John White

[Inhogswetrust]

He basically fired Gary Blair because he decided the Ladybacks needed a female head coach.

That was as much Bev Lewis as it was White.

[Inhogswetrust]

He also hired Stan Heath just to hire a black head basketball coach.

I'm not sure if White (pardon the pun) thought that was needed but there were others that did. 

[onebadrubi]

I'm not sure if White (pardon the pun) thought that was needed but there were others that did.

From everything I know it was a directive from white

[Hoggish1]

Lol wow I didn't see that post before. He teaches several courses a week like any other prof. Look it up in the list of classes if you don't believe me. More BS being spewed here as usual.

What about his chancellor salary?  You do know he kept making that, right?

[Hoggish1]

D rule for junior college transfers
could have had Self after Nolan
Tried to destroy student paper
Helped ruin a track dynasty
Helped run off Gary Blair
Responsible for Nutt

The list goes on and on.

Yes, it is a Long list and not enough room to do his dirt justice.  Good post!

[DeltaBoy]

John BOY White set back the Program nearly 20 years!

[Calvin Swine]

White was the John L Smith of Chancellors.  In that, he was "Bad, real bad."

He meddled in areas that heavily upset the apple cart of Razorback Athletics.  A prime example was Bill Self wanted to come here after Nolan but White was fighting to wrestle power away from Broyles.  So White demanded Self come in for an interview despite Self's extremely impressive resume.  Self declined and we got Heath.

[Wild Bill Hog]

White had previously been at Ga Tech and insisted that AD Broyles not pick the next coach in 1997 and a committee be used instead.  Result was Houston Nutt rather than Broyles' choice of Tommy Tubberville.  Later on he wanted to fire Broyles as the AD but was told by the powers that he himself would be fired way before that happened.  Was a terrible chancellor for UA athletics.

Hired Jeff Long and fired Gary Blair (because he wasn't a woman).

[HognitiveDissonance]

John White was totally inept when messing with the athletic department. 

He put that stupid committee together to hire our football coach because "that's the way we hired faculty when I was at Georgia Tech."

Good Grief.

John White interjected himself into the Ath Dept to a large degree.
As Chancellor, he had the right, technically, but that doesn't mean he should have. That's why you have people running each dept on campus. He essentially was running the AD and Broyles was a puppet in his later years.

White was bureaucratic and always insisted on Search Committees.
The UA had great success letting Broyles hand-pick his coaches. Yes, he was a meddler, but JFB had a real talent for identifying coaches who could win here, and he knew how to work the business.

I will forever be angry with White most for the Nolan/Bill Self situation. When Nolan was fired, Self wanted the job. But John White was making everyone come to campus for a public interview. And that simply is NOT the way big-time coaches are hired; they can't afford to let their name leak out. Only guys with nothing to lose can keep their current job and go interview for another one...like a mid-major guy like Heath. Essentially White's meddling and rules prevented the UA from getting Bill Self. When I look back on what could have a 40-year run of Arkansas basketball under Eddie Sutton, Nolan Richardson, and Bill Self, it makes me very sad.

It's my opinion White's ego couldn't tolerate the attention that Athletics received so he had to interject himself into it. Megolomania.

I say all that while acknowledging he did a fine job as Chancellor on the Academic side.

[GTOWNHOG]

Look at endowment levels when he started in the 90's compared to today (4 or 5 times greater, just crossed $1 billion). Yes, as an academic his first priority is the school but if you want something else out of your chancellor you just don't understand how a university system works. He didn't try to "turn us into Rice".


People think athletic woes are his fault for dumb reasons. Nolan was fired because he was embarrassing the university, his superiors, and not winning. We suck in football now because we hired a Big ten coach who isn't connected to recruiting here and wasn't as good as many thought.

I agree.  John White wasn't a perfect Uof A Chancellor, and people give him too much grief for what they PERCEIVE that he did or did not do.   

I think the problem is that Jeff Long was in a bind to find a reputable Head Coach after he fired Petrino and when Bielema reached out and said he was interested, Long jumped on it. 

After all, at first blush Bielema seemed to be a solid coach that had performed well in the Big Ten. Big10 Coach of the Year in 2006, 3 Big10 Coach of the Year Awards, 6 consecutive bowls. 

We now know that Barry Alvarez was exercising tight control over Bielema and the decisions that were being made were made more by Alvarez than they were by Bielema.

So, here we are almost at the end of year 5 of Mr. Bielema.  Too bad that Barry Alvarez was not included in the package originally, because now we know that Mr. Bielema is a below average football coach without a lot of "hands on" supervision by someone who knows how to coach a big time program....

[Razorback7281]

Not really what you hire a Chancellor for. Broyles was the long time athletic director. People say he interfered but also forget that he is the athletic director's boss. If you want positives during his tenure, off the top of my head:

DVH hired
Razorback stadium South endzone expansion
More track titles and facility improvements

Did you really give White credit for DVH?  That's comical.

[Mike Irwin]

A TV anchor named Mike Olmstead had it figured out. On a radio show we did together he said one day, "Pay no attention to Oz."

"Who is Oz?" I asked.

"The little man behind the curtain pushing all the buttons," he answered.

"Oh yeah. John White," I said.

From that day on we always referred to John White as Oz.

One day we got a call during a commercial break. The guy on the phone said he pulled into the University Administration parking lot. He saw John White sitting in his car with the drivers side door open and his feet on the asphalt. He had the car radio on and was listening to our show. When Olmstead made reference to "Oz" the guy said White turned off the radio, got out, slammed the car door shut and walked off muttering to himself.

I wish cell phones had video capability back then. I would pay good money for a copy of that scene. 

[snoblind]

Did you really give White credit for DVH?  That's comical.

Broyles also did the South End Zone.  And there are track guys on this board that argue Long screwed up the track hire.