It was an odd situation with assistant coaches coaching the game. Some of those assistants have already accepted employment at Ole Miss, which might lead one to believe a slight conflict of interest, or at the least a lack of interest. The other assistants were probably more concerned with finding future employment. Not exactly a recipe for success.
All the while Petrino was out recruiting, trying to get some talent to Fayetteville.
Personally, I wish that when Nutt bolted to Ole Miss, we would have dismissed all the assistants that were moving on to Oxford and done the best we could without them. Not sure how the results could have been any worse. (Oh, and I said this at the time, not just after the Cotton Bowl.)