Spot on article about Ole Miss...

[Al Boarland]

http://gridironnow.com/ole-miss-primary-problem-problem-self-perception/

[hoggusamoungus]

http://gridironnow.com/ole-miss-primary-problem-problem-self-perception/

Noticed Arkansas is painted with the same brush.


This is not a phenomenon exclusive to the Rebels. Arkansas, Baylor, heck, even schools with histories as robust as Notre Dame and Miami in today's modern game, do not occupy the real estate their fans think they do or should and would be better off listening to this same message.

[rljjr]

It's the talking season for everyone, apparently. Can't wait for the games to start.

[rhames]

It's the talking season for everyone, apparently. Can't wait for the games to start.

You're right. This guys is wiring an article like some scandal just happened.

[Al Boarland]

Noticed Arkansas is painted with the same brush.


This is not a phenomenon exclusive to the Rebels. Arkansas, Baylor, heck, even schools with histories as robust as Notre Dame and Miami in today's modern game, do not occupy the real estate their fans think they do or should and would be better off listening to this same message.

I think there are different factions of the fan base. Some understand. Some DEMAND excellence. You need those that demand excellence, so you don't sink to the bottom.

[Deep Shoat]

I think there are different factions of the fan base. Some understand. Some DEMAND excellence. You need those that demand excellence, so you don't sink to the bottom.

Being a pretentious dick =\= demanding excellence...

[SugarHillGaHog]

Being a pretentious dick =\= demanding excellence...

Nice to see  =\= used.  I preferred  =\!=  but it's nice to see it still used when needed

[theFlyingHog]

I think there are different factions of the fan base. Some understand. Some DEMAND excellence. You need those that demand excellence, so you don't sink to the bottom.

What are you spouting off about, "demanding"?? You couldn't even save Bobby's job, shows how much pull you have

[Seebs]

Stopped reading at 'Texas' success'.

[3kgthog]

Do I expect to compete with Bama every year? Nope. Do I think we can do better than this? Yep, I've seen it before and so have you.

[hawgon]

We go the extra mile at Arkansas.  Some schools draw the line at cheating and would never do what Ole Miss did in cheating to try and reach the next level.  At Arkansas, we go the extra mile and we aren't going to tolerate a *** as a coach.  Why, little Jeffy might not be able to walk down to th coach's office and talk about how fun football is if we had a mean old *** as a coach.

We do things right at Arkansas and that allows us to look down our noses at schools that would stoop so low as to tolerate a *** as a head coach.

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

We go the extra mile at Arkansas.  Some schools draw the line at cheating and would never do what Ole Miss did in cheating to try and reach the next level.  At Arkansas, we go the extra mile and we aren't going to tolerate a *** as a coach.  Why, little Jeffy might not be able to walk down to th coach's office and talk about how fun football is if we had a mean old *** as a coach.

We do things right at Arkansas and that allows us to look down our noses at schools that would stoop so low as to tolerate a *** as a head coach.

Yeah lets sell our souls for wins  . Shout out to Louisville for bringing petrino back after he'd already burned them once. Now they have a football coach just as scandalous as pitino.

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

I call B.S.... Any program can become what those other's are, but it takes a special spark, and the #1 pitfall that I've noticed to igniting that spark is belief. I am never giving up the dream of Arkansas becoming what Alabama is now. Look at FSU that came from nowhere to somewhere. It can happen, and it doesn't come from a flash in a pan coaching hire. It comes from hard work, and recruiting. Both of which seem to be headed upward at Arkansas. If we have a big season this year, watch out..!

[hawgon]

Yeah lets sell our souls for wins  . Shout out to Louisville for bringing petrino back after he'd already burned them once. Now they have a football coach just as scandalous as pitino.

Thank you for proving my point.  At some schools "selling your souls for wins" means wholesale cheating.  At Arkansas it means having a big old meanie for a head coach.

There are some things we just won't tolerate around here.

[GuvHog]

Do I expect to compete with Bama every year? Nope. Do I think we can do better than this? Yep, I've seen it before and so have you.

I agree that Arkansas isn't going to compete with Bama on a yearly basis but it darn sure doesn't hurt to try. Arkansas is in the SEC so a minimum of 8 regular season wins per year, finishing in the top 25 most every year, and occasionally challenging for a Western Division title while running a clean program isn't too much to expect. The Hogs beat Bama in 2006, came close to doing it again in 2010 and have played them pretty close a time or 2 since Bielema's arrival. A win over the Tide can happen once in a Blue Moon. Not being able to win more than 7 regular season games a year isn't acceptable.

[hawgon]

Wins over Alabama were reasonably regular before Saban.  No one else beats him much at all either.  Alabama went from a historically great program to an unprecedentedly dominant one in the modern age with the hiring of the right coach.

No reason that Arkansas can't make a jump from a historically really nice program to a great program with the hiring of the right coach. 

[hawganatic]

I get so tired of articles like these.  The "know your role" articles.

Unrealistic goals and passionate, rabid fan bases are what make college football fun and special.  If every program just settled for what people think their program is, and let guys like the pretentious a$$ that wrote this article dictate to them what they should be happy with, then the fun and excitement would be sucked out of the sport.

I really feel bad for that part of our own fanbase that, no matter what is going on with the program, they going into every season expecting just 6 wins.  No matter what changes, developments, growth the team goes through, they cling to the areas that we are weaker in and use that as justfication for low-balling the team.  Just don't see the point in that level of pessimism.

[Hoggish1]

Noticed Arkansas is painted with the same brush.

Yeah, did notice that.  And that's why the little piece of fluff is way off the mark.

[hawganatic]

Thank you for proving my point.  At some schools "selling your souls for wins" means wholesale cheating.  At Arkansas it means having a big old meanie for a head coach.

There are some things we just won't tolerate around here.

Or a big ole meanie that got caught banging a University employee, lied about what he did, and refused to accept any punishment for it?  You mean that big ole meanie?

It's just a little embarrassing when the head of your football program ends up face down in a ditch with a woman he helped get hired into the department, that he just happened to be having an affair with...

[sowmonella]

Yeah, did notice that.  And that's why the little piece of fluff is way off the mark.

That's also why Al Boarland posted it. Without the negative Razorback comment he would have ignored the article.

[hawgon]

Or a big ole meanie that got caught banging a University employee, lied about what he did, and refused to accept any punishment for it?  You mean that big ole meanie?

It's just a little embarrassing when the head of your football program ends up face down in a ditch with a woman he helped get hired into the department, that he just happened to be having an affair with...

Not nearly as embarrassing as losing is.

[Deep Shoat]

We go the extra mile at Arkansas.  Some schools draw the line at cheating and would never do what Ole Miss did in cheating to try and reach the next level.  At Arkansas, we go the extra mile and we aren't going to tolerate a *** as a coach.  Why, little Jeffy might not be able to walk down to th coach's office and talk about how fun football is if we had a mean old *** as a coach.

We do things right at Arkansas and that allows us to look down our noses at schools that would stoop so low as to tolerate a *** as a head coach.

Good grief you're a dumbass...

[hawgon]

Good grief you're a dumbass...

From you?  I'll take it.

[GuvHog]

Or a big ole meanie that got caught banging a University employee, lied about what he did, and refused to accept any punishment for it?  You mean that big ole meanie?

It's just a little embarrassing when the head of your football program ends up face down in a ditch with a woman he helped get hired into the department, that he just happened to be having an affair with...

It was only embarrassing to those who are over sensitive.

[theFlyingHog]

Hawgon what kind of dirt you got on Lanny?

[hawgon]

Hawgon what kind of dirt you got on Lanny?

Just giving an opinion.  I'm not the one calling people idiots or anything like that for having contrary opinion (being wrong).  You guys are the ones who get mad because someone in the internet doesn't agree with you.

[go hogues]

He's spot on in the fact that OM and their fans do not have a grasp on reality - and that extends beyond sports.

I've seen a disproportionate amount of their fans go into immediate debt out of college while buying up huge houses and luxury cars. Somewhere, a notion that they were a wealthy, upscale school began and it carries over. In actuality, they are one of the poorer, less academic schools in the SEC.

Just because you can decorate a tailgating tent nicely doesn't mean you are Harvard.

[gchamblee]

Not nearly as embarrassing as losing is.

You remind me of people that put a 70" television in their double wide and walk around with their chests poked out like they are better than everyone else.

[gchamblee]

Good grief you're a dumbass...

I'm glad someone had the guts to say it

[gchamblee]

Hawgon what kind of dirt you got on Lanny?

lol

[GuvHog]

Just giving an opinion.  I'm not the one calling people idiots or anything like that for having contrary opinion (being wrong).  You guys are the ones who get mad because someone in the internet doesn't agree with you.

That's the truth! All someone has to do is post the slightest negative comment about Jeff Long on here and it sets off a firestorm of angry personal attacks.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I get so tired of articles like these.  The "know your role" articles.

Unrealistic goals and passionate, rabid fan bases are what make college football fun and special.  If every program just settled for what people think their program is, and let guys like the pretentious a$$ that wrote this article dictate to them what they should be happy with, then the fun and excitement would be sucked out of the sport.

I really feel bad for that part of our own fanbase that, no matter what is going on with the program, they going into every season expecting just 6 wins.  No matter what changes, developments, growth the team goes through, they cling to the areas that we are weaker in and use that as justfication for low-balling the team.  Just don't see the point in that level of pessimism.

I understood the meaning of the article and it is similar to what I have said on here before that was really popular with a few but by far, not popular with the majority.

There are teams that have the historically valued big time national name that everyone recognizes either because of their recent success or because they were at one time, one of the big dogs of college football. Many of these schools don't have to cheat (very much) because their name is synonymous with a major power and recruits have a tendency to gravitate to them so they can say, "I signed with Big Time U" and they think that this automatically equates to giving them a better opportunity to play at a high level and garner the attention of the NFL Scouts. From a cheating standpoint there is probably a greater need for the Staff/Administration to keep an eye on the Boosters who want so badly to feel like they are a major part of and help the programs by offering "additional incentives" to the bigger named players.

And so I get what this writer is saying. To break into the upper tier of programs that generally enjoy these advantages and as a result win more, some programs will choose to engage in short cuts to try to reach that level. They are rolling the dice that everyone involved will keep quiet and they will slide by. Sometimes they get lucky, other times, not so much.

I think that we are trying to do it the right way at Arkansas but the problem for most fans is that we aren't patient enough. Yes, Petrino was able to do it in a different way and I personally think that his offensive philosophy makes it a little easier and quicker to attain a higher level of winning. What we don't know and will never know is whether or not it was going to be sustainable in the SEC. I do think that we might have been knocking on the door of 10-11 wins every 4-5 years or so, which might have been enough to keep everybody happy. But as soon as he was offered 6-7 million/year to go to USC, everybody would have been blaming Long for not paying more to keep him.

We don't know yet if Bielema's philosophy is going to work at Arkansas. And by "work" I mean 10-11 wins every 4-5 years and hanging around 7-9 wins the other 1-3 years. This is a key year in whether his philosophy is going to pan out or not. I hope it does. I like his Pro Style philosophy even if it does take longer to build and I like the way he runs our program and the way he and the staff try to help the players become responsible young men. I like to see it work without having to go diving in the deep end of the recruiting cesspool and compromising our program values.

[hawgon]

The philosophy is fine.  The program management is fine.  The recruiting is fine.  We just need someone who can actually implement all that stuff on game day and win the games we should win.

[gchamblee]

The philosophy is fine.  The program management is fine.  The recruiting is fine.  We just need someone who can actually implement all that stuff on game day and win the games we should win.

Nobody disagrees with that. However, I would like to win the games we should win, and a few that we shouldn't.

[Biggus Piggus]

The philosophy is fine.  The program management is fine.  The recruiting is fine.  We just need someone who can actually implement all that stuff on game day and win the games we should win.

[hawgon]

Nobody disagrees with that. However, I would like to win the games we should win, and a few that we shouldn't.

Then you should be in favor of a change because Bielema WILL ALWAYS drop one or two he shouldn't.  That was the complaint at Wisconsin and it is the trend here.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

The philosophy is fine.  The program management is fine.  The recruiting is fine.  We just need someone who can actually implement all that stuff on game day and win the games we should win.

I agree with this. We have lost anywhere from 2 to 3 games each year that we had every opportunity to win. Minimize the coaching mistakes and help the players develop a killer instinct on the field when they have someone down. We have to learn to close the deal.

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

Not nearly as embarrassing as losing is.

Not even close. Its not all about wins. The coach prepares these young men for life after football. Some fans such as yourself only care about wins and only see these boys as football players, but many of us (even here in hogville) are the families of these players and want much more for them than a few successful Saturdays each year. The coach needs to be a man of integrity that we know will not only keep our boys safe but will also teach them life lessons. How to hire your mistress under your bosses nose isn't one of those lessons.

[hawgon]

Not even close. Its not all about wins. The coach prepares these young men for life after football. Some fans such as yourself only care about wins and only see these boys as football players, but many of us (even here in hogville) are the families of these players and want much more for them than a few successful Saturdays each year. The coach needs to be a man of integrity that we know will not only keep our boys safe but will also teach them life lessons. How to hire your mistress under your bosses nose isn't one of those lessons.

No, it is all about the wins.  College is a good point in life for people to learn that results are what matters.  No, I'm not telling people to cheat.  I'm telling you that in your life, unless you are self employed and really even then, you're not going to agree with your boss on everything.  You may find your coworkers life choices to be objectionable, but results still count.  And a boss who is the nicest guy in the world, but who doesn't meet his numbers, still gets fired.

[hogsanity]

There are fans at every school who are delusional, and there are posters in this thread that prove that about Hog fans.

[GuvHog]

Not even close. Its not all about wins. The coach prepares these young men for life after football. Some fans such as yourself only care about wins and only see these boys as football players, but many of us (even here in hogville) are the families of these players and want much more for them than a few successful Saturdays each year. The coach needs to be a man of integrity that we know will not only keep our boys safe but will also teach them life lessons. How to hire your mistress under your bosses nose isn't one of those lessons.

Winning is a MASSIVE part of it. A coach can run a clean program, help his players do well in class, and prepare them for a life after football but if he isn't winning, he'll get fired. Winning is the main thing a Head coach is hired to do. There are some on here who don't like that and can't deal with that reality but hat's the way it is in College Football.

[GuvHog]

And just because you meet or exceed the numbers, doesn't mean you get to get away with what no one else does.

Petrino was a great coach, phenomenal playcaller, and one of only 3 coaches in Hog history to win 11 games in a season. I'll be the first to admit that.

But having an affair with a mistress that you hired into a university position of which dozens upon dozens people applied for...........and then lying to your boss about it gets you fired every day of the week.

Only if your boss is a bithering idiot.

A sane smart boss would not fire an employee who is making the company money hand over fist even if he has an affair with another company employee and lies about it. He would probably call that employee into his office and read him the riot act but he won't fire the goose that's laying Golden Eggs.

[hawgon]

And just because you meet or exceed the numbers, doesn't mean you get to get away with what no one else does.

Petrino was a great coach, phenomenal playcaller, and one of only 3 coaches in Hog history to win 11 games in a season. I'll be the first to admit that.

But having an affair with a mistress that you hired into a university position of which dozens upon dozens people applied for...........and then lying to your boss about it gets you fired every day of the week.

I think you know this and are just trolling this board.

Stop this.  In real life people who produce get away with that and more.  I don't even want to have this argument.  You guys are the ones who keep bring the moral issues up because that IS ALL YOU HAVE at this point.  You can't point to any other successes than to say, "Well, at least he isn't as big a scumbag as Petrino."

And I'm just here to tell you that when Bielema does leave and that protective veil that protects all the coaches and their personal lives is removed, you're going to learn a few things that will make you feel stupid for ever making that argument.  It always happens.  I think Ken Hatfield is the only guy up there in the last 50 years whose personal conduct has not come into some amount of question when he left.

[hogsanity]

Winning is a MASSIVE part of it. A coach can run a clean program, help his players do well in class, and prepare them for a life after football but if he isn't winning, he'll get fired. Winning is the main thing a Head coach is hired to do. There are some on here who don't like that and can't deal with that reality but hat's the way it is in College Football.

Great, now define winning. Is it winning more games than you lose? Winning a div title? A conf tile? Playing in a ny6 bowl? winning a ny 6 bowl? making the playoff? Winning a playoff game? winning a nc? Just what is winning? And don't give us some subjective mumbo jumbo about " just winning the games they should win ". Who determines if they should win a game or not?

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

No, it is all about the wins.  College is a good point in life for people to learn that results are what matters.  No, I'm not telling people to cheat.  I'm telling you that in your life, unless you are self employed and really even then, you're not going to agree with your boss on everything.  You may find your coworkers life choices to be objectionable, but results still count.  And a boss who is the nicest guy in the world, but who doesn't meet his numbers, still gets fired.

That sentence alone calls B.S on the "student athlete" title generated by the NCAA. If it is truly all about the wins, take "student" out of student athlete. Bring back the NCAA football/basketball games, let universities sell jerseys with players names/ numbers on them and PAY THESE KIDS! If you're not willing to do that then its "not all about the wins"

[hogsanity]

Stop this.  In real life people who produce get away with that and more.  I don't even want to have this argument.  You guys are the ones who keep bring the moral issues up because that IS ALL YOU HAVE at this point.  You can't point to any other successes than to say, "Well, at least he isn't as big a scumbag as Petrino."

And I'm just here to tell you that when Bielema does leave and that protective veil that protects all the coaches and their personal lives is removed, you're going to learn a few things that will make you feel stupid for ever making that argument.  It always happens.  I think Ken Hatfield is the only guy up there in the last 50 years whose personal conduct has not come into some amount of question when he left.

I do not put stock in the behavior of any human. What I look at is how is the program being run form a rules standpoint. As of now, there is no hint of anything going on that the ncaa would care about. What a coach does in his personal life is his business unless it starts to hamper his job performance.

[hawgon]

Read this article from a Wisconsin guy when Bielema left and tell me if he doesn't have him pegged:

https://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2012/12/6/3734422/farewell-bret-bielema-arkansas-wisconsin-good-bad-ugly

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

If we're being honest, It didn't matter who Arkansas hired, half of the fanbase was still going to verbally crucify the new guy (and Jeff Long) because he replaced Bobby Petrino. Anything short of winning the west (which petrino never did) would've been scrutinized and picked apart.

[gchamblee]

Then you should be in favor of a change because Bielema WILL ALWAYS drop one or two he shouldn't.  That was the complaint at Wisconsin and it is the trend here.

Ill be in favor of a change when I feel that we have hit our ceiling, not when you emotional drama queens want to go find the next bobby petrino.

[hogsanity]

Here is the best paragraph from that article

"And just because you're not winning national championships doesn't mean you don't matter or can't have fun on Saturdays. It doesn't mean you can't win big games and beat your rivals. It doesn't mean you can't compete for championships. It does mean you can't do that every year. It does mean you can't expect to go up against one of college football's greatest dynasties – Nick Saban's Alabama – and play and recruit against them on an even footing annually."