Nutt family watches brothers, sons, nephew, grandson

The Show Me Center was truly a nuthouse Tuesday night.

That's nut as in Nutt.

Dickey Nutt, Southeast Missouri State's fourth-year men's basketball coach, is used to patrolling the Show Me Center sidelines.

His counterpart Tuesday just happened to be his brother Dennis, the second-year coach at Division II Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Tuesday's game won't count on either team's record -- it was just an exhibition -- but it still held plenty of meaning for both brothers.

Ouachita Baptist coach Dennis Nutt gives instructions to his players during the Tigers’ 71-60 loss to Southeast Missouri State. Nutt is the brother of Redhawks coach Dickey Nutt.

While the contest marked the first time they had squared off against each other in a collegiate game, it also afforded them the opportunity for a family reunion.

Dickey and Dennis Nutt are part of a family that has seen all four brothers find success in the collegiate coaching ranks.

All four were at the Show Me Center Tuesday, along with several of their family members and their mother, Emogene. Their father, Houston Nutt Sr., who passed away in 2005, was the longtime athletic director and basketball coach at the Arkansas School for the Deaf in Little Rock.

"It's not always a chance to get to have your family all under one roof. It's a special time," Dickey Nutt said. "We're a very close family."

Houston, the oldest brother at 55, currently works for CBS as a college football studio analyst. He previously was head football coach at Mississippi, Arkansas, Boise State and Murray State.

Ouachita Baptist head coach Dennis Nutt gives instructions to his players during the Tiger' 71-60 loss to the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks' , coached by his brother Dickie,Tuesday, October 30, at the Show Me Center. (ADAM VOGLER)

"First of all, to all get together ... we don't get that opportunity too much," Houston said. "It's probably the first time and last time they'll ever play against each other. The good thing, it won't count on the record."

Danny was the Arkansas running backs coach under Houston and later worked as an assistant athletic director at Mississippi.

Dennis, a former NBA player who was a Division I head coach at Texas State from 2000 through 2006, also assisted his brother during Dickey Nutt's early days at Arkansas State.

"It's going to be weird, a little different," Dennis, the youngest brother at 49, said before the game. "He [Dickey] gave me my first Division I job, a great start in this business.

"At least at the end of the night we know we'll both be 0-0."

Adding even more to the family theme Tuesday was the fact Dickey Nutt's two sons are involved with his team.

Lucas is the Redhawks' junior point guard while Logan, who completed his eligibility at Southeast last year, is a student manager for the Redhawks.

"I'll be rooting for Lucas hard," Houston said when asked which team he'd be cheering for.

Emogene Nutt, who still lives in Little Rock, Ark., where the brothers grew up, smiled when asked which team she would be favoring.

"You're putting me on the spot," she said. "I'm going to be rooting for both of them equally."

Emogene, who said she attends about two or three Southeast games a year, was simply happy for the reunion that started Monday night when the family members arrived in Cape Girardeau.

"We've just had a wonderful, wonderful time," she said. "I'm really proud of all of them [her sons], two football [coaches] and two basketball."

For the record -- although it won't count on the record -- Dickey's Redhawks beat Dennis' Tigers 71-60 in a game that was close much of the way.

It's not likely the brothers will ever square off again, Dickey said, and a regular-season meeting is certainly out of the question.

"We'd never do that," Dickey said.