Did Nebraska Offer Nutt $2 Million?

Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt has testified under oath that he had a non-written offer of two million dollars from Nebraska. But in similar testimony, the Cornhuskers athletic director said salary discussions never grew larger than 1.5 million dollars. The Arkansas coach and Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson both gave depositions in a lawsuit filed by former Razorback basketball coach Nolan Richardson. The depositions were made public when Arkansas filed motions yesterday. The motions seek to bar Richardson lawyer John Walker from asking questions about Nutt`s discussions with Nebraska, when Richardson`s suit goes to trial May Fifth. When testimony was taken from Nutt on February Sixth at Fayetteville, he was questioned by Walker. He asked the coach if he had been offered 2.8 million or 2.5 million dollars to go to Nebraska. Nutt said "No" to both questions. Walker then asked if Nutt had been offered two million dollars by anyone representing Nebraska. Nutt responded, quote, "Counting incentives and everything, yes," end quote. He said the offer was made by Pederson in a discussion with Nutt`s agent, Jimmy Sexton. Nutt said the offer was never put into writing. When asked about the base contract, he said it was right around 1.8 million dollars. Pederson gave his deposition on February 17th in Lincoln, Nebraska. Pederson, who flew to Fayetteville for a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Nutt at his home on January First, said he never offered that much money to Nutt. He said he didn`t even discuss money with Nutt. He said he told Sexton on January Second that the salary would be in the range of 1.3 to 1.5 million dollars, for six or seven years. Pederson released a statement today repeating his claim that two million dollars was never offered. Posted by Mike Hellgren