If 1969

[Wildhog]

The 1969 loss to Texas was the defiling game for Arkansas Football up until the present.  I could write a very long essay using that as my thesis sentence, but I will let it stand as it is.

They were defiled.

[Jim Harris]

And the Stoernover, and the roadside ditch, etc., are not enough to convince you Arkansas is snakebit, this will.

Arkansas once hired Bear Bryant as head coach.  Bryant was driving to Fayetteville on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  He became Lieutenant Commander Bryant the next day.

I give up.

not true that he was actually hired. They wanted to hire Bear Bryant. He was on his way to Little Rock to meet with the big-money bigshots who were calling the shots when word came that Pearl Harbor had happen. This was all written in the Gazette from those days. They were ready to dump Tommy Thomsen and hire Bear Bryant. Instead, the early 1940s became a parade of coaches. Things didn't get settled down until the hiring of John Barnhill in 1946.

[bphi11ips]

not true that he was actually hired. They wanted to hire Bear Bryant. He was on his way to Little Rock to meet with the big-money bigshots who were calling the shots when word came that Pearl Harbor had happen. This was all written in the Gazette from those days. They were ready to dump Tommy Thomsen and hire Bear Bryant. Instead, the early 1940s became a parade of coaches. Things didn't get settled down until the hiring of John Barnhill in 1946.

Okay counselor.  According to the Alabama Hall of Fame bio, The Bear was "in-line":

"December 7, 1941 -Bryant and Hall of Fame New York Yankee catcher Bill Dickey are going to Arkansas where Bryant is in line to be named the head coach of the Razorbacks when they hear news of Pearl Harbor on the radio. They turn around and head back to Nashville and Bryant enlists in the Navy."

We'll never know whether he would have become the head coach or not. 

[pignparadise]

And the Stoernover, and the roadside ditch, etc., are not enough to convince you Arkansas is snakebit, this will.

Arkansas once hired Bear Bryant as head coach.  Bryant was driving to Fayetteville on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  He became Lieutenant Commander Bryant the next day.

I give up.

Whose to say he wouldn't have stayed a couple of years and then went  to Alabama his alma mater. If he had been successful at Arkansas (a mess in the 40's)
surely Bama would have come calling.

[rickm1976]

Whose to say he wouldn't have stayed a couple of years and then went  to Alabama his alma mater. If he had been successful at Arkansas (a mess in the 40's)
surely Bama would have come calling.

I'm glad you pointed that out, and you're probably right.  I feel much better now.

[secfan30]

It doesn't matter.

Any team who starts Jerry Jones' body on the offensive line deserves what they get.  He's not even a true Arkansan.  He was born in East Los Angeles.

Regardless, whoever knowingly and willfully receives and pays $ for any kind of "cosmetic procedure" after the age of 57 deserves to be forced into becoming a lifelong Aggie fan.

Jerry Jones deserves nothing less.

Didn't his family move to arkansas when he was an infant?

[Jim Harris]

Okay counselor.  According to the Alabama Hall of Fame bio, The Bear was "in-line":

"December 7, 1941 -Bryant and Hall of Fame New York Yankee catcher Bill Dickey are going to Arkansas where Bryant is in line to be named the head coach of the Razorbacks when they hear news of Pearl Harbor on the radio. They turn around and head back to Nashville and Bryant enlists in the Navy."

We'll never know whether he would have become the head coach or not. 

Obviously facts mean nothing to you based on the original post, then. There is a helluva lot of difference between being hired or being in-line for the job. You told people to start the thread that he was hired. If having that wrong doesn't matter to you, I can't help you.

[razorbackkid]

Not sure why God thought I deserved all this, but I must be a real POS.

Not to add insult to injury, but God did "Smile" upon us.......Dude has a unique sense of humor. 

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

And the Stoernover, and the roadside ditch, etc., are not enough to convince you Arkansas is snakebit, this will.

Arkansas once hired Bear Bryant as head coach.  Bryant was driving to Fayetteville on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  He became Lieutenant Commander Bryant the next day.

I give up.

pISSED

I've heard that Bear story, but somebody refuted it on here a few months ago.

nOT SO PISSED

I just read it myself for the first time, so maybe it isn't true.  Cool story, tho

Confused...

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

Arkansas is definitely not snakebit because there's no such thing.

Bullshirt..!  we're snake bit as a fat boy in a pit of water moccasins..@!

[PonderinHog]

pISSED
nOT SO PISSED

Confused...

Song remains the same... 

[Mike Irwin]

Arkansas is indeed snakebit. To deny this is to be oblivious of everything that has happened since the '64 national title. However one should never give up because snakebit is not a permanent condition. It may take decades to become un-snakebit but it can happen at any particular time or place. 

Maybe the LSU game was the end of being snakebit and we just don't know it yet. Or this crap could continue to plague the current head coach and beyond. Life would be boring if we knew the answer to such a mystical question.

[Sivad]

Any team who starts Jerry Jones' body on the offensive line deserves what they get.  He's not even a true Arkansan.  He was born in East Los Angeles.

Regardless, whoever knowingly and willfully receives and pays $ for any kind of "cosmetic procedure" after the age of 57 deserves to be forced into becoming a lifelong Aggie fan.

Jerry Jones deserves nothing less.

Way, way out of bounds.
You would be very hard pressed to find someone who loves and supports the Arkansas Razorbacks more than Jerry Jones does.

[Nuttcracker, Sweet!]

I absolutely HATE, LOATHE and DESPISE the talk of "the curse of the Bambino", the "chicken curse" or the Billy goat crap the Cub fans talk about. There is no such thing, it is just an excuse to salve the wounds of losing the "big one".

We haven't won the NC since '64 for one reason: we haven't been good enough. The '69 game was lost because we passed on a sure FG with an All-American kicker and instead threw an INT in the endzone opening the door for their comeback.

Does anyone really believe that that 1998 team was the best in the country? We couldn't handle Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.

The ones that bother me the most are 1977 and 2006. That '77 team was the best team in the country that year. The suspensions were the only thing that made the win over OU an upset.

Losing to Texass at home with that Campbell guy was one of those things, but to have them lose big in the Bowl to a Notre Dame team that lost to an average Ole Miss team when we lost to a team that was #1 almost the entire season was hard to take. But the NC was nothing but a beauty contest then.

In 2006, the Reggie Fish muff was galling, it likely cost us an SEC championship, but in the NCG, Hootie would have done something stupid to cost us the game anyway I figure.

The defining moment of this program should be 1964, not the Big Shoot Yourself In The Foot of 1969.

Red Sox fans had game 6 of the 1986 World Series with Bill Buckner's ball between the legs gaffe, but they still had game 7. It wasn't until Boston flushed that curse crap that they finally won the Big One, then did it again and again.

I'm not saying we can do that but in spite of some bad breaks, other than 1964, we just haven't been good enough or deep enough to overcome injuries or better than the opponent for 60 minutes of play to win it all and being "snakebit" has little to do with it.

In Back to The Future, when the Principal told Marty that every McFly in history had been a loser, Marty replied simply: "history's about to change."

In the Big Boy world of SEC football, flushing that "woe is me I'm a poor lil' ol' Arky" attitude may not be enough, but if we don't flush it, it won't happen for sure.

That's one reason I believe it may be better to have a man from another state as HC. My family on my Dad's side has been in this state since the early 1800's by the way...

[Pig in the Pokey]

You're looking back on the failures in not hiring Bear Bryant, I suspect future generations will wonder how Gus could have been passed over by the U of A too.    We live with our misstakes, unfortunately.

oh, Christ. I seriously doubt that. We got B, not arky wolf's 1st year coach.

[Pig in the Pokey]

Didn't his family move to arkansas when he was an infant?

nope. Morrow bottoms, down south.

[mlloyd4]

Seems to me there are a few other teams in the SEC that are snakebit just as much if not more so than Arkansas...

The reality is that God is an Arkansas fan. Believe it.

It's just that fricking devil is an 'Bama fan who lives in Texas.

[root_hawg]

Pretty neat story

[footballfan]

I absolutely HATE, LOATHE and DESPISE the talk of "the curse of the Bambino", the "chicken curse" or the Billy goat crap the Cub fans talk about. There is no such thing, it is just an excuse to salve the wounds of losing the "big one".

We haven't won the NC since '64 for one reason: we haven't been good enough. The '69 game was lost because we passed on a sure FG with an All-American kicker and instead threw an INT in the endzone opening the door for their comeback.

Does anyone really believe that that 1998 team was the best in the country? We couldn't handle Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.

The ones that bother me the most are 1977 and 2006. That '77 team was the best team in the country that year. The suspensions were the only thing that made the win over OU an upset.

Losing to Texass at home with that Campbell guy was one of those things, but to have them lose big in the Bowl to a Notre Dame team that lost to an average Ole Miss team when we lost to a team that was #1 almost the entire season was hard to take. But the NC was nothing but a beauty contest then.

In 2006, the Reggie Fish muff was galling, it likely cost us an SEC championship, but in the NCG, Hootie would have done something stupid to cost us the game anyway I figure.

The defining moment of this program should be 1964, not the Big Shoot Yourself In The Foot of 1969.

Red Sox fans had game 6 of the 1986 World Series with Bill Buckner's ball between the legs gaffe, but they still had game 7. It wasn't until Boston flushed that curse crap that they finally won the Big One, then did it again and again.

I'm not saying we can do that but in spite of some bad breaks, other than 1964, we just haven't been good enough or deep enough to overcome injuries or better than the opponent for 60 minutes of play to win it all and being "snakebit" has little to do with it.

In Back to The Future, when the Principal told Marty that every McFly in history had been a loser, Marty replied simply: "history's about to change."

In the Big Boy world of SEC football, flushing that "woe is me I'm a poor lil' ol' Arky" attitude may not be enough, but if we don't flush it, it won't happen for sure.

That's one reason I believe it may be better to have a man from another state as HC. My family on my Dad's side has been in this state since the early 1800's by the way...

Don't know what you're talking about here. We lost the first game of the seasons 50-14 to USC, and lost to LSU before the SECCG. We were NOT getting into a championship game over a team who had the same record as us but beat us like a rented mule head to head.

[LZH]

Ya'll could have just asked me.....he was my great uncle after all.  Yes, he wanted to be a Hog for about fifteen minutes.

And my dad said he and JD Crow used to wrestle around in the yard, and that man was the strongest dude he'd ever known in his lifetime - period....and my ol' man was one stout SOB.

[Jim Harris]

Arkansas is indeed snakebit. To deny this is to be oblivious of everything that has happened since the '64 national title. However one should never give up because snakebit is not a permanent condition. It may take decades to become un-snakebit but it can happen at any particular time or place. 

Maybe the LSU game was the end of being snakebit and we just don't know it yet. Or this crap could continue to plague the current head coach and beyond. Life would be boring if we knew the answer to such a mystical question.

you're only snakebit if you believe you are snakebit. Pine Bluff High used to think it was snakebit every time it played LR Central. Indeed, Central won in some unusual ways for a stretch in the 1970s and it just got in people's heads. Finally, Eric Mitchel and Curtice Williams and Vic Turner and guys on the 1982 Pine Bluff team just decided that was a bunch of crap and went out and whipped Central's ass in Quigley when LR Central was No. 1. Pine Bluff then lost to them maybe twice over the next 20 years (granted, they didn't play during the later part of th 1990s, and yes, Central was the only team to beat Shabazz's 1990 state title team, in game 2 of the season on six interceptions of the Zebras ... but still )

It's mostly mental, just like pretty much any sport.

[Pudgepork]

speaking of 1982,   add that Hog/SMU(pony express) game to the list as proof of the
hogs being snakebit

[Mike Irwin]

speaking of 1982,   add that Hog/SMU(pony express) game to the list as proof of the
hogs being snakebit

Exactly. The penalty that caused Arkansas' defeat was so low rent that the rule on pass interference was changed. From that point on pass interference could not be called if a pass was deemed not catchable. Too late though for Lou and the Hogs chances for a SWC title that year.

Arkansas has been snakebit from the 1890's on. They didn't beat Texas for the first 40 years of playing football. They could have in 1909 but Texas would not come to Fayetteville because of the travel time and Arkansas refused to go to Austin if Texas would not come to Fayetteville. The boys in burnt Orange never had to face Steve Creekmore's "wild band of Razorback Hogs."

It looked like Arkansas was no longer snakebit when Fred Thomsen came along in the 1930's and used basketball players to beat Dana X. Bible's Horns five out of six seasons. But the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor and Thomsen (according to Bluto) went off to fight them.

Arkansas proceeded to loose 12 straight games to Texas.

The point is, there's always something. It's got nothing to do with what you believe. How many Hog fans believed that Bobby Petrino was going to careen off the Pig Trail and hit that downed tree trunk with a leggy volleyball player sitting behind him?

Hog football is still trying to climb out of that hole.

Question is, how much better will things get before the snake bites us again?

[razorbacker3]

nope. Morrow bottoms, down south.

Bear Bryant was raised in MORO bottoms south of Fordyce.
Jerry jones was raised in Rose City. (north little rock)

[mlloyd4]

Exactly. The penalty that caused Arkansas' defeat was so low rent that the rule on pass interference was changed. From that point on pass interference could not be called if a pass was deemed not catchable. Too late though for Lou and the Hogs chances for a SWC title that year.

Arkansas has been snakebit from the 1890's on. They didn't beat Texas for the first 40 years of playing football. They could have in 1909 but Texas would not come to Fayetteville because of the travel time and Arkansas refused to go to Austin if Texas would not come to Fayetteville. The boys in burnt Orange never had to face Steve Creekmore's "wild band of Razorback Hogs."

It looked like Arkansas was no longer snakebit when Fred Thomsen came along in the 1930's and used basketball players to beat Dana X. Bible's Horns five out of six seasons. But the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor and Thomsen (according to Bluto) went off to fight them.

Arkansas proceeded to loose 12 straight games to Texas.

The point is, there's always something. It's got nothing to do with what you believe. How many Hog fans believed that Bobby Petrino was going to careen off the Pig Trail and hit that downed tree trunk with a leggy volleyball player sitting behind him?

Hog football is still trying to climb out of that hole.

Question is, how much better will things get before the snake bites us again?

Oh come on Mike. It was a tie, not a defeat. And that bogus pass interference play gets all the attention as it should, but it didn't cost us the conference championship, the 2 losses to Baylor and then to Texas did.

So that's not exactly snakebit. Now Baylor and SMU, those are two programs more snakebit than Arkansas...

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

My uncle Walter Winslow Lytle Jr. (his dad was born in Arkansas south of Mena) was wounded in the first wave of Japanese mortars after landing on Saipan. He was leaning on the carriage of an artillery cannon after loading it when a mortar fragment tore through his left forearm. The arm collapsed and he hit his head on the gun carriage knocking him out cold. That saved his life because while he was on the ground four other artillery crewmen around him were killed by those mortars.

He told me that when he woke up he was on a hospital ship. Two weeks later one of his buddies showed up to see him. He had the break the news to my uncle that four of his closest friends had been killed. He was 18 years old at the time and said he cried like a baby for several minutes.

Decades later I traveled to Ft. Worth to see him. I was in my wife's brand new Honda.
He was in the front yard watering a tree when I pulled up. I got out of the car and said, "Come on, let me buy you lunch."

"We'll go in my pickup," he answered. "The people who made that thing killed a bunch of my friends a long time ago. I haven't forgotten. I won't be going anywhere in one of their cars."

Walter Winslow Lytle died in 2004 at the age of 79. I cried like a baby.

My neighbor whom I knew as Mr Junior stopped me while on my bike invited me into his house and told me about his time as a pow in Japan. After letting me drink a couple of shots with him he asked me what I would like to do with my japanese flag t-shirt i was wearing. i took it off and gave it to him. he pissed on it and poured lighter fluid on it then proceeded to torch it. My dad said good job when i got home topless and told him the story... I told him about the shots and he told me when a man drinks with a 14 yr old he's welcoming you to manhood. He didn't get mad. I hadn't thought about it much since then, but Junior was a cool old dude..

[Pudgepork]

Oh come on Mike. It was a tie, not a defeat. And that bogus pass interference play gets all the attention as it should, but it didn't cost us the conference championship, the 2 losses to Baylor and then to Texas did.

So that's not exactly snakebit. Now Baylor and SMU, those are two programs more snakebit than Arkansas...

I have to disagree.  Even with the losses to Baylor and Texass, Hogs were in position to win the SWC and their prospect of victory turned on that 4th down play. Against the best team that money could buy.

SMU as a program isn't snakebit.  They created their own demise because they were so bold in buying players.   aTm set the bar in regards to corruption on those days for the SWC and SMU boosters decided to step up to the offering plate.   Okla was doing it and a lot of other shenanigans.  Mike Irwin could entertain us for years with tales about Switzer and Sherrill competitions for players.   The tricks they pulled on the rest of college football drove other teams fans to drink.    Of course, if M Irwin wrote the book, he'd have to enter the witness protection program lol

[DeltaBoy]

Arkansas is indeed snakebit. To deny this is to be oblivious of everything that has happened since the '64 national title. However one should never give up because snakebit is not a permanent condition. It may take decades to become un-snakebit but it can happen at any particular time or place. 

Maybe the LSU game was the end of being snakebit and we just don't know it yet. Or this crap could continue to plague the current head coach and beyond. Life would be boring if we knew the answer to such a mystical question.

Amen Mike and it gave me a lifetime of Heartache' s .

[Jim Harris]

Exactly. The penalty that caused Arkansas' defeat was so low rent that the rule on pass interference was changed. From that point on pass interference could not be called if a pass was deemed not catchable. Too late though for Lou and the Hogs chances for a SWC title that year.

The rule that was changed after 1982 was that it was no longer spot-of-the-foul on defensive interference, but 15 yards maximum from the line of scrimmage. "Uncatchable" would come later.

The play in question in 1982 cost Arkansas 40 yards. SMU still had to drive for the touchdown, but it was easier. There were still six minutes left with SMU scored and kicked for the tie, btw.

[DeltaBoy]

My Grandpa went to his grave still Greiving over that 1969 loss . He said the Hogs would never get an honest chance in the SWC , The Zebras will always turn the game for Texas.

[mlloyd4]

I have to disagree.  Even with the losses to Baylor and Texass, Hogs were in position to win the SWC and their prospect of victory turned on that 4th down play. Against the best team that money could buy.

SMU as a program isn't snakebit.  They created their own demise because they were so bold in buying players.   aTm set the bar in regards to corruption on those days for the SWC and SMU boosters decided to step up to the offering plate.   Okla was doing it and a lot of other shenanigans.  Mike Irwin could entertain us for years with tales about Switzer and Sherrill competitions for players.   The tricks they pulled on the rest of college football drove other teams fans to drink.    Of course, if M Irwin wrote the book, he'd have to enter the witness protection program lol

Are you disagreeing with the fact that the SMU game was a tie and not a loss, or disagreeing with the fact that the Baylor loss 2 weeks prior to the SMU game was more of a factor in the Hogs finishing 3rd in the conference that year.

The whole snakebit thing is funny. About 30 teams have or can claim some variation of a National championship since 1964, and Arkansas is one of them. That leaves about another 100 FBS Schools more snakebit and left for dead with even deeper wounds.

I understand that conference championships, division championships, bowl wins, coaching fiascoes and things like DMAC's runner up to the Heisman 2 years in a row also factor into the whole snakebit illusion, but facts are facts.

The reality is that while Arkansas may not be as "lucky" as some of the other top tier programs in recent years, we are far from snakebit.

[redeye]

When the defining moment of your program is a game you lost...well...

Put simply, it was the biggest game Arkansas ever played.  Similarly, the 2011 BCS Championship game was probably the biggest game LSU ever played.  Neither game defines these programs, but they were huge.

You might say it was the defining moment for the Texas program, though.  At least that's how Chris Hummer of Horns247 describes it:

These two schools first met in 1894 and have matched up 77 times since. But one meeting stands above all when this rivalry is mentioned: 1969's "Game of the Century."

Hailed as one of the best games in college football history, the matchup lives on in both Texas and Arkansas lore. Texas' fourth-quarter comeback stands as perhaps the defining moment of the program's rich history.

http://arkansas.247sports.com/Bolt/Texas-vs-Arkansas-Revisiting-1969s-Game-of-the-Century-34094940

Seems strange that the defining game for a Texas fan would come against a team he doesn't consider a rival, doesn't it?  Then again, he referred to it as a "rivalry", so I guess he disagrees with many of our head-stuck-in-the-sand fans.

[Torqued pork]

I think most Texas fans now consider their NC against USC to be the Horn's greatest win.

[Mike Irwin]

Snakebit is going from defeat to victory and back to defeat in the blink of an eye.

The 2011 Sugar Bowl. Arkansas is in its first ever BCS bowl game but with 1:15 to go  Ohio State has a 31-26 lead and punting from its own 38. Based on Ben Buchanan's 41 yard punting average that season I was figuring that Joe Adams would likely catch the ball somewhere around the Arkansas 20-25.

Would Adams bust a big one? If not could Mallet take the Hogs 70 plus yards in a minute? Crap, it doesn't look good at all.

Wait. Punt is blocked.  PICK UP THAT LOOSE BALL. JULIAN HORTON'S GOT IT. RUN THAT SUCKER IN.

WHAT? HORTON YOU'RE A RECEIVER. WHY DID YOU FALL ON THE BALL? THE SCOOP AND SCORE WAS RIGHT IN YOUR HANDS. WTH IS THAT? SNAKE BITE YOU ON THE ANKLE ? (that's not funny)

Oh well. Mallett can take these guys 18 yards in 1:09. Piece of cake.

Yeah. Piece of cake. With a snake wrapped around it.

[Hogs-n-Roses]

Snakebit my rear end(no offense OP). We win our games or lose them fair n square on the field of battle. With the resourses we have, Reynolds,Hunt,Walton,Jones,Tyson....... We could buy the championship every few years also. The Bama's,Auburns,USC's,Ohio States of the world buy theirs and have all been on probation several times each for it. This is no poor little ole Arky speech. Its the facts. These and other schools buy athletes coming out of highschool. Every so often they get caught, pay their probationary periods then go right back to it.

[root_hawg]

Get so tired of the poor pitiful me story and everyone else but us is cheating

[Hogs-n-Roses]

Google football geography, NCAA probation football, note Alabama,Auburn, USC,OKLA.,Ohio State.

[Locutus_of_Boar]

1957 - John David Crow wins the Heisman Trophy for Texas A&M but the big news is that Paul Bryant is leaving after the Gator Bowl to coach his alma mater The University of Alabama. He finishes with a record of 25-14-2 at College Station.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's the same year we hired Broyles away from Missouri.  We certainly got a good one in Broyles, but I wonder if there was any attempt to hire Bryant?

The 1941 story is true though Arkansas hadn't fired Fred Thomsen yet at the time so Bear was engaging in a bit of Jetgate a little before the jet age which is why the story was largely covered up until years after the fact.  Thompsen was also recalled to active duty and his wife went ballistic at the news of the job being shopped.  Ultimately the legislature drew up a bill and paid her the difference between the coaching salary and Navy pay for the duration of the contract and Arkansas limped along with fill in coaches till Barhill arrived after the war.

The Hogs made another run at Bryant after Otis Douglass was fired in December '52.  UK boosters stepped in with big bucks that time to keep him at UK for one more year.

Bryant was well established at A&M by the time Barnhill was shopping in Dec '57 and Barnhill a Tennessee man if ever there was one probably was less than enthusiastic about hiring a Bama man and already had Frank pegged as his choice.

[Mike Irwin]

The 1941 story is true though Arkansas hadn't fired Fred Thomsen yet at the time so Bear was engaging in a bit of Jetgate a little before the jet age which is why the story was largely covered up until years after the fact.  Thompsen was also recalled to active duty and his wife went ballistic at the news of the job being shopped.  Ultimately the legislature drew up a bill and paid her the difference between the coaching salary and Navy pay for the duration of the contract and Arkansas limped along with fill in coaches till Barhill arrived after the war.

The Hogs made another run at Bryant after Otis Douglass was fired in December '52.  UK boosters stepped in with big bucks that time to keep him at UK for one more year.

Bryant was well established at A&M by the time Barnhill was shopping in Dec '57 and Barnhill a Tennessee man if ever there was one probably was less than enthusiastic about hiring a Bama man and already had Frank pegged as his choice.

Thomsen was the first Razorback coach to ever beat Texas. He still holds the longest winning streak against them. Four straight from 35-38.

Back in the early 90's Jim Benton, an All-America receiver in '37, did an interview where, among other things, he said Arkansas fans did not deserve Thomsen.
He gave them their greatest success against Texas but when he failed to beat them in 39, 40 & 41 many of those fans wanted him gone. It took a decade after Thomsen left for Arkansas to beat Texas again.

[Locutus_of_Boar]

Thomsen was the first Razorback coach to ever beat Texas. He still holds the longest winning streak against them. Four straight from 35-38.

Back in the early 90's Jim Benton, an All-America receiver in '37, did an interview where, among other things, he said Arkansas fans did not deserve Thomsen.
He gave them their greatest success against Texas but when he failed to beat them in 39, 40 & 41 many of those fans wanted him gone. It took a decade after Thomsen left for Arkansas to beat Texas again.

The five Texas teams Thomsen beat in the 1930's all ended up with losing records including the first two of Dana X Bible's UT squads.  Had Thompsen stayed it would have made no difference against Bible's better teams.  Thompsen's tenure was not unlike Nutt's 70 years later, including his success against Texas and that everyone tired of too many years of mediocre results.

In retrospect the events of 1941 ultimately opened the job for Barnhill and that was the single most important step in the growth of the program.