Revealing comments by three recruiting writers

[redleg]

So far, Bobby Petrino was the best coach of the 21st Century for Arkansas. He might still be here too, if he hadn't been such a terrible person away from the field.
Morris might change that, if we are lucky.
I would say Yes, these reporters probably didn't want to get cut off from the program. It's the smart play. Don't bad-mouth a current coaching staff, unless you are willing to pay the piper. Remember the reporter that wore a Florida gator ballcap to a Petrino presser? We didn't see her butt again!

[opineonswine]

So far, Bobby Petrino was the best coach of the 21st Century for Arkansas. He might still be here too, if he hadn't been such a terrible person away from the field.
Morris might change that, if we are lucky.
I would say Yes, these reporters probably didn't want to get cut off from the program. It's the smart play. Don't bad-mouth a current coaching staff, unless you are willing to pay the piper. Remember the reporter that wore a Florida gator ballcap to a Petrino presser? We didn't see her butt again!

Except I believe Petrino was about to crash and burn (no pun intended) after the good run.  Course we'll never know that.  I'm glad he's gone. 

[redleg]

2012 was shaping up to be pretty good. I think that team was a little overrated, even with Petrino as the coach, but they still could have won around 8 or 9 games if he had been there. 2013 would have been the down year, but I think they might have recovered nicely in 2014 and 2015. But by then, I think Petrino would have been looking to leave, if he hadn't already.
But, like you said, we'll never know.

I think this team, 2018, is going to surprise a lot of people and win a game or two that no one thought they'd win. 7 regular season wins minimum.....but, 9 wins are not out of the realm of possibility.

[cram224]

Looks like the Louisville program is going down the longer BP stays there. Wouldn't be surprised if he started riding a motorcycle again.

[Peter Porker]

2012 was shaping up to be pretty good. I think that team was a little overrated, even with Petrino as the coach, but they still could have won around 8 or 9 games if he had been there. 2013 would have been the down year, but I think they might have recovered nicely in 2014 and 2015. But by then, I think Petrino would have been looking to leave, if he hadn't already.
But, like you said, we'll never know.

I think this team, 2018, is going to surprise a lot of people and win a game or two that no one thought they'd win. 7 regular season wins minimum.....but, 9 wins are not out of the realm of possibility.

Seriously? 2012 had 2 walkons STARTING on the OL and 2 freshmen at LB. It would have only gotten worse. go back to those recruiting classes Petrino failed on.

[HognitiveDissonance]

This is SOP.

It's very typical for the previous coach to be poor-mouthed, and the new guy to be exalted. This happens every. single. time.
What is being said now may be 100% true. It also may be spin. The point though, is that it's going to be said no matter what. Everyone wants to believe so badly that things are going to be better that you get these types of comments and articles.


I'll judge Chad Morris over the next 3 years by results on the field. Tangible evidence.
I'm too old for fluff pieces.

[Hawgphat]

It is my IMPRESSION (not even quite an OPINION) that intangibles contribute to the verdict as to whether or not a successful season is realized.  The W-L record is - of course - a blatantly obvious indicator; - - but it is by no means the ONLY one.

If a starting QB should complete 88% of his passes - and should the #1 RB gain 1200 yards for the season - and should the team nonetheless suffer a 4-8 season record, then statistics would obviously not tell the complete story.

If a team should happen to have had three games on their season schedule wherein they seemingly were leading comfortably on the scoreboard after three quarters of play, - - only to see the games ultimately slip away from them in the 4th quarter, - -then the deep-seated problem would seem to indicate that the Achilles heel was not grounded in statistics to begin with, - - - but upon a combination of focus, commitment, endurance and the application of sound principles.  In my book, that denotes a boatload of intangibles.

[jgphillips3]

This is SOP.

It's very typical for the previous coach to be poor-mouthed, and the new guy to be exalted. This happens every. single. time.
What is being said now may be 100% true. It also may be spin. The point though, is that it's going to be said no matter what. Everyone wants to believe so badly that things are going to be better that you get these types of comments and articles.


I'll judge Chad Morris over the next 3 years by results on the field. Tangible evidence.
I'm too old for fluff pieces.

I agree that positive pieces would be put out no matter who the coach is.  I do however try to pay attention to exactly what the players say (and what they don't say).  When Smile came in we kept hearing about how much more "relaxed" the practices were and such.  Even a few reporters commented on it lightly.  That was a sign post for the disaster that followed.  I think Bielema is an abysmal head coach but his initial staff was actually very, very good with Partridge, Shannon, Pittman, etc.  So, I think they were getting good coaching but as the good ones kept leaving and he replaced most of them with highly questionable choices (other than Rhoads and Enos) the quality of coaching went down.  I think this new staff, while relatively unknown on offense (which really matters not since it is Morris' baby anyway) but salty on the defensive side of the ball is doing a great job and the players aren't saying anything that worries me...yet.

[HognitiveDissonance]

I agree that positive pieces would be put out no matter who the coach is.  I do however try to pay attention to exactly what the players say (and what they don't say).  When Smile came in we kept hearing about how much more "relaxed" the practices were and such.  Even a few reporters commented on it lightly.  That was a sign post for the disaster that followed.  I think Bielema is an abysmal head coach but his initial staff was actually very, very good with Partridge, Shannon, Pittman, etc.  So, I think they were getting good coaching but as the good ones kept leaving and he replaced most of them with highly questionable choices (other than Rhoads and Enos) the quality of coaching went down.  I think this new staff, while relatively unknown on offense (which really matters not since it is Morris' baby anyway) but salty on the defensive side of the ball is doing a great job and the players aren't saying anything that worries me...yet.

Could have been apparent from the get-go, true.

I remember John L.'s first game...against Jack Crowe and Jacksonville St...we won 48-24 or something like that. I remember posting something like it was the most rag-tag game I've seen in a while, and was not encouraged. Just lots of silly mistakes and carelessness. I had several people jump me for that, being too negative in a 48-24 win, etc etc.

You watch enough football, you know what you see. You recognize a crisply played game, or not.

[JaketheSnake]

Whatever. Every day was a vacation for the old staff. Hence the flip flops and reggae. What a frickin' joke.

Yep.  He should have been in a 3 button business suit any time he was in his office.

[Richard Davenport]

Whatever. Every day was a vacation for the old staff. Hence the flip flops and reggae. What a frickin' joke.

You couldn't last a day with their schedule. You don't have a clue.

[PygmalionEffect2]

I think assistant coaches are just as important to recruiting as the head coach.

I don't think Bret had as good a recruiting staff at the end as he did in the beginning and because of that his recruiting suffered the last couple years, especially in the lines.  Losing Pittman hurt our recruiting and really you could go back to losing Partridge as a hit to our recruiting although losing Partridge is no reflection on CBB since it was a promotional move.

The Pittman deal was bad and it was the result of a big mistake CBB made the year before in firing Chaney.

Decisions matter and CBB suffered from bad decision making on and off the field.

CBB had let himself go physically that's why people tend to think of the word lazy when trying to analyze his performance in trying to determine what went wrong.  Whether the bloated weight gain caused him to lose energy and focus in his job can be debated.

What can't be debated is that his weight gain gave the appearance that he didn't have proper discipline and control in some obvious aspects of his life, qualities he would have demanded of his recruits.

Perception is just as important as reality when it comes to recruiting, really, it's more important, because perception is all the recruit has to go on until he gets on campus.

[Porkys Revenge]

You couldn't last a day with their schedule. You don't have a clue.

I not scare of Bert. He could probably beat me in a drinking game, but that's about it.

[Richard Davenport]

I not scare of Bert. He could probably beat me in a drinking game, but that's about it.

You're what they call an internet tough guy. You wouldn't have the guts to tell any coach what you post.

[PorkRinds]

You know it's bad when RD starts throwing heat

[prattville pig]

RD is a cool dude

[Porkys Revenge]

I say D-line and LB recruiting, but I also believe the young talent at both positions is pretty good. I think you'll see that this season. Bielema did have to clean house and rebuild.

No he didn't. There was as much NFL talent or more on the team he inherited compared to what he left.

Tevin Mitchel
Darius Philon
Trey Flowers
Deatrich Wise
Johnathon Williams
Brandon Allen
Jayvontee Herndon
Zac Hocker
Chris Smith
Travis Swanson
Brey Cook
Mitch Smothers

[HogFoo]

Except I believe Petrino was about to crash and burn (no pun intended) after the good run.  Course we'll never know that.  I'm glad he's gone.

I too believe Petrino would have still been here had he not been such a dbag and stayed away from Harley's and blondes. haha...

I don't think Petrino was about to go down in flames tho.  He had realized that he needed to build his defense and he was just starting to do it with that last class.  It's the same thing that he did at Louisville and every other place he's been.  He built the offenses up first, got them where they could score on about anyone, then bring the defenses in.  but, yes as we all know he focused mostly of offensive players with a few defensive guys mixed in.   During game warmup's that's about all they worked on in pregame was pass skelly.  over and over and over.    but yeah, Petrino was just starting to work on his defense when he went into the ditch.

I think that that year we lost under JLS would have been much better had Petrino still been the coach. Discipline would have helped out a lot. Heck, some thought we had a NC type team that anyone could just come in and be the coach and it'd have been a good year.  JLS proved that that wasn't the case. players not having any discipline and terrible coaching cost that team that year.   

I like how Morris is handling things so far. I like hearing from the recruits.  It seems that they all have great things to say about Morris. They can tell things are headed in the right direction.  Just like all of us fans can tell things are different. Recruiting is getting better.  Higher caliber guys are coming in and saying good things. If we can get 8-9wins plus this season, it'll sure help make our recruiting class one of the best we've had since joining the SEC.  I predict itll be a top 15 class.  which should be the best since joining the sec.   good times are coming guys and gals.   

[hawgon]

Petrino just had an awful year at Louisville and they really underachieved.  They went....8-4.

[oldhawg]

Petrino just had an awful year at Louisville and they really underachieved.  They went....8-4.

Petrino is a good coach.  Perhaps he could be more personable and a better recruiter, but that does not change the fact that he is a good coach.  Of course everyone knows that his coaching abilities are not what got him fired a Arkansas.

I am appreciative for the couple of very successful seasons he had as Razorback head coach, but was not sorry to see him let go.  If nothing else, he demonstrated that Arkansas does have the potential to be a player on the national scene again.

Looking forward to the next couple of years with Morris as Head Hog to see which direction the Razorbacks are headed.

[razorbackfaninar]

Petrino just had an awful year at Louisville and they really underachieved.  They went....8-4.

Going 8-4 with Lamar Jackson at quarterback in that conference is underachieving.  They lost to Boston College, Wake Forrest, Clemson and NC State.

[Lao Tsuie]

Yes, this is very encouraging thanks for posting.

[PorkRinds]

Petrino just had an awful year at Louisville and they really underachieved.  They went....8-4.

With a Heisman winning QB that regressed in his last season with Petrino.

[twistitup]

Now that they've moved on, you'll hear more about the previous staff.

Some don't need to hear more - they have SEEN plenty - the previous coach was a joke....if you couldn't see it, you didn't want to see it

[ricepig]

Some don't need to hear more - they have SEEN plenty - the previous coach was a joke....if you couldn't see it, you didn't want to see it

Well then "some" shouldn't be concerned what some recruiting writers put out about the previous staff, which was what the OP spoke of.

[hawgon]

Going 8-4 with Lamar Jackson at quarterback in that conference is underachieving.  They lost to Boston College, Wake Forrest, Clemson and NC State.

Absolutely.  They underachieved and Petrino would say it was a bad year.  They went 8-4.

[Hog Fan...DOH!]

With a Heisman winning QB that regressed in his last season with Petrino.

What?  He rushed and passed for more yardage.   

[twistitup]

Well then "some" shouldn't be concerned what some recruiting writers put out about the previous staff, which was what the OP spoke of.

I love to be proven correct, doesn't everybody?

[Deep Shoat]

I love to be proven correct, doesn't everybody?

Here is what I know: even when I agree with you I want to punch you in the throat. 

For my blood pressure and your safety, I am putting you on ignore.  You're just such a douchebag.

[ricepig]

I love to be proven correct, doesn't everybody?

That you can't comprehend the topic?

[Biggus Piggus]

Reporters are employed by "for profit" enterprises.  These enterprises report in a manner they believe will generate the most profit.  It's why one should always take media reports, sports or otherwise, with a huge grain of salt.

The media really are not that sophisticated. Reporters have zero incentive to "generate profit." They don't get commissions or anything. Reporters do what they have to do to stay connected. Unless you're Wally, who is never connected and has nothing but hearsay to work with.

Reporters do not get paid a lot, and they deal with coaches who make tons of money. You don't expect reporters to be respectful of the powers that be? Surely that's not right.

These days, most sports news comes from subscription sites that must develop relationships with readers if they're going to survive. An old-fashioned newspaper reporter never worried about whether his lack of optimism would affect the paper's economics.

Over the past five years, the tone of Razorback recruiting coverage changed quite a bit. In the first few years of Bielema, the media guys were impressed with the coaching staff's recruiting effort level. It was clear in the last couple of years, though, that the recruiting reporters thought other schools had left Arkansas behind + that Bielema had some ways of doing things that were counterproductive (such as holding out on offers till a recruit visited).

Bielema also had unceasing staff turnover for the wrong reasons, and not all of his staff hires were helpful on the recruiting front. After a few years of grudging progress, it all spiraled out of control at an awful rate of speed. Everyone who said Bielema was Nutt 2.0 was dead wrong. Bielema could not hold a candle to Houston Nutt, and that's saying something. In team management, recruiting, offseason, game-week preparation and game coaching, Nutt outperformed Bielema across the board.

By 2017, Arkansas was getting outprepared and outmaneuvered by almost every coach in the SEC. Bielema did not address weaknesses fast enough much less get positioned to gain any ground. Had he been allowed to keep his job, Bielema would have had to make more staff changes and cope with a recruiting pipeline that had run dry. He really did fire himself with his repeated misjudgments in talent acquisition and allocation, strategic preparation and tactical execution.

The most disturbing part of Bielema's performance to me was on defense. With him coming from Wisconsin, defense was the last thing I thought Bielema would augur in. The Arkansas defense was respectable in 2014-15, but when composed of Bielema recruits the D became the worst in school history by a long shot. Not only did Arkansas fail to bring in enough SEC-level talent, the players who did come to Fayetteville had their speed trained away + too often were asked to play out of position. Moreover, the defensive schemes in 2016-17 were flat broken.

Truly, the Bielema hire + buyout proved to be firing offenses by Jeff Long, who maybe should have done better due diligence before lurching for "I hired the coach from Wisconsin!"

The way Bielema left Wisconsin -- his last Badgers team lost three of its last four regular-season games + was 7-5 before the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin finished the season 8-6, luckily drawing Nebraska in the conference championship + losing to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

That 8-6 was the worst season for Wisconsin since 2008 (another Bielema team) + before that, 2001-03. Since Bielema's departure, Wisconsin has been 9-4, 11-3, 10-3, 11-3 and 13-1. If anything, he was holding them back.

Today, I have a much greater appreciation for the fans who saw that replacing Bobby Petrino with Bret Bielema was a terrible idea. The hire checked off boxes for Long -- emphasis on academics, that Big Ten integrity, a "name" -- but not for Razorback football.

It proved true that bringing a Big Ten coach to Arkansas was disastrous. Didn't just fail, it was a train wreck every bit as bad as the end of Petrino + the season in limbo.

What are you supposed to do when you know the Razorbacks are going down in flames, years before it actually happens? I don't know. Hogville has tried to give the Hogs some space to prove themselves, and we weren't too friendly to pessimists. But hell, the pessimists were dead right. They nailed it.

I'm inclined to trust the pessimists who believe Bielema left the Arkansas roster in terrible shape for a young coach + new staff implementing a hurry-up offense (180 away from Bielema) that will inherently strain the undermanned defense. If the Hogs look like a wreck this season, I'm not going to blame the new coaches too much.

While I wish the only thing wrong had been coaching, it's hard to believe that Bielema recruited a bunch of great players whose talent was being squandered. Hell, Bielema was so incompetent that in a program supposedly anchored on building size and depth on both lines, he was compelled to switch to a 3-4 defense to deal with a shortage of Dlinemen + never built adequate Oline depth.

And his power-based offense wound up best at finesse. What a cluster.

Danny Ford was an Arkansas coach who did his best work in recruiting but was so disorganized, the team looked like a total mess by the time he was asked to leave. This situation today is more like post-Jack Crowe, except inverted with a semblance of offense and a total rebuild on defense.

If you watch what the new staff is doing in recruiting, it should tell you that Bielema recruited the wrong kind of athletes + it's going to take Chad Morris years (plural) to correct that.

[luke hawg]

The media really are not that sophisticated. Reporters have zero incentive to "generate profit." They don't get commissions or anything. Reporters do what they have to do to stay connected. Unless you're Wally, who is never connected and has nothing but hearsay to work with.

Reporters do not get paid a lot, and they deal with coaches who make tons of money. You don't expect reporters to be respectful of the powers that be? Surely that's not right.

These days, most sports news comes from subscription sites that must develop relationships with readers if they're going to survive. An old-fashioned newspaper reporter never worried about whether his lack of optimism would affect the paper's economics.

Over the past five years, the tone of Razorback recruiting coverage changed quite a bit. In the first few years of Bielema, the media guys were impressed with the coaching staff's recruiting effort level. It was clear in the last couple of years, though, that the recruiting reporters thought other schools had left Arkansas behind + that Bielema had some ways of doing things that were counterproductive (such as holding out on offers till a recruit visited).

Bielema also had unceasing staff turnover for the wrong reasons, and not all of his staff hires were helpful on the recruiting front. After a few years of grudging progress, it all spiraled out of control at an awful rate of speed. Everyone who said Bielema was Nutt 2.0 was dead wrong. Bielema could not hold a candle to Houston Nutt, and that's saying something. In team management, recruiting, offseason, game-week preparation and game coaching, Nutt outperformed Bielema across the board.

By 2017, Arkansas was getting outprepared and outmaneuvered by almost every coach in the SEC. Bielema did not address weaknesses fast enough much less get positioned to gain any ground. Had he been allowed to keep his job, Bielema would have had to make more staff changes and cope with a recruiting pipeline that had run dry. He really did fire himself with his repeated misjudgments in talent acquisition and allocation, strategic preparation and tactical execution.

The most disturbing part of Bielema's performance to me was on defense. With him coming from Wisconsin, defense was the last thing I thought Bielema would augur in. The Arkansas defense was respectable in 2014-15, but when composed of Bielema recruits the D became the worst in school history by a long shot. Not only did Arkansas fail to bring in enough SEC-level talent, the players who did come to Fayetteville had their speed trained away + too often were asked to play out of position. Moreover, the defensive schemes in 2016-17 were flat broken.

Truly, the Bielema hire + buyout proved to be firing offenses by Jeff Long, who maybe should have done better due diligence before lurching for "I hired the coach from Wisconsin!"

The way Bielema left Wisconsin -- his last Badgers team lost three of its last four regular-season games + was 7-5 before the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin finished the season 8-6, luckily drawing Nebraska in the conference championship + losing to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

That 8-6 was the worst season for Wisconsin since 2008 (another Bielema team) + before that, 2001-03. Since Bielema's departure, Wisconsin has been 9-4, 11-3, 10-3, 11-3 and 13-1. If anything, he was holding them back.

Today, I have a much greater appreciation for the fans who saw that replacing Bobby Petrino with Bret Bielema was a terrible idea. The hire checked off boxes for Long -- emphasis on academics, that Big Ten integrity, a "name" -- but not for Razorback football.

It proved true that bringing a Big Ten coach to Arkansas was disastrous. Didn't just fail, it was a train wreck every bit as bad as the end of Petrino + the season in limbo.

What are you supposed to do when you know the Razorbacks are going down in flames, years before it actually happens? I don't know. Hogville has tried to give the Hogs some space to prove themselves, and we weren't too friendly to pessimists. But hell, the pessimists were dead right. They nailed it.

I'm inclined to trust the pessimists who believe Bielema left the Arkansas roster in terrible shape for a young coach + new staff implementing a hurry-up offense (180 away from Bielema) that will inherently strain the undermanned defense. If the Hogs look like a wreck this season, I'm not going to blame the new coaches too much.

While I wish the only thing wrong had been coaching, it's hard to believe that Bielema recruited a bunch of great players whose talent was being squandered. Hell, Bielema was so incompetent that in a program supposedly anchored on building size and depth on both lines, he was compelled to switch to a 3-4 defense to deal with a shortage of Dlinemen + never built adequate Oline depth.

And his power-based offense wound up best at finesse. What a cluster.

Danny Ford was an Arkansas coach who did his best work in recruiting but was so disorganized, the team looked like a total mess by the time he was asked to leave. This situation today is more like post-Jack Crowe, except inverted with a semblance of offense and a total rebuild on defense.

If you watch what the new staff is doing in recruiting, it should tell you that Bielema recruited the wrong kind of athletes + it's going to take Chad Morris years (plural) to correct that.

I disagree with the overall talent on the roster. I think Morris is inheriting the best team of any Razorback coach since joining the SEC. Bielema being less organized than Nutt is a stretch. Bielema was a CEO coach that couldn't keep assistants while attempting to play a style that is outdated with little ability to make in game adjustments. The players recruited were trained to play a style that did not result in victories. A different approach with the weakest schedule over the next 2 years we've seen in years will result in a nice start for Morris.

[twistitup]

A different approach with the weakest schedule over the next 2 years we've seen in years will result in a nice start for Morris.

CBB being fired will result in a nice re-start for the football program.

[hawgon]

This year's team may well be awful.  Anyone who thinks that Bielema left us in good shape is insane.  That said, Morris works with and on speed.  And it so happens that they best place to get speed is in East Texas and that also happens to be his main area of recruiting.  We'll get better quickly, but this year could be ugly.

[LRrazorback]

The media really are not that sophisticated. Reporters have zero incentive to "generate profit." They don't get commissions or anything. Reporters do what they have to do to stay connected. Unless you're Wally, who is never connected and has nothing but hearsay to work with.

Reporters do not get paid a lot, and they deal with coaches who make tons of money. You don't expect reporters to be respectful of the powers that be? Surely that's not right.

These days, most sports news comes from subscription sites that must develop relationships with readers if they're going to survive. An old-fashioned newspaper reporter never worried about whether his lack of optimism would affect the paper's economics.

Over the past five years, the tone of Razorback recruiting coverage changed quite a bit. In the first few years of Bielema, the media guys were impressed with the coaching staff's recruiting effort level. It was clear in the last couple of years, though, that the recruiting reporters thought other schools had left Arkansas behind + that Bielema had some ways of doing things that were counterproductive (such as holding out on offers till a recruit visited).

Bielema also had unceasing staff turnover for the wrong reasons, and not all of his staff hires were helpful on the recruiting front. After a few years of grudging progress, it all spiraled out of control at an awful rate of speed. Everyone who said Bielema was Nutt 2.0 was dead wrong. Bielema could not hold a candle to Houston Nutt, and that's saying something. In team management, recruiting, offseason, game-week preparation and game coaching, Nutt outperformed Bielema across the board.

By 2017, Arkansas was getting outprepared and outmaneuvered by almost every coach in the SEC. Bielema did not address weaknesses fast enough much less get positioned to gain any ground. Had he been allowed to keep his job, Bielema would have had to make more staff changes and cope with a recruiting pipeline that had run dry. He really did fire himself with his repeated misjudgments in talent acquisition and allocation, strategic preparation and tactical execution.

The most disturbing part of Bielema's performance to me was on defense. With him coming from Wisconsin, defense was the last thing I thought Bielema would augur in. The Arkansas defense was respectable in 2014-15, but when composed of Bielema recruits the D became the worst in school history by a long shot. Not only did Arkansas fail to bring in enough SEC-level talent, the players who did come to Fayetteville had their speed trained away + too often were asked to play out of position. Moreover, the defensive schemes in 2016-17 were flat broken.

Truly, the Bielema hire + buyout proved to be firing offenses by Jeff Long, who maybe should have done better due diligence before lurching for "I hired the coach from Wisconsin!"

The way Bielema left Wisconsin -- his last Badgers team lost three of its last four regular-season games + was 7-5 before the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin finished the season 8-6, luckily drawing Nebraska in the conference championship + losing to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

That 8-6 was the worst season for Wisconsin since 2008 (another Bielema team) + before that, 2001-03. Since Bielema's departure, Wisconsin has been 9-4, 11-3, 10-3, 11-3 and 13-1. If anything, he was holding them back.

Today, I have a much greater appreciation for the fans who saw that replacing Bobby Petrino with Bret Bielema was a terrible idea. The hire checked off boxes for Long -- emphasis on academics, that Big Ten integrity, a "name" -- but not for Razorback football.

It proved true that bringing a Big Ten coach to Arkansas was disastrous. Didn't just fail, it was a train wreck every bit as bad as the end of Petrino + the season in limbo.

What are you supposed to do when you know the Razorbacks are going down in flames, years before it actually happens? I don't know. Hogville has tried to give the Hogs some space to prove themselves, and we weren't too friendly to pessimists. But hell, the pessimists were dead right. They nailed it.

I'm inclined to trust the pessimists who believe Bielema left the Arkansas roster in terrible shape for a young coach + new staff implementing a hurry-up offense (180 away from Bielema) that will inherently strain the undermanned defense. If the Hogs look like a wreck this season, I'm not going to blame the new coaches too much.

While I wish the only thing wrong had been coaching, it's hard to believe that Bielema recruited a bunch of great players whose talent was being squandered. Hell, Bielema was so incompetent that in a program supposedly anchored on building size and depth on both lines, he was compelled to switch to a 3-4 defense to deal with a shortage of Dlinemen + never built adequate Oline depth.

And his power-based offense wound up best at finesse. What a cluster.

Danny Ford was an Arkansas coach who did his best work in recruiting but was so disorganized, the team looked like a total mess by the time he was asked to leave. This situation today is more like post-Jack Crowe, except inverted with a semblance of offense and a total rebuild on defense.

If you watch what the new staff is doing in recruiting, it should tell you that Bielema recruited the wrong kind of athletes + it's going to take Chad Morris years (plural) to correct that.

Good job. Well said

[LRrazorback]

I disagree with the overall talent on the roster. I think Morris is inheriting the best team of any Razorback coach since joining the SEC. Bielema being less organized than Nutt is a stretch. Bielema was a CEO coach that couldn't keep assistants while attempting to play a style that is outdated with little ability to make in game adjustments. The players recruited were trained to play a style that did not result in victories. A different approach with the weakest schedule over the next 2 years we've seen in years will result in a nice start for Morris.

No, Bielema took over the most talented team. Look at inherited draft picks and CBB had more than any coach.  Also, think about this, most coaches are fired because the team is bad (bad players), CBP wasn't fired because the team was bad but because he was. Big difference between the two.

[rtr]

No, Bielema took over the most talented team. Look at inherited draft picks and CBB had more than any coach.  Also, think about this, most coaches are fired because the team is bad (bad players), CBP wasn't fired because the team was bad but because he was. Big difference between the two.

This is true, no way that 2013 team should have won only 3 games.  What a bad joke these last 6 years have been.

[rtr]

I disagree with the overall talent on the roster. I think Morris is inheriting the best team of any Razorback coach since joining the SEC. Bielema being less organized than Nutt is a stretch. Bielema was a CEO coach that couldn't keep assistants while attempting to play a style that is outdated with little ability to make in game adjustments. The players recruited were trained to play a style that did not result in victories. A different approach with the weakest schedule over the next 2 years we've seen in years will result in a nice start for Morris.

Houston Nutt could coach circles around Bret Bielema.  What a statement but so very true.

[Hawgphat]

I'm neither concerned nor suspicious of the Razorbacks writers' collective agenda - or of any perceived cautionary restraints they may - or may not - have observed in their reporting content during the Bielema era.  That era is history.  Bret Bielema and staff are gone.  This is the beginning of a new Razorbacks football era  under Chad Morris & Co. 

I value the information and the insider assessments generated - and reported on - by the Razorbacks writers.  Questioning their skill or their integrity is not something I will participate in.  I'm a Hogs fan who appreciates being kept abreast of Hogs developments.

For those of you who may be obsessed with past program "blame game" analysis and comparisons, such is your prerogative.  I'm very much looking forward to next September, - - and I'm hopeful, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.  I'm content.

[ricepig]

No, Bielema took over the most talented team. Look at inherited draft picks and CBB had more than any coach.  Also, think about this, most coaches are fired because the team is bad (bad players), CBP wasn't fired because the team was bad but because he was. Big difference between the two.

You mean all those star ratings don't mean anything? We keep hearing that the reason Bama/NC is good, is because of their recruiting rankings. RD has laid it out, we signed higher rated talent under Bielema, now, did/have they been coached up correctly, that's debatable for sure.

[twistitup]

We keep hearing that the reason Bama/NC is good, is because of their recruiting rankings.

I've always said Bama has the deepest team in the SEC, so they dominate. Everyone has comparable starters, for the most part - but who has developed 2nd and 3rd string guys that can give solid play in the 4th qtr while the opponent is worn out?

Bama has more quality depth than most of the teams they play.

If it were all about recruiting and stars, Texas would have been more dominant in  last 20 years. I honestly think it's more about player development than stars and our failed experiment the last 5 years goes to prove that theory.

[jgphillips3]

Bama has the best coaching, best talent and best depth of any team in the Country.  They darn well should win the title every other year.  No dynasty lasts forever though and they will slip.  It may be another 3-7 years, but Saban can't coach forever and other teams will rise.  Heck, Bama slipped all the way to 6th this year in the recruiting rankings.  6th!!! 😉

[GuvHog]

I too believe Petrino would have still been here had he not been such a dbag and stayed away from Harley's and blondes. haha...

I don't think Petrino was about to go down in flames tho.  He had realized that he needed to build his defense and he was just starting to do it with that last class.  It's the same thing that he did at Louisville and every other place he's been.  He built the offenses up first, got them where they could score on about anyone, then bring the defenses in.  but, yes as we all know he focused mostly of offensive players with a few defensive guys mixed in.   During game warmup's that's about all they worked on in pregame was pass skelly.  over and over and over.    but yeah, Petrino was just starting to work on his defense when he went into the ditch.

I think that that year we lost under JLS would have been much better had Petrino still been the coach. Discipline would have helped out a lot. Heck, some thought we had a NC type team that anyone could just come in and be the coach and it'd have been a good year.  JLS proved that that wasn't the case. players not having any discipline and terrible coaching cost that team that year.   

I like how Morris is handling things so far. I like hearing from the recruits.  It seems that they all have great things to say about Morris. They can tell things are headed in the right direction.  Just like all of us fans can tell things are different. Recruiting is getting better.  Higher caliber guys are coming in and saying good things. If we can get 8-9wins plus this season, it'll sure help make our recruiting class one of the best we've had since joining the SEC.  I predict itll be a top 15 class.  which should be the best since joining the sec.   good times are coming guys and gals.   

I'm amazed that some consider Petrino a poor recruiter. When he was terminated, he was just really starting to work on improving the Defense and the proof is in the pudding. In 2014, the best defensive starting 11 that CBB ever put on the field at Arkansas was made up mostly of Petrino recruits. After those Petrino recruits left, CBB's defense totally tanked. Let that sink in.

I like what I see in Morris and his staff. I believe the Hogs will surprise some people this year.

[GuvHog]

The media really are not that sophisticated. Reporters have zero incentive to "generate profit." They don't get commissions or anything. Reporters do what they have to do to stay connected. Unless you're Wally, who is never connected and has nothing but hearsay to work with.

Reporters do not get paid a lot, and they deal with coaches who make tons of money. You don't expect reporters to be respectful of the powers that be? Surely that's not right.

These days, most sports news comes from subscription sites that must develop relationships with readers if they're going to survive. An old-fashioned newspaper reporter never worried about whether his lack of optimism would affect the paper's economics.

Over the past five years, the tone of Razorback recruiting coverage changed quite a bit. In the first few years of Bielema, the media guys were impressed with the coaching staff's recruiting effort level. It was clear in the last couple of years, though, that the recruiting reporters thought other schools had left Arkansas behind + that Bielema had some ways of doing things that were counterproductive (such as holding out on offers till a recruit visited).

Bielema also had unceasing staff turnover for the wrong reasons, and not all of his staff hires were helpful on the recruiting front. After a few years of grudging progress, it all spiraled out of control at an awful rate of speed. Everyone who said Bielema was Nutt 2.0 was dead wrong. Bielema could not hold a candle to Houston Nutt, and that's saying something. In team management, recruiting, offseason, game-week preparation and game coaching, Nutt outperformed Bielema across the board.

By 2017, Arkansas was getting outprepared and outmaneuvered by almost every coach in the SEC. Bielema did not address weaknesses fast enough much less get positioned to gain any ground. Had he been allowed to keep his job, Bielema would have had to make more staff changes and cope with a recruiting pipeline that had run dry. He really did fire himself with his repeated misjudgments in talent acquisition and allocation, strategic preparation and tactical execution.

The most disturbing part of Bielema's performance to me was on defense. With him coming from Wisconsin, defense was the last thing I thought Bielema would augur in. The Arkansas defense was respectable in 2014-15, but when composed of Bielema recruits the D became the worst in school history by a long shot. Not only did Arkansas fail to bring in enough SEC-level talent, the players who did come to Fayetteville had their speed trained away + too often were asked to play out of position. Moreover, the defensive schemes in 2016-17 were flat broken.

Truly, the Bielema hire + buyout proved to be firing offenses by Jeff Long, who maybe should have done better due diligence before lurching for "I hired the coach from Wisconsin!"

The way Bielema left Wisconsin -- his last Badgers team lost three of its last four regular-season games + was 7-5 before the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin finished the season 8-6, luckily drawing Nebraska in the conference championship + losing to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

That 8-6 was the worst season for Wisconsin since 2008 (another Bielema team) + before that, 2001-03. Since Bielema's departure, Wisconsin has been 9-4, 11-3, 10-3, 11-3 and 13-1. If anything, he was holding them back.

Today, I have a much greater appreciation for the fans who saw that replacing Bobby Petrino with Bret Bielema was a terrible idea. The hire checked off boxes for Long -- emphasis on academics, that Big Ten integrity, a "name" -- but not for Razorback football.

It proved true that bringing a Big Ten coach to Arkansas was disastrous. Didn't just fail, it was a train wreck every bit as bad as the end of Petrino + the season in limbo.

What are you supposed to do when you know the Razorbacks are going down in flames, years before it actually happens? I don't know. Hogville has tried to give the Hogs some space to prove themselves, and we weren't too friendly to pessimists. But hell, the pessimists were dead right. They nailed it.

I'm inclined to trust the pessimists who believe Bielema left the Arkansas roster in terrible shape for a young coach + new staff implementing a hurry-up offense (180 away from Bielema) that will inherently strain the undermanned defense. If the Hogs look like a wreck this season, I'm not going to blame the new coaches too much.

While I wish the only thing wrong had been coaching, it's hard to believe that Bielema recruited a bunch of great players whose talent was being squandered. Hell, Bielema was so incompetent that in a program supposedly anchored on building size and depth on both lines, he was compelled to switch to a 3-4 defense to deal with a shortage of Dlinemen + never built adequate Oline depth.

And his power-based offense wound up best at finesse. What a cluster.

Danny Ford was an Arkansas coach who did his best work in recruiting but was so disorganized, the team looked like a total mess by the time he was asked to leave. This situation today is more like post-Jack Crowe, except inverted with a semblance of offense and a total rebuild on defense.

If you watch what the new staff is doing in recruiting, it should tell you that Bielema recruited the wrong kind of athletes + it's going to take Chad Morris years (plural) to correct that.

When Jeff Long hired Bielema, I stated that Long had put all of his eggs in one basket and put his future at Arkansas on the line meaning if Bielema failed and was fired, Jeff Long would be fired too. I was scoffed at, told I was crazy and didn't know what I was talking about, yet 5 years later that very thing happened. A lot of people on here really underestimated how angry some up on the hill were over Long's termination of a head Coach that had just led the Hogs to a top 5 National finish.

[Cinco de Hogo]

The media really are not that sophisticated. Reporters have zero incentive to "generate profit." They don't get commissions or anything. Reporters do what they have to do to stay connected. Unless you're Wally, who is never connected and has nothing but hearsay to work with.

Reporters do not get paid a lot, and they deal with coaches who make tons of money. You don't expect reporters to be respectful of the powers that be? Surely that's not right.

These days, most sports news comes from subscription sites that must develop relationships with readers if they're going to survive. An old-fashioned newspaper reporter never worried about whether his lack of optimism would affect the paper's economics.

Over the past five years, the tone of Razorback recruiting coverage changed quite a bit. In the first few years of Bielema, the media guys were impressed with the coaching staff's recruiting effort level. It was clear in the last couple of years, though, that the recruiting reporters thought other schools had left Arkansas behind + that Bielema had some ways of doing things that were counterproductive (such as holding out on offers till a recruit visited).

Bielema also had unceasing staff turnover for the wrong reasons, and not all of his staff hires were helpful on the recruiting front. After a few years of grudging progress, it all spiraled out of control at an awful rate of speed. Everyone who said Bielema was Nutt 2.0 was dead wrong. Bielema could not hold a candle to Houston Nutt, and that's saying something. In team management, recruiting, offseason, game-week preparation and game coaching, Nutt outperformed Bielema across the board.

By 2017, Arkansas was getting outprepared and outmaneuvered by almost every coach in the SEC. Bielema did not address weaknesses fast enough much less get positioned to gain any ground. Had he been allowed to keep his job, Bielema would have had to make more staff changes and cope with a recruiting pipeline that had run dry. He really did fire himself with his repeated misjudgments in talent acquisition and allocation, strategic preparation and tactical execution.

The most disturbing part of Bielema's performance to me was on defense. With him coming from Wisconsin, defense was the last thing I thought Bielema would augur in. The Arkansas defense was respectable in 2014-15, but when composed of Bielema recruits the D became the worst in school history by a long shot. Not only did Arkansas fail to bring in enough SEC-level talent, the players who did come to Fayetteville had their speed trained away + too often were asked to play out of position. Moreover, the defensive schemes in 2016-17 were flat broken.

Truly, the Bielema hire + buyout proved to be firing offenses by Jeff Long, who maybe should have done better due diligence before lurching for "I hired the coach from Wisconsin!"

The way Bielema left Wisconsin -- his last Badgers team lost three of its last four regular-season games + was 7-5 before the Big Ten title game. Wisconsin finished the season 8-6, luckily drawing Nebraska in the conference championship + losing to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

That 8-6 was the worst season for Wisconsin since 2008 (another Bielema team) + before that, 2001-03. Since Bielema's departure, Wisconsin has been 9-4, 11-3, 10-3, 11-3 and 13-1. If anything, he was holding them back.

Today, I have a much greater appreciation for the fans who saw that replacing Bobby Petrino with Bret Bielema was a terrible idea. The hire checked off boxes for Long -- emphasis on academics, that Big Ten integrity, a "name" -- but not for Razorback football.

It proved true that bringing a Big Ten coach to Arkansas was disastrous. Didn't just fail, it was a train wreck every bit as bad as the end of Petrino + the season in limbo.

What are you supposed to do when you know the Razorbacks are going down in flames, years before it actually happens? I don't know. Hogville has tried to give the Hogs some space to prove themselves, and we weren't too friendly to pessimists. But hell, the pessimists were dead right. They nailed it.

I'm inclined to trust the pessimists who believe Bielema left the Arkansas roster in terrible shape for a young coach + new staff implementing a hurry-up offense (180 away from Bielema) that will inherently strain the undermanned defense. If the Hogs look like a wreck this season, I'm not going to blame the new coaches too much.

While I wish the only thing wrong had been coaching, it's hard to believe that Bielema recruited a bunch of great players whose talent was being squandered. Hell, Bielema was so incompetent that in a program supposedly anchored on building size and depth on both lines, he was compelled to switch to a 3-4 defense to deal with a shortage of Dlinemen + never built adequate Oline depth.

And his power-based offense wound up best at finesse. What a cluster.

Danny Ford was an Arkansas coach who did his best work in recruiting but was so disorganized, the team looked like a total mess by the time he was asked to leave. This situation today is more like post-Jack Crowe, except inverted with a semblance of offense and a total rebuild on defense.

If you watch what the new staff is doing in recruiting, it should tell you that Bielema recruited the wrong kind of athletes + it's going to take Chad Morris years (plural) to correct that.

Nice to read something substantial from you again Biggus.  I don't have to agree with someone all the time as long as I respect them based on how the present their opinions and you and Muskogee are the best on the board.  Even when you didn't agree with me early on in the BB era I think I let you know that.   

As for what the pessimist think about our current players, I began warning fans by the middle of last season that these players they were bashing would be the ones they would be cheering this coming season.  Fortunately I do think we have talent on the team but even more I think the gap between what the former staff was getting out of them versus what the current staff could get is huge.  I'm willing to be patient with the lower classes were I think our best talent is.  My fear is the upper classes will be very hard to turn around from the path BB had them on. 

[lawhawg20]

Ah, HOGVILLE.  Where people voluntarily congregate in the name of a common interest and then repeatedly fling poo at one another.

[PorkRinds]

When Jeff Long hired Bielema, I stated that Long had put all of his eggs in one basket and put his future at Arkansas on the line meaning if Bielema failed and was fired, Jeff Long would be fired too. I was scoffed at, told I was crazy and didn't know what I was talking about, yet 5 years later that very thing happened. A lot of people on here really underestimated how angry some up on the hill were over Long's termination of a head Coach that had just led the Hogs to a top 5 National finish.

You were laughed at because you're full of darn.

[jkstock04]

This year's team may well be awful.  Anyone who thinks that Bielema left us in good shape is insane.  That said, Morris works with and on speed.  And it so happens that they best place to get speed is in East Texas and that also happens to be his main area of recruiting.  We'll get better quickly, but this year could be ugly.

I'm holding out optimism that the talent on hand is at least somewhere in the middle of what the homers have been screaming about the past 2 or 3 years best ever in modern history. The schedule lines up sooooo weak compared to what we normally see. If this year is a conference 0-fer and loss to Colorado State I'll be at a loss.

[sowmonella]

Ah, HOGVILLE.  Where people voluntarily congregate in the name of a common interest and then repeatedly fling poo at one another.

Nailed it.+1

[oldhawg]

Ah, HOGVILLE.  Where people voluntarily congregate in the name of a common interest and then repeatedly fling poo at one another.

You would prefer that everyone was required to strictly tow the party line?