greeted by the Tide as the second coming of Bear Bryant as Alabama smugly proclaimed “ you get what you pay for, ” when the Tide started on a roll.

Now many apparently want their money back with Alabama, 6-6 and finishing with losses to Mississippi State, lowly Louisiana-Monroe and Auburn, the Tide’s instate archrival.

“ You look, ” Nutt said, citing Saban and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier without mentioning them by name. “ We have some national championship coaches in this league, guys that won national titles and held up the crystal ball, but guys, they only won six this year. Two who only won six. It’s a difficult league. ”

Not that it’s necessarily rosy anywhere else.

Typical of our times, a Texas A & M booster, asked in the Houston Chronicle to comment on Friday’s firing of A & M coach Dennis Franchione, called it his happiest day since the Aggies fired R. C. Slocum, Franchione’s predecessor.

So wherever Nutt may go if he leaves, he can expect the honeymoon won’t last.

Particularly, it seems, if he has a great first year. That’s what happened to him at Arkansas.

In 1998 he took over a program that had one winning season from 1990-97 and promptly won the first eight games en route a 9-3 SEC West co-championship season.

Expectations jumped from just “ beat SMU” the nonconference underdog bedeviling Arkansas from 1994-97, to win the SEC Championship game and land a BCS bowl, expectations Nutt’s 2006 10-4 Hogs came close to achieving but still did not.

Nutt and his family have weathered some criticism intensely personal, but says if he stays, he hopes any fractures in the Razorback fan base “ can come together. ”

As for his Arkansas future, Nutt said, “ I just know that it’s not going to be determined by somebody that gets on a blog or somebody that has an ink pen. It’s going to be determined by Chancellor White, the board, Coach Broyles, Jeff Long, those people that are in charge who will make the ultimate decision. ”

He left out a key figure. Himself. Because ultimately, especially after last Friday, this decision likely will be made by Houston Nutt.

Nate Allen covers University of Arkansas athletics for the Northwest Arkansas Times.