Gov. Mike Beebe has named Tyson Foods honcho John Tyson to the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas. He fills the seat vacated by the conclusion of the term of Charles Scharlau.

Nobody would ever suggest that the Board ever utters a peep about athletic matters at UAF. But if they did, I think it safe to say this would be an appointment that won’t send the football coach racing into the stands to lead the band in a few stanzas of the fight song.

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Tyson lives in Springdale, not exactly a hotbed of Houston Nutt support, in case you missed my original point.

PS — Since it’s sure to arise, I can tell you that our Jim Harris has a copy of Butch Davis’ contract at UNC. No, it does not contain a release should the Arkansas job become available. He can buy his way out, however. For a couple of million.

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UPDATE: Brummett has written a sharp column on this development, complete with a rather pregnant statement from Archie Schaffer at Tyson, about the new man on the UA Board. It has been posted early at the Morning News website.

Archie Schaffer, Tyson’s PR man, read for me a statement in which Tyson said he looked forward to helping lead the UA’s Fayetteville campus to the next level in both academics and athletics and to effecting whatever changes might be necessary toward that end.

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Seldom have I encountered a more loaded short statement. Concern yourself with only two words. Those were “athletics” and “changes.”

John Tyson reportedly hasn’t any use for Houston Nutt, the football coach of the Razorbacks, and believes replacing him to be essential toward reaching that higher level to which he referred. He thought as much even before Nutt got crossways with all of Springdale over the Malzahn/Mustain debacle.

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