Logan Nutt follows his dad's path into coaching

Logan Nutt played for his father at both Arkansas State and Southeast Missouri State.

Now he plans to follow in his dad's footsteps by becoming a coach.

Logan Nutt, who completed his collegiate basketball eligibility at Southeast in 2011-12 under Dickey Nutt, recently was hired as an assistant at Culver-Stockton College.

The younger Nutt begins his duties with the NAIA program in Canton, Mo., on Thursday. The Wildcats are coming off a 26-9 season.

"I'm very excited. I can't wait to get started," Logan said about his first full-time coaching position.

Logan got his feet wet -- and whetted his appetite for the profession -- by serving under his father as a student coach with the Redhawks last season.

"Working for my dad, not only just because he's my dad, but I've been around a lot of coaches and I think he's a great coach," Logan said. "He's also got a great staff under him that I've learned a lot from."

Logan, who earned both his undergraduate and master's degrees from Southeast -- the latter just this past spring -- said he was bit by the coaching bug shortly after graduating from high school in Jonesboro, Ark.

"I've always thought about becoming a coach, but as soon as I was done with my senior year in high school I decided to coach my brother's AAU team," Logan said. "I loved it, and ever since then I've been coaching summer league AAU teams and coaching individual lessons."

Dickey Nutt, who also coached Logan at Arkansas State in 2007-08 -- during Nutt's final season directing the Red Wolves program -- said he's excited that his oldest son wants to follow in his footsteps.

"I'm very happy for Logan and I think it's terrific he wants to be a coach," said the elder Nutt, whose youngest son Lucas will be entering his senior season as the Redhawks' starting point guard. "Logan did a super job for us last year. It's a big loss for us. I say that because he did a lot behind the scenes for our program last year.

"I know he's my son, and I'm bragging on my son, but he knows the game as good as anybody. I love his passion. I think he'll be a very good coach."

Logan, a walk-on at both Arkansas State and Southeast, primarily was a reserve point guard at both places. He made two starts for the Redhawks as a senior in 2011-12.

He admittedly was not the most talented player around, but Logan said he tried to absorb as much knowledge about the game as possible during his career and in his one season as a student coach.

Now Logan hopes to pass on that knowledge as he enters the coaching ranks fulltime.

"The type of player I am, I know that smarts and hard work can get you a long way," he said. "I'm not the greatest athlete and I was able to experience a Division I level of competition. That was mainly through having a high basketball IQ and working hard.

"I can show them that you can accomplish a lot by being smart and working hard."