Thankful for Frank Broyles

[cypress rock]

Coach Broyles is at the U of A bookstore until 4:00 signing the recent book that was published about him.

[hogfan10]

Frank did do some good things but he also did some bad things. Nolan was never treated fairly or paid according to what he brought in. Nolan was the savior of the athletic department for about 8 years and Frank never came out and said what a great one he was. Also, Frank ran off Hatfield and hired Jack Crowe. What a big mistake. Until that happened Arkansas was top 20 program for years. It took ten years to recover. I guess Frank was tired of winning 9-10 a year. He also hired Stan Heath, which was a mistake

Nolan was paid very well at the time, in fact he was one of the highest paid college coaches in the country. He was so mistreated here, that he stayed for 18 years!
Ken Hatfield was driven away by our wonderful fans. You're right in saying that 9-10 wins a year weren't enough, but it was the fans that weren't satisfied, because to our fans the offense was too boring.

[Mike Irwin]

Nolan was paid very well at the time, in fact he was one of the highest paid college coaches in the country. He was so mistreated here, that he stayed for 18 years!
Ken Hatfield was driven away by our wonderful fans. You're right in saying that 9-10 wins a year weren't enough, but it was the fans that weren't satisfied, because to our fans the offense was too boring.

Ken didn't leave because of the fans. A few days before the Cotton Bowl in 1989 word started to filter out that Hatfield was going to Georgia. Hatfield spoke at a pep rally in Dallas the day before the game. Some 10,000 Razorback fans started chanting, PLEASE DON'T GO. PLEASE DON'T GO. I was there. I saw every bit of it.

Afterward one of the LR TV guys said, "Well coach, you can't say the fans don't want you after seeing that." Hatfield said he was very humbled by the spontaneous outpouring of support for him.

While it is true that Hatfield had some rough years with the fans and his flexbone offense, back to back Cotton Bowls changed that. He was plenty popular by the time he left for Clemson.

Hatfield left because Frank tried to fire him at the end of the '87 season. They locked horns over Fred Goldsmith, Hatfield's defensive coordinator. Frank thought Goldsmith was awful. He told Hatfield he would give him the money to hire the best available DC out there. Hatfield said no and Frank tried to get permission from Chancellor Dan Ferritor to fire Hatfield. Ferritor said no.

Frank had a way of getting what he wanted in those days. He convinced the AD at Rice to hire Goldsmith as their head coach. Arkansas got a new DC and the defense immediately improved. In 88 Arkansas went to the Cotton Bowl. The next year Hatfield hired Jack Crowe who had been the OC at Clemson and Arkansas went to the Cotton Bowl again. By that time Frank was totally fine with Hatfield. His staff had been upgraded with two quality coordinators which is all Frank wanted in the first place.

However Hatfield was not fine with Frank. He had been looking for another job for two years before Clemson finally hired him. Hatfield told some of his friends that he didn't trust Frank. "He'll fire me the first time I have a losing season," Hatfield supposedly said.