Couple of Cautions on the Coaching Search Talk

[WilsonHog]

First and most obvious, we don't yet have one. As someone who was an admin around here for the Nutt Era, I can tell you that there were two or three times when everything pointed to him taking another job or being fired; smoke everywhere, and that's all it was. Do I think we will? Yeah. Am I certain to the point that I would put a .38 to my head and pull the trigger if I was wrong? No.

Secondly, I remember sitting in an airplane on the tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston when it was announced Bielema was our new coach. First time anyone in our fan base had heard his name mentioned in connection with our job. Point is, when he was hired one of the things Jeff Long was tasked with was cleaning up all information leaks out of the Broyles Complex. All information flows through him. So when you hear a particular guy's name as our new coach, you'd better take it with a grain of salt until you see him standing at the podium. Chances are high it won't be someone very many people have talked about.

Having said all that, I love a coaching search. For a program like ours, it is just about the most exciting thing that happens.

[ronmahony]

Well I hope if/when it happens it is a better surprise than the last one. Although at the time it was a pleasant surprise to me. Much as I hate to admit it now.

[DeltaBoy]

I hope Long is not here to make that call.

Fire Uncommon Jeff Integrity Long.  Cause he great at making money and it too Long between Uncommon Wins.

[NoogaHog]

Thanks Wilson for your work here. I agree with the name being a surprise. I don't think CBP or CBB were on anyone's radar until it was announced. And both seemed like home runs at the time.

That being said, that 16 page thread was one of the most fun threads I have seen around here in a while (Maybe except the Bazzel thread).

Ward was completely FOS and it was obvious, but watching the meltdown every time he threw out a name was hilarious. I was expecting at some point Knute Rockne or Bobby Bowden to show up on the list and people arguing if we should hire Knute Rockne next week.

[solitons]

Having said all that, I love a coaching search. For a program like ours, it is just about the most exciting thing that happens.

me too, I am ready to ride the excitement. go hogs

[Heardo]

I hope Jeff Long is here. 

[hoglady]

First and most obvious, we don't yet have one. As someone who was an admin around here for the Nutt Era, I can tell you that there were two or three times when everything pointed to him taking another job or being fired; smoke everywhere, and that's all it was. Do I think we will? Yeah. Am I certain to the point that I would put a .38 to my head and pull the trigger if I was wrong? No.

Secondly, I remember sitting in an airplane on the tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston when it was announced Bielema was our new coach. First time anyone in our fan base had heard his name mentioned in connection with our job. Point is, when he was hired one of the things Jeff Long was tasked with was cleaning up all information leaks out of the Broyles Complex. All information flows through him. So when you hear a particular guy's name as our new coach, you'd better take it with a grain of salt until you see him standing at the podium. Chances are high it won't be someone very many people have talked about.

Having said all that, I love a coaching search. For a program like ours, it is just about the most exciting thing that happens.

Not sure anything can compare to the excitement I felt when Petrino was named as coach.
No matter what folks think of him now - that was an exciting hire for probably 99% of the fan base.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

I hope Long is not here to make that call.

Fire Uncommon Jeff Integrity Long.  Cause he great at making money and it too Long between Uncommon Wins.

God Almighty.

Do you ever stop?

You do realize that when you say the same thing over and over again that nobody takes you seriously anymore?

[007 License To Squeal]

Not sure anything can compare to the excitement I felt when Petrino was named as coach.
No matter what folks think of him now - that was an exciting hire for probably 99% of the fan base.

I agree 100%.  It was an exciting time.  Unfortunately, we don't have any excitement or hope as long as the current coach is here.....Bring on the search!!!

[GuvHog]

Not sure anything can compare to the excitement I felt when Petrino was named as coach.
No matter what folks think of him now - that was an exciting hire for probably 99% of the fan base.

Agreed, Petrino's hiring set the fan base on fire. I'm 62 and In my lifetime, I don't remember the fan base being that fired up about any other football coaching hire. The Razorback club meeting here that year was absolutely amazing.

[Hoggish1]

Thanks for the heads up, Wilson.

Your lesson is a good one but will fall on deaf ears; Hogville is full of that condition.  For me I will not speculate on anything.  I'm content to watch the news conference when it happens and not go on a fools errand speculating on this or that guy...

[Vantage 8 dude]

Well I hope if/when it happens it is a better surprise than the last one. Although at the time it was a pleasant surprise to me. Much as I hate to admit it now.

Well at least you're being honest. Quite frankly for a vast majority of the fan base at the time I think most were pretty satisfied with the choice. Again, please note I said MOST fans. The true point of the matter is that in MOST cases it's pretty darn difficult to know for sure whether or not a particular coach will prove successful. Heck, I can even recall when Nick was hired there were actually doubters down in TTown.

[Michael D Huff AIA]

I know the big problem here.  There's been a misunderstanding.

Bielema said he wants WINS to be UNCOMMON.
We thought he said he wants MEN to be UNCOMMON.

Our fault.  Carry on as usual.  You're doing a hell of a job, Bret.

[sickboy]

Well I hope if/when it happens it is a better surprise than the last one. Although at the time it was a pleasant surprise to me. Much as I hate to admit it now.

There's no shame in being pleased with Bielema's hire back then. At the time, Bielema was close to the equivalent of getting someone like a Mark Dantonio. Not exactly the same, but an established coach who nobody ever thought would leave to come to Arkansas. And it came outta nowhere. There was reason for excitement. About the only thing that people could gripe about was Bielema's style being antithetical to Petrino's at the time.

Hindsight is always 20/20. Watch Bielema leave Arkansas and go be successful somewhere else. That'd be just or luck.

[GuvHog]

I was pleased with Bielema's hiring but I believed he would have to abandon the Big 10 style offense to have success at Arkansas. He refused to do that and has been unsuccessful because of it.

[King Kong]

I was pleased with Bielema's hiring but I believed he would have to abandon the Big 10 style offense to have success at Arkansas. He refused to do that and has been unsuccessful because of it.

I'm more upset with his defense than offense.

He is a defensive guy yet he allows offensives to dictate what we do on defense and not the other way around.

[majestic]

God Almighty.

Do you ever stop?

You do realize that when you say the same thing over and over again that nobody takes you seriously anymore?

How do you think one gets to 66K+ posts?

[ricepig]

I hope Jeff Long is here. 

He is.

[The OTR]

God Almighty.

Do you ever stop?

You do realize that when you say the same thing over and over again that nobody takes you seriously anymore?

I take him seriously.

So does Jeff Long.

[hoglady]

He is.

If a hire is made - do you believe it's Jeff Long's alone to make?

[WoooPigBrewie]

If a hire is made - do you believe it's Jeff Long's alone to make?

I am sure he will consult with a committee. Assess the information, propose to the Chancellor and Board, then make a decision.

[thebignasty]

Wilson that's unfair. The information purveyors had correctly insinuated that Long had a coach.  You aren't giving them enough credit.

[rzrbk4life]

Always love a coaching search

[The OTR]

I remember being on an Alaskan cruise  when I got a text message from a couple of guys cbb was hired.  Hate to admit this but I didn't know anything about the guy and couldn't get wifi or internet for two days so I couldn't find out anything about him.  I was not overwhelmed by that hire as most here were saying we were going to get grundy or Petersen.

I should have stayed in Alaska I guess. 

[ricepig]

Wilson that's unfair. The information purveyors had correctly insinuated that Long had a coach.  You aren't giving them enough credit.

I think you misread, I think he said he had a couch...

[hogcard1964]

I hope Long is not here to make that call.

Fire Uncommon Jeff Integrity Long.  Cause he great at making money and it too Long between Uncommon Wins.

Yea, he helped cause this current mess.  He should not be anywhere near the next search.

[The OTR]

Funny I was in this cruise and the I remember the person who sent me the text was in a portapotty at a construction site doing an inspection there and said he couldn't get internet either.

[Oklahawg]

Knowing what I know about the CBB hire, most of you would be stunned at the detail and effort that will go into it. Probably already going into it (even if we don't have one - being prepared, in other words).

There will almost always be a "distractor" name, a candidate that seems to be "it" (and in our case with Mike Gundy, THOUGHT he was it!) but is not.

[The_Bionic_Pig]

I hope Long is not here to make that call.

Fire Uncommon Jeff Integrity Long.  Cause he great at making money and it too Long between Uncommon Wins.

I'm nowhere near a big Jeff Long fanboy but you don't fire a AD because you're still salty about the dismissal of Coach Petrino ...

The  other two major revenues Baseball & Basketball have been a fan favorite. Your anti-integrity argument although quite popular at Ole Miss (Football) & Auburn (Basketball) will only serve to give your beloved SEC program a black eye.

[porkrindjimmy]

First and most obvious, we don't yet have one. As someone who was an admin around here for the Nutt Era, I can tell you that there were two or three times when everything pointed to him taking another job or being fired; smoke everywhere, and that's all it was. Do I think we will? Yeah. Am I certain to the point that I would put a .38 to my head and pull the trigger if I was wrong? No.

Secondly, I remember sitting in an airplane on the tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston when it was announced Bielema was our new coach. First time anyone in our fan base had heard his name mentioned in connection with our job. Point is, when he was hired one of the things Jeff Long was tasked with was cleaning up all information leaks out of the Broyles Complex. All information flows through him. So when you hear a particular guy's name as our new coach, you'd better take it with a grain of salt until you see him standing at the podium. Chances are high it won't be someone very many people have talked about.

Having said all that, I love a coaching search. For a program like ours, it is just about the most exciting thing that happens.

Exactly Wilson. There is people's lists and then there is Jeff's. And nobody I believe, has an in with Jeff. I will say again, there is a certain faction who believes that there needs to be an Arkansas boy in every corner and this faction is high on Tim Horton.

I don't believe we will have a change at the AD position and in turn, I believe Bret sticks around at least next year. The schedule gets easier next year and 8 wins will get Bret an extension. I believe he will have to lose all the rest of them this year in truly horrible fashion for there to even be a hint of trouble for Bret.

We are what they say we are and it is just fine for Jeff and Bret and the administration.

PRJ

[Großer Kriegschwein]

Jeff might just have Larry Coker on his list.

Never can tell with Jeff.

[porkrindjimmy]

Jeff might just have Larry Coker on his list.

Never can tell with Jeff.

Or Craig Bohl.....

PRJ

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Knowing what I know about the CBB hire, most of you would be stunned at the detail and effort that will go into it. Probably already going into it (even if we don't have one - being prepared, in other words).

There will almost always be a "distractor" name, a candidate that seems to be "it" (and in our case with Mike Gundy, THOUGHT he was it!) but is not.

First Submission: "David Shaw" 

[TX HOG]

First Submission: "David Shaw" 

You know, the kind of makes sense. As far as a Jeff long type of guy

[RME]

I hope Long is not here to make that call.

Fire Uncommon Jeff Integrity Long.  Cause he great at making money and it too Long between Uncommon Wins.

Can someone translate this to English for me?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

You know, the kind of makes sense. As far as a Jeff long type of guy

Exactly why it won't be him.

Long may not be a "win at all costs" kind of AD, but he knows now that even embracing that mantra, he has to have someone who will win more than this. Given what he has learned about trying to do it the way Bielema has tried to do it, I suspect that he will go to a coach who embraces a more wide open style of offense.

Why? Because we have to score a lot more points and you can recruit an offense that can do that as long as you embrace more of a passing style of offense, be able to recruit great QB's who can throw effectively and accurately, can recruit speed at skill positions and someone to teach an O-Line to pass block better.

Probably can't go with what we have in a more conservative offense because that requires a lot better defense to back it up and in the SEC, that requires recruiting at a much higher level on the defensive side of the ball. Are we going to out-recruit the likes of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, A&M, Georgia or Florida on the defensive side of the ball for premium athletes? Doubtful. So you better find someone who can recruit and creatively scheme an offense (not just half time adjustments but play to play) to pressure opposing defenses and then hope that your defense can play an effective BBDB style.

It's JMO but I think that this is the direction that Long will take given that the Bielema experiment hasn't worked out as planned in terms of enough wins to placate the masses.

Now if that all turns out to be true, then who does he go after that can provide that exciting style of offense that scores a bunch of points, puts butts in the bleachers and yet embraces his way of running a straight-laced program that keeps players under control, graduates players and can still provide more wins while maintaining the integrity of the program?

Answer that and you may have a pretty good list to start with and we still won't know who it is going to be until it happens.

[TX HOG]

Exactly why it won't be him.

Ha

[jkstock04]

I'm nowhere near a big Jeff Long fanboy but you don't fire a AD because you're still salty about the dismissal of Coach Petrino ...

The  other two major revenues Baseball & Basketball have been a fan favorite. Your anti-integrity argument although quite popular at Ole Miss (Football) & Auburn (Basketball) will only serve to give your beloved SEC program a black eye.

A black eye? What do we have right now? This has basically been the death penalty since 2012. Assuming this season keeps going south that will be 6 seasons...totaling among the worst in program history.

To the OP, the further along this goes the more I'm convinced Bielema is going to be here next year no matter what. The last thing most of this administration...especially Jeff Long, want to do is make a change from what I am hearing. Auburn can smoke us 75-0 on Saturday and this will not change. Anyone else hearing the same? Some high level boosters are starting to complain but there are absolute zero plans to make a change from the people that actually do make decisions.

[Wildhog]

Can someone translate this to English for me?

Couldn't help but think of this:

[porkrindjimmy]

Can someone translate this to English for me?

He hopes Jeff Long is fired before hire a new coach. We need an unreconstructed man to call up the next general to rally the troops....

PRJ

[RME]

Couldn't help but think of this:

He hopes Jeff Long is fired before hire a new coach. We need an unreconstructed man to call up the next general to rally the troops....

PRJ

Both of you win. +1

[ricepig]

Exactly why it won't be him.

And we don't have enough money to get him to leave Stanford.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

And we don't have enough money to get him to leave Stanford.

We won't go that direction anyway.

[12247]

Unless we change the system utilized to choose our HC, we will be looking at happenstance and outhouse luck in our next choice.  Its not Jeff Long but the folks who believed Jeff Long could do the job mostly by himself and turned him loose who are the real problems here and unless they change the choosing system, we are likely screwed.  ANY ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS A LITTLE ABOUT FOOTBALL, THEN ABOUT ARKANSAS, THEN ABOUT ARKANSAS RECRUITING AND THEN ABOUT THE SEC WHERE WE PLAY, WOULD NEVER HAVE GIVEN BRET BIELEMA A SECOND THOUGHT. 

Our AD should have known enough about the game, the program and our recruiting level to know this would not work.  Honestly, BB was far worse than what we bargained for but we didn't know that 4+ years ago.  But we did have at our disposal his scheme choice, his recruiting abilities, his won/loss record and how he attained it, etc.  None of that had a chance working in the SEC.  Obviously Long didn't know how to evaluate any of that and sadly, his superiors must not have either, because like ricepig loves to offer and correctly so, several layers of management above Long approved the hiring.

It appears to me we are on the same path to making the next hire, that is, if we are actually on any path toward that end.  Left to Jeff, we have the wonderboy Bret who will stay as long as he likes.

[TX HOG]

And we don't have enough money to get him to leave Stanford.

He's probably making less than our current coach😒

We won't go that direction anyway.

What direction do you think we'll go? Younger less experienced?

[Hog Pharm]

I'm more upset with his defense than offense.

He is a defensive guy yet he allows offensives to dictate what we do on defense and not the other way around.

Agreed. I finally thought we'd have a good defense but instead we've had historically bad defenses outside of year 2. If our defense would have been even average in year 5 we probably win 10 games.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

He's probably making less than our current coach😒

What direction do you think we'll go? Younger less experienced?

Exactly why it won't be him.

Long may not be a "win at all costs" kind of AD, but he knows now that even embracing that mantra, he has to have someone who will win more than this. Given what he has learned about trying to do it the way Bielema has tried to do it, I suspect that he will go to a coach who embraces a more wide open style of offense.

Why? Because we have to score a lot more points and you can recruit an offense that can do that as long as you embrace more of a passing style of offense, be able to recruit great QB's who can throw effectively and accurately, can recruit speed at skill positions and someone to teach an O-Line to pass block better.

Probably can't go with what we have in a more conservative offense because that requires a lot better defense to back it up and in the SEC, that requires recruiting at a much higher level on the defensive side of the ball. Are we going to out-recruit the likes of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, A&M, Georgia or Florida on the defensive side of the ball for premium athletes? Doubtful. So you better find someone who can recruit and creatively scheme an offense (not just half time adjustments but play to play) to pressure opposing defenses and then hope that your defense can play an effective BBDB style.

It's JMO but I think that this is the direction that Long will take given that the Bielema experiment hasn't worked out as planned in terms of enough wins to placate the masses.

Now if that all turns out to be true, then who does he go after that can provide that exciting style of offense that scores a bunch of points, puts butts in the bleachers and yet embraces his way of running a straight-laced program that keeps players under control, graduates players and can still provide more wins while maintaining the integrity of the program?

Answer that and you may have a pretty good list to start with and we still won't know who it is going to be until it happens.

This direction.

[TX HOG]

Sounds like Chad Morris

[wachhog]

Well at least you're being honest. Quite frankly for a vast majority of the fan base at the time I think most were pretty satisfied with the choice. Again, please note I said MOST fans. The true point of the matter is that in MOST cases it's pretty darn difficult to know for sure whether or not a particular coach will prove successful. Heck, I can even recall when Nick was hired there were actually doubters down in TTown.

I would bet more were MORE excited with the
Petrino hire than with the Bielema hire. Crowd sourcing works.

[thebignasty]

Unless we change the system utilized to choose our HC, we will be looking at happenstance and outhouse luck in our next choice.  Its not Jeff Long but the folks who believed Jeff Long could do the job mostly by himself and turned him loose who are the real problems here and unless they change the choosing system, we are likely screwed.  ANY ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS A LITTLE ABOUT FOOTBALL, THEN ABOUT ARKANSAS, THEN ABOUT ARKANSAS RECRUITING AND THEN ABOUT THE SEC WHERE WE PLAY, WOULD NEVER HAVE GIVEN BRET BIELEMA A SECOND THOUGHT. 

Our AD should have known enough about the game, the program and our recruiting level to know this would not work.  Honestly, BB was far worse than what we bargained for but we didn't know that 4+ years ago.  But we did have at our disposal his scheme choice, his recruiting abilities, his won/loss record and how he attained it, etc.  None of that had a chance working in the SEC.  Obviously Long didn't know how to evaluate any of that and sadly, his superiors must not have either, because like ricepig loves to offer and correctly so, several layers of management above Long approved the hiring.

It appears to me we are on the same path to making the next hire, that is, if we are actually on any path toward that end.  Left to Jeff, we have the wonderboy Bret who will stay as long as he likes.

Most of your premise is bs.