Recruiting: What's the difference between Arkansas and Alabama

[djgaffer]

You are right, many Florida players did go to Florida for Zook, he's a good recruiter.  I understand the disadvantage of having a small population.  I'm not going to settle for that as an excuse.  We can recruit good in basketball, baseball, track. 

It's not an excuse, but it is something we have to overcome.  If you draw a circle 100 or 200 miles around Fayetteville, we have fewer D-1 players than anyone we compete against.  We make some of that up with facilities that have become first class. 

Beyond that there are differences in Football versus the other sports.
In baseball, you can't recruit the best players, because the best players wind up being drafted and never get to campus.  So there is a lot more to evaluating and finding the best players without the best tools.  Specific to Arkansas, we have the premier facility and fan support in the country.  We can't say that about any other sport, except track.
Basketball is probably the closest comparison to football.  One exception being that two players can be a great class where in football you have to go a lot deeper. 
In track, John O'Donnell was ahead of his time in recruiting to a system of dominating the distance and field events when every one else was focusing on the glamour sprinting events.  Many of our runners were recruited from overseas.  Now that you've developed a tradition of national championships, it makes it easier to perpetuate.  At least until the Tyson Gay sanctions.  The next few years may prove tougher.

All that said, that is the world we play in.  Whoever is the coach here will have to outwork those we compete against because we are at a recruting disadvantage.  I will agree that we haven't overcome those disadvantages with hard work and diligence.  But I will disagree that "insert coach here" would immediately bring us top 10 classes and top 5 finishes.  It's going to take more than that.

[TX HOG]

I agree we MUST overcome this, Nutt has not.  "insert coach here" might not work, but you keep searching until you find THE right coach. 

[DeltaBoy]

We match up stat wise best with Nebraska and seeing what they have done in a nearly Lilly white state the past 35 years leaves the UA from Sugg down to Nuttboy without any excuses! 

But they have tradition.  Coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting.  They must also have a great geographical advantage on Arkansas, because obviously coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting. 

See that's where the Old Goat Frank Broyles comes into play. Frank has stood in the way of anybody building on His Tradition at UA. Nebraska went and got another great coach Tom Ozborne to keep it going. Frank wants to be remembered as the Greatest Coach ever at UA and He ran off Ken Hatfield to prove it.

The UA is unequivocally with out excuse. Frank should have been gone 15 years ago and all this would be a mute point.  YES Frank has raised allot of money and built great facilities but he has also hamstrung the FB probgram for the past 3 decades.

[djgaffer]

We match up stat wise best with Nebraska and seeing what they have done in a nearly Lilly white state the past 35 years leaves the UA from Sugg down to Nuttboy without any excuses! 

But they have tradition.  Coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting.  They must also have a great geographical advantage on Arkansas, because obviously coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting. 

See that's where the Old Goat Frank Broyles comes into play. Frank has stood in the way of anybody building on His Tradition at UA. Nebraska went and got another great coach Tom Ozborne to keep it going. Frank wants to be remembered as the Greatest Coach ever at UA and He ran off Ken Hatfield to prove it.

The UA is unequivocally with out excuse. Frank should have been gone 15 years ago and all this would be a mute point.  YES Frank has raised allot of money and built great facilities but he has also hamstrung the FB probgram for the past 3 decades.

That's a little bit of revisionist history on the Hatfield exit.  There was a lot of dissatisfaction with Hatfield at the end of his tenure here in spite of the wins.  We weren't winning championships, and the fans were very dissatisfied with the offense.  There were multiple boos in Razorback stadium.  There wasn't a huge outcry when he left.  I don't doubt that Frank nudged him out, but he would have had a lot of support in doing so.

[Wu Tang Clan]

Alabama gets it done because they have fine players that can play beyond the coaching....

Forrest Gump was from Greenbow Alabama and is a good example.

Oh never mind, we have a Forrest Gump twin coaching at Ark, without the luck (or ping-pong skills).

Didn't Alabama just lose to Arkansas.

[TX HOG]

Alabama gets it done because they have fine players that can play beyond the coaching....

Forrest Gump was from Greenbow Alabama and is a good example.

Oh never mind, we have a Forrest Gump twin coaching at Ark, without the luck (or ping-pong skills).

Didn't Alabama just lose to Arkansas.

Yes we beat Bama

[DeltaBoy]

We match up stat wise best with Nebraska and seeing what they have done in a nearly Lilly white state the past 35 years leaves the UA from Sugg down to Nuttboy without any excuses! 

But they have tradition.  Coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting.  They must also have a great geographical advantage on Arkansas, because obviously coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting. 

See that's where the Old Goat Frank Broyles comes into play. Frank has stood in the way of anybody building on His Tradition at UA. Nebraska went and got another great coach Tom Ozborne to keep it going. Frank wants to be remembered as the Greatest Coach ever at UA and He ran off Ken Hatfield to prove it.

The UA is unequivocally with out excuse. Frank should have been gone 15 years ago and all this would be a mute point.  YES Frank has raised allot of money and built great facilities but he has also hamstrung the FB probgram for the past 3 decades.

That's a little bit of revisionist history on the Hatfield exit.  There was a lot of dissatisfaction with Hatfield at the end of his tenure here in spite of the wins.  We weren't winning championships, and the fans were very dissatisfied with the offense.  There were multiple boos in Razorback stadium.  There wasn't a huge outcry when he left.  I don't doubt that Frank nudged him out, but he would have had a lot of support in doing so.

I was buying Tickets and going to games allot back then and I never heard the boos your talking about. Several of us Know the TRUTH ! Ken was fired after two great seasons because he would not fire some assistant coachs Frank didn't like. By the way Ken did beat Frank out in total winning percentage as a UA HC.  Ken had the HIGHEST winning percentage of any UA coach !

Folks I am sick n Tired of EXCUSES !  We have some of the best Faculties, Pretty area , We have got Money and we offer a good education.  WE MIGHT have had an EXCUSE When Frank was COACHING; But we sure as heck don't have any today. Houston Dale Nutt is a Failure as a Recruiter and a FAILURE in Hiring someone to do it for Him. IT IS PAST TIME TO FIRE THE NUTT!

[hogfan064]

The question really should be what's the difference in Arkansas and Auburn

[Robby H]

I thought that it was worth mentioning that back when Bama fired Shula the national media, espeically espn, made such a big deal out of them having unrealistic expectations for their program and that they didn't command the prestige that they once did. Well the adminsitration and fans continued to throw money around until they landed Saban. Now if they win the conference in the next 2 years, who will be saying that it was a bad call. Bama demanded excellence, and I guess we'll see if they got it. However, how come the same line of thinking doesn't carry over when talking about the hogs? The idea that a big time coach won't come here is just wrong. Now it might take more $ than we are used to paying, but I say you get what you pay for. Why not pony up the money now and get a program that we can expect great thing of?

[TX HOG]

Excuses only sound good to the one's making them

[cbjagman]

They have twice the population and about four times the African American population. Not racist just true and you all know it. This is the same reason the SEC is the better than the Big 10 and why the Big 12 South will always be better than the Big 12 North.

Also, Auburn is basically in Georgia and is really close to Atlanta, maybe even closer than UGA.

So we can't compete?  Ever?  Give up?  What about South Carolina, Nebraska, North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia, Pitt?  Why do they attract us? 

Arkansas has 2.6 million people. 16% of the population is A. American.
South Carolina has 5 million people. 30% of those are A. American.
Georgia has 8 million people. 30% of those are A. American.
North Carolina has 8 million people. 22% are A. American.
Virginia has 7 million people. 20% A. American
Illinois has 13 million people. 16% A. American
Penn. has 12 million people. 15% A. American

The only team/state that you have a point on is Nebraska (1.7 million, 5%A.A.)

The great teams come from states with large populations or have an extremely high percentage of A. Americans or both (California, Florida, Texas) 

National Champions for the past ten years have come from a top eight most populous state. (USC, Florida, Texas, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan) or a state with over one million A. Americans living with in it (Tenn, LSU) The only anomaly is Oklahoma.

Careful with your comments/observations concerning the population makeup. You're are very much in danger of running afoul of the politically-correct "thought police". After all, your remarks could be constructed as "racial profiling". Can't have any hint of that!   

[TX HOG]

I need a dale supporter over here, anyone.

[TMc]

I actually think Houston has a winning record against Alabama.  No way to compare these 2 programs in Football,  I don't care which path you go down to try to defend your answer.  And no Butch Davis, (although he might help).., is not going to out recruit Saban @ Alabama.  Life just became hard on Tuberville.

[TX HOG]

I actually think Houston has a winning record against Alabama.  No way to compare these 2 programs in Football,  I don't care which path you go down to try to defend your answer.  And no Butch Davis, (although he might help).., is not going to out recruit Saban @ Alabama.  Life just became hard on Tuberville.

Tubberville's still going to get his recruits.  Butch Davis would do better than Nutt I believe, but not better than Saban.  The schools that recruit good recruit good out of state too.  That is fact.

[djgaffer]

We match up stat wise best with Nebraska and seeing what they have done in a nearly Lilly white state the past 35 years leaves the UA from Sugg down to Nuttboy without any excuses! 

But they have tradition.  Coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting.  They must also have a great geographical advantage on Arkansas, because obviously coaches have NOTHING to do with recruiting. 

See that's where the Old Goat Frank Broyles comes into play. Frank has stood in the way of anybody building on His Tradition at UA. Nebraska went and got another great coach Tom Ozborne to keep it going. Frank wants to be remembered as the Greatest Coach ever at UA and He ran off Ken Hatfield to prove it.

The UA is unequivocally with out excuse. Frank should have been gone 15 years ago and all this would be a mute point.  YES Frank has raised allot of money and built great facilities but he has also hamstrung the FB probgram for the past 3 decades.

That's a little bit of revisionist history on the Hatfield exit.  There was a lot of dissatisfaction with Hatfield at the end of his tenure here in spite of the wins.  We weren't winning championships, and the fans were very dissatisfied with the offense.  There were multiple boos in Razorback stadium.  There wasn't a huge outcry when he left.  I don't doubt that Frank nudged him out, but he would have had a lot of support in doing so.

I was buying Tickets and going to games allot back then and I never heard the boos your talking about. Several of us Know the TRUTH ! Ken was fired after two great seasons because he would not fire some assistant coachs Frank didn't like. By the way Ken did beat Frank out in total winning percentage as a UA HC.  Ken had the HIGHEST winning percentage of any UA coach !

Folks I am sick n Tired of EXCUSES !  We have some of the best Faculties, Pretty area , We have got Money and we offer a good education.  WE MIGHT have had an EXCUSE When Frank was COACHING; But we sure as heck don't have any today. Houston Dale Nutt is a Failure as a Recruiter and a FAILURE in Hiring someone to do it for Him. IT IS PAST TIME TO FIRE THE NUTT!

If you didn't hear boos when the fullback got handed the ball up the middle, you weren't there.  I don't agree with your premise that Hatfield was nudged out so Frank would be the best coach at Arkansas, sorry.  Disagreements among them, sure.  Justified, maybe not.  But these little evil troll men in the Broyles complex theories are bazarre.

[99aubie]

Almost all those schools have instate rivals for instate players, which makes it almost equal.  Arkansas is one of very few states that has no major D1 competition for kids.  Woud you rather compete with Arkansas St, or NC State?  Arkansas St. or Clemson/South Carolina?  Arkanasas St. or Univerity of Georgia? Arkansas St. or VT?  Arkansas shoud have a huge advantage on keeping instate kids instate.  For example Auburn and Alabama combined last year had 23 4 star recruits sign, only 7 of the 23 were from the state of Alabama.  Kids go to certain Univesities for the coaches more often than for the University.

UNC has more potential than Arkansas. I would rather share a state of 8 million with a high A. American population than dominate a state with 2.5 million people with an average A. American population.

Also, you say its more about the coach than geography. Alabama has 64 kids from Alabama on its roster and 45 kids from all other states.
Auburn has 33 kids from Alabama, 23 from Georgia, 18 from the Florida panhandle and 14 from everywhere else.

not too long ago we had more GA then AL kids on our team.  It seems like we go more head to head against UGA for kids then Alabama.  You have a lot of kids in Alabama that are D-1 material that grow up either wanting to play for Auburn or Alabama.  You get a few that are on the fence and those few are the ones we go head to head with.  Year in and year out GA has better overall football talent. 

In the last few years, we have made serious inroads into the FL panhandle which has traditionally been FSU territory.  We've also had a long standing pipeline to Dillard HS in south florida where we pick up a few kids as well as the Brentwood, TN area.