Ouachita Stories

Former NBA player Dennis Nutt has been named head coach of the Ouachita Baptist University men’s basketball team effective June 1, according to OBU Athletic Director David Sharp. Nutt succeeds Mark Price who resigned after two seasons at Ouachita to become assistant coach of the men’s basketball program at Belmont University.

Nutt, who played in the NBA for three seasons with the Dallas Mavericks in 1986-88, also was a top student-athlete at Texas Christian University and Little Rock Central High School.

Nutt served as men’s basketball head coach at Texas State University from 2000 to 2006. He also has been an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina University, Arkansas State University and Westark Community College as well as a graduate assistant basketball coach at Texas A&M University. Most recently, he has been a consultant and fundraiser for Coker College and an NBA scout for the Charlotte Bobcats.

Among his many accolades, Nutt is a member of the TCU Hall of Fame, was selected to the All-Time Southwest Conference Team and was on the 1985 All Southwest Conference First Team. He also was named the team MVP in 1984 and 1985, was a 1981 Arkansas High School All-Star participant and was a 5A All-State selection in 1980-81 in both basketball and football.

“I am thrilled that Coach Nutt will be joining our staff,” Sharp said. “His experiences playing on the collegiate and professional levels along with his coaching and scouting experiences will bring a new dimension to our program.

“Our players will be excited about what Coach Nutt will bring to our program,” Sharp added. “We look forward to him and his family becoming a part of the Ouachita family.”

“I could not be more excited that Dennis Nutt has agreed to be the men’s basketball head coach for Ouachita,” agreed Ouachita President Rex Horne. “Dennis is a man of great integrity coming from a legendary family that embraces faith, work and discipline. Dennis has an impressive resume from his high school career, starring at TCU, playing professionally and then coaching experience on the Division I level as well as scouting on the professional level.

“There are opportunities when a man and the times come together,” Dr. Horne noted. “I think this is true concerning Coach Nutt and Ouachita. I know our young men, our student body and the Tiger Nation will embrace the Nutt family as they come to lead our men’s basketball program to great years of success.”

“I would like to thank President Rex Horne and Athletic Director David Sharp for this tremendous opportunity,” Nutt said. “I am very excited and honored to come to Ouachita Baptist University and be a part of the program and the community.

“I can’t wait to get started,” he added. “I want to get in there and meet those fine student-athletes, get to know them better and hopefully move the basketball program forward.”

Emphasizing his goal of playing “a fundamentally sound, exciting brand of basketball,” Nutt said he will seek to build on Coach Price’s efforts “and try to keep getting better every day and win championships.”

“We’re excited to get to Arkadelphia,” he concluded. “We’re going to work tirelessly to keep moving forward.”

Nutt, a native of Little Rock, is the youngest of four brothers with successful coaching careers: Houston Nutt is the head football coach at the University of Mississippi, Dickey Nutt is the men’s basketball head coach at Southeast Missouri State University and Danny Nutt is the assistant athletics director for player development at the University of Mississippi.

A 1986 graduate of TCU, Nutt and his wife, Vicki, are the parents of twin daughters, Macy and Myca.

By Trennis Henderson, OBU Vice President for Communication