Bonehead decision by Athletic Director Long

[Lanny]

Does anyone know the reason for the large buyout after a 7-6 season?  Bielema won 2 conference games in two years and Long offers this ridiculous one-sided buyout.  Can't blame Bielema for this one, Jeff Long brought this egghead decision on his own.  I wonder if the BOT knew all the t's and I's in that contract before they signed off.

Remember when your ticket prices go up and calls, letters asking for more donations, you have a AD that spends money and blows money as if the money grew on trees.

[hoghearted]

I can't figure out what the justification could be. It doesn't protect UA at all, which is SUPPOSED to be Jeff's highest priority.

[island hog]

From this untrained eye, it appears that the buck stops with the BOT on this one. 

[woodhog14]

Does anyone know the reason for the large buyout after a 7-6 season?  Bielema won 2 conference games in two years and Long offers this ridiculous one-sided buyout.  Can't blame Bielema for this one, Jeff Long brought this egghead decision on his own.  I wonder if the BOT knew all the t's and I's in that contract before they signed off.

Remember when your ticket prices go up and calls, letters asking for more donations, you have a AD that spends money and blows money as if the money grew on trees.

So do these comments below have anything to do with what you just mentioned? Sounds like to me they do.

The mismanagement of millions of dollars will get you terminated every time.

Or some would call it fraud....

But integrity and all.

PRJ

[DeltaBoy]

THE BOT must can Jeff Long.

[The NewEra]

Does anyone know the reason for the large buyout after a 7-6 season?  Bielema won 2 conference games in two years and Long offers this ridiculous one-sided buyout.  Can't blame Bielema for this one, Jeff Long brought this egghead decision on his own.  I wonder if the BOT knew all the t's and I's in that contract before they signed off.

Remember when your ticket prices go up and calls, letters asking for more donations, you have a AD that spends money and blows money as if the money grew on trees.

Judging by your last several post on Long I'm starting to believe you aren't his biggest fan.  I may be wrong, but.........................

[hogcard1964]

It's a head scratcher that's for sure.

It seems like everything he's touched in regards to the football program has blown up in his face.

Btw, he's also responsible for hiring Dave Wanstedt while he was in Pittsburgh.

[Karma]

I believe (but don't know) that we had just beat Texas and Nebraska made an overture to Bielema so we gave him the raise and increased buyout as security to keep him.

2nd time we screwed up not letting a coach go to Nebraska.

[hoghearted]

I believe (but don't know) that we had just beat Texas and Nebraska made an overture to Bielema so we gave him the raise and increased buyout as security to keep him.

2nd time we screwed up not letting a coach go to Nebraska.

The buyout has no 'security to keep him'. It just prevents us from firing him.

[Granny fan]

I believe (but don't know) that we had just beat Texas and Nebraska made an overture to Bielema so we gave him the raise and increased buyout as security to keep him.

2nd time we screwed up not letting a coach go to Nebraska.

Isn't this the truth?  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!

[Karma]

The buyout has no 'security to keep him'. It just prevents us from firing him.

The security is for him. We gave him extra security by removing the threat of firing him in order to keep him.

[Jim Harris]

I believe (but don't know) that we had just beat Texas and Nebraska made an overture to Bielema so we gave him the raise and increased buyout as security to keep him.

2nd time we screwed up not letting a coach go to Nebraska.

If Nebraska made overtures to Bielema (and what I've been told is HE/his agent made overtures to Nebraska that went nowhere), they happened a long time before the Texas Bowl win. Nebraska hired Mike Price on Dec. 4, 2014.

[Razorbackers]

Stability and support. Taking the pressure to "win immediately or we'll fire you" off of his shoulders, giving him breathing room to continue to rebuild the team. Showing support for the process of finding the right players and building depth and implementing the offense. Showing other coaches around the country that Arkansas may be a tough job, but you'll get paid and have every opportunity to succeed here.

The buyout is too high but let's stop pretending that A) high buyouts aren't common across all of college football and B) there's no justification for the new contract after 2014.

A&M was the only team that beat us that didn't finish the season ranked in the top 25. Arkansas' worst loss that year was week 1 to Auburn in a game that was close, but depth and experience cost us late. OT loss to TAMU, 1 point loss to Bama, 13 point loss to UGA, 7 point loss to MSU, 7 point loss to Miz.

It wasn't just the wins over OM, LSU, and Texas that got the fanbase excited about Bielema, had Long and the BOT excited about the future, and got him the extension. It was the way we were losing. Close games, being competitive with a murderous schedule, shutting out back to back ranked opponents, and doing it with a roster that would have a lot of offense back in 2015.

The reason for the money and the optimism is pretty obvious to me. Again, it is a very high buyout that wasn't warranted, but the reason behind wanting to renegotiate is there.

[HawgWild]

Does anyone know the reason for the large buyout after a 7-6 season?  Bielema won 2 conference games in two years and Long offers this ridiculous one-sided buyout.

I guess someone thought that's how much a win over a bad Texas team was worth.

[Sed76]

I have no clue as to how these things work but is Long solely responsible for this crazy buyout? I mean did someone else not have to sign off on it? If so those people deserve some heat as well for approving it.

[code red]

15.4 million cause he beat Texas in the Texas bowl....basically.

[jacobp]

Stability and support. Taking the pressure to "win immediately or we'll fire you" off of his shoulders, giving him breathing room to continue to rebuild the team. Showing support for the process of finding the right players and building depth and implementing the offense. Showing other coaches around the country that Arkansas may be a tough job, but you'll get paid and have every opportunity to succeed here.

The buyout is too high but let's stop pretending that A) high buyouts aren't common across all of college football and B) there's no justification for the new contract after 2014.

A&M was the only team that beat us that didn't finish the season ranked in the top 25. Arkansas' worst loss that year was week 1 to Auburn in a game that was close, but depth and experience cost us late. OT loss to TAMU, 1 point loss to Bama, 13 point loss to UGA, 7 point loss to MSU, 7 point loss to Miz.

It wasn't just the wins over OM, LSU, and Texas that got the fanbase excited about Bielema, had Long and the BOT excited about the future, and got him the extension. It was the way we were losing. Close games, being competitive with a murderous schedule, shutting out back to back ranked opponents, and doing it with a roster that would have a lot of offense back in 2015.

The reason for the money and the optimism is pretty obvious to me. Again, it is a very high buyout that wasn't warranted, but the reason behind wanting to renegotiate is there.

Most rational post I've read in days

[ricepig]

Judging by your last several post on Long I'm starting to believe you aren't his biggest fan.  I may be wrong, but.........................

Yeah, you'd think he was a n00b that keeps posting the same thing over and over.   

[PorkSoda]

Does anyone know the reason for the large buyout after a 7-6 season?  Bielema won 2 conference games in two years and Long offers this ridiculous one-sided buyout.  Can't blame Bielema for this one, Jeff Long brought this egghead decision on his own.  I wonder if the BOT knew all the t's and I's in that contract before they signed off.

Remember when your ticket prices go up and calls, letters asking for more donations, you have a AD that spends money and blows money as if the money grew on trees.

that was the year he beat LSU and Texas.

I'm pretty sure he got caught up in the excitement that Razorback Football was back on the map.

the team actually did pretty good the next year too.  then BA, HH, etc graduated and back to reality.

Same thing happened to Nutt between the Matt Jones Era and the Dmac Era.  if you don't have a superstar or two you aren't going to compete in the SEC.

[hawgon]

Making sure that Jeff Long got to keep his man in place.

[Kevin]

If Nebraska made overtures to Bielema (and what I've been told is HE/his agent made overtures to Nebraska that went nowhere), they happened a long time before the Texas Bowl win. Nebraska hired Mike Price on Dec. 4, 2014.

so cbb was looking to get out in year two or he was playing long. nice job long.

[jrulz83]

Maybe Bielema wrote Long a note after the Texas Bowl.

[ricepig]

I have no clue as to how these things work but is Long solely responsible for this crazy buyout? I mean did someone else not have to sign off on it? If so those people deserve some heat as well for approving it.

Basically, what he got is a raise, and a new 6 year contract which replaced his previous contract. His salary was raised to an average of $4.25m/year, and the buyout just guarantees the contract. His previous contract was based on $3.2m a year and with three years to go on it, he was owed $9.6m. On Jan 1st, with three years to go, he is owed $11.7m.

[jkstock04]

Does anyone know the reason for the large buyout after a 7-6 season?  Bielema won 2 conference games in two years and Long offers this ridiculous one-sided buyout.  Can't blame Bielema for this one, Jeff Long brought this egghead decision on his own.  I wonder if the BOT knew all the t's and I's in that contract before they signed off.

Remember when your ticket prices go up and calls, letters asking for more donations, you have a AD that spends money and blows money as if the money grew on trees.

The Texas win probably got a lot of people who make decisions thinking 10 win seasons were inevitable for the future. Hilarious looking back on it.

[Karma]

If Nebraska made overtures to Bielema (and what I've been told is HE/his agent made overtures to Nebraska that went nowhere), they happened a long time before the Texas Bowl win. Nebraska hired Mike Price on Dec. 4, 2014.

Good point, the timeline doesn't match up. Mike Riley was hired before the Texas Bowl.

[Razorbackers]

Most rational post I've read in days

That's bad news, because I am not smart. lol

[Hogs-n-Roses]

So should we be thankful to Nebraska or do we owe them an apology. Wait a minit,I get it. They shud be thanking us.

[Grunt]

It's a head scratcher that's for sure.

It seems like everything he's touched in regards to the football program has blown up in his face.

Btw, he's also responsible for hiring Dave Wanstedt while he was in Pittsburgh.

And for firing Petrino. Just an ass decision. Long doesn't care about the program. Let's fire him as we did Nutt.

[hogfan14]

The Texas win probably got a lot of people who make decisions thinking 10 win seasons were inevitable for the future. Hilarious looking back on it.

I mean, we made a huge jump from 2013 to 2014. Top 10 defense, only lost to Alabama by 1, were in nearly every game we played. Most thought we were trending up.

We just haven't gotten any better since then and it was WAY too early for that sort of buyout.

[Razorbackers]

I mean, we made a huge jump from 2013 to 2014. Top 10 defense, only lost to Alabama by 1, were in nearly every game we played. Most thought we were trending up.

We just haven't gotten any better since then and it was WAY too early for that sort of buyout.

And the thing is, we went 5-3 in the conference the next year, and we lost 2-3 games that we should have or could have won.

And then last year we were worse, but came *this* close to winning 9 games.

That's going to be the legacy of Bielema. Being *this* close to doing some awesome things, but being unable to keep it together for a full season. And it all culminated in this ****show of a 2017 season.

[hawgon]

And the thing is, we went 5-3 in the conference the next year, and we lost 2-3 games that we should have or could have won.

And then last year we were worse, but came *this* close to winning 9 games.

That's going to be the legacy of Bielema. Being *this* close to doing some awesome things, but being unable to keep it together for a full season. And it all culminated in this ****show of a 2017 season.

All you need to know is that every year, Bert is two games worse than whatever his team should be with a good coach.  This year, that is going to be four or five because we look like a six win team if we get the breaks.

[longpig]

And the thing is, we went 5-3 in the conference the next year, and we lost 2-3 games that we should have or could have won.

And then last year we were worse, but came *this* close to winning 9 games.

That's going to be the legacy of Bielema. Being *this* close to doing some awesome things, but being unable to keep it together for a full season. And it all culminated in this ****show of a 2017 season.

And when you factor in his previous few years at Wisconsin to what he'd done at Arkansas to that point it makes sense.  Then Auburn 16 happened.

[Hog-Corleone]

You guys do realize that his buyout is reduced by any other pay he gets from a future job, right?  Now, we can discuss what program would hire him, and how much will he be worth, but if he gets a $2.0MM per year job, that reduces it by $8.0MM.

Still a lot of money, but maybe it makes it a little more palatable?

I don't know, i just don't see the buyout as being out of touch with what is happening in the landscape of head coaching contracts at P5 schools...

[Razorbackers]

And when you factor in his previous few years at Wisconsin to what he'd done at Arkansas to that point it makes sense.  Then Auburn 16 happened.

That really was a beacon of WTH. Truly, up until that point, one of the things I loved most about CBB and his teams was how they never quit (2013 excluded to an extent). That game was BRUTAL. Of course, in true CBB fashion, he follows it up by beating the crap out of Florida, and I chalked it up to a bad game.

Since then, though, this team has looked like a team that just doesn't have any heart. I remember Bielema embracing Flowers after the Alabama game, and the way the team rallied around Brandon in 2015.

This team just doesn't have that in them, or at least they haven't shown it yet. And it's just...weird...

[Pigsknuckles]

15.4 million cause he beat Texas in the Texas bowl....basically.

As Dr. Bukey would say...succinct, and to the point.

[Redhogs]

Stability and support. Taking the pressure to "win immediately or we'll fire you" off of his shoulders, giving him breathing room to continue to rebuild the team. Showing support for the process of finding the right players and building depth and implementing the offense. Showing other coaches around the country that Arkansas may be a tough job, but you'll get paid and have every opportunity to succeed here.

The buyout is too high but let's stop pretending that A) high buyouts aren't common across all of college football and B) there's no justification for the new contract after 2014.

A&M was the only team that beat us that didn't finish the season ranked in the top 25. Arkansas' worst loss that year was week 1 to Auburn in a game that was close, but depth and experience cost us late. OT loss to TAMU, 1 point loss to Bama, 13 point loss to UGA, 7 point loss to MSU, 7 point loss to Miz.

It wasn't just the wins over OM, LSU, and Texas that got the fanbase excited about Bielema, had Long and the BOT excited about the future, and got him the extension. It was the way we were losing. Close games, being competitive with a murderous schedule, shutting out back to back ranked opponents, and doing it with a roster that would have a lot of offense back in 2015.

The reason for the money and the optimism is pretty obvious to me. Again, it is a very high buyout that wasn't warranted, but the reason behind wanting to renegotiate is there.

" Again, it is a very high buyout that wasn't warranted,"    the only sentence in the post that matters...

[ricepig]

" Again, it is a very high buyout that wasn't warranted,"    the only sentence in the post that matters...

The buyout is just guaranteeing the remainder of his contract, lots of people get those.

[rhames]

The buyout is just guaranteeing the remainder of his contract, lots of people get those.

Yeah people don't get that

[Grizzlyfan]

if we fire him January 1, get to the 11.7M mark, what's our Year 1 payout? 2m? 3m?

We cannot wait until after early signing date and only one month before regular signing date to pull the trigger.  If he is going to be fired it must be done on November 25th.  And the new coach must be ready to sign.

[PorkSoda]

The buyout is just guaranteeing the remainder of his contract, lots of people get those.

exactly.

now people could say that he didn't deserve a raise from 3.2 to 3.85 and they would probably be correct. 

however the buyout didn't change, just the amount of his Salary which is guaranteed for the lesser of 4 years or the remainder of the contract.

[Potosihog]

You guys do realize that his buyout is reduced by any other pay he gets from a future job, right?  Now, we can discuss what program would hire him, and how much will he be worth, but if he gets a $2.0MM per year job, that reduces it by $8.0MM.

Still a lot of money, but maybe it makes it a little more palatable?

I don't know, i just don't see the buyout as being out of touch with what is happening in the landscape of head coaching contracts at P5 schools...

Between you and Razorbackers we might actually have some reasonable people still posting here.  Yes, it is time to move on.  Yes this season will likely end without a single conference win in one of the most down years of the conference history.  But there was reason to think we were going the right direction in 2015.  Furthermore there is reason to believe today we can move on without it bankrupting the program.

Now, hopefully we are able to move on without his hirability being totally destroyed.

We need another team to take him and pay him a decent wage.

[ricepig]

We cannot wait until after early signing date and only one month before regular signing date to pull the trigger.  If he is going to be fired it must be done on November 25th.  And the new coach must be ready to sign.

Correct, that's the $3.7m question.....

[moses_007]

15.4 million cause he beat Texas in the Texas bowl....basically.

It started off as $18 million. 

[PorkSoda]

if we fire him January 1, get to the 11.7M mark, what's our Year 1 payout? 2m? 3m?

3.85 per year x 4 years or the remainder of the contract.

We cannot wait until after early signing date and only one month before regular signing date to pull the trigger.  If he is going to be fired it must be done on November 25th.  And the new coach must be ready to sign.

we certainly can.

we can keep him on payroll through Jan 1, and in the meantime hire someone to take over his duties while he is on paid administrative leave.

[PorkSoda]

It started off as $18 million. 

3.85 x 4 is 15.4 million.   he is only guaranteed a max of 4 years salary

[moses_007]

3.85 per year x 4 years or the remainder of the contract.
we certainly can.

we can keep him on payroll through Jan 1, and in the meantime hire someone to take over his duties while he is on paid administrative leave.

Coaching changes just don't work like that.  When a coach is fired, he is gone...immediately.

[woodhog14]

If Nebraska made overtures to Bielema (and what I've been told is HE/his agent made overtures to Nebraska that went nowhere), they happened a long time before the Texas Bowl win. Nebraska hired Mike Price on Dec. 4, 2014.

So Bielema was looking to get out after his second year huh?

[ricepig]

3.85 x 4 is 15.4 million.   he is only guaranteed a max of 4 years salary

And, it states that the amounts are non-cumlative and any partial years are pro-rated. So, we would only owe 1/12 of the $3.85m for 2017. I've seen this contract for years and just now noticed that sentence..

[hawgon]

And, it states that the amounts are non-cumlative and any partial years are pro-rated. So, we would only owe 1/12 of the $3.85m for 2017. I've seen this contract for years and just now noticed that sentence..

You argued with me the other day when I said it was prorated.

[Grizzlyfan]

3.85 per year x 4 years or the remainder of the contract.
we certainly can.

we can keep him on payroll through Jan 1, and in the meantime hire someone to take over his duties while he is on paid administrative leave.

I'm not a scientific rocket, but I'll bet a good attorney could make the case that the minute you put him on "administrative leave" and give somebody else his duties that he has been fired.  But ultimately that is just a money question.  My point is that on November 25th (if we aren't going to a bowl) the recruits must know who the REAL coach is going to be.