The root cause to our problem

[TheRedBoarn]

Speaking of Fulmer.  How much better would our football lives be today if Fulmer had been hired as the interim head coach in lieu of JLS?  I think a lot.  He got hosed by the Tenner's.  Had a lot to prove and the nads with which to do it.

[elksnort]

Recruiting is very important, but there is ENOUGH TALENT NOW ON THE TEAM to be doing better than they are doing.


Does anyone understand this?

[East TN HAWG]

This is a horrible argument. Just because Arkansas doesn't have the same size program or population(numbers as you called it) as some of these other states, it doesn't mean we can't have a high caliber football team that can compete. That doesn't mean win the national title every year, but could at least be in the conversation. You don't have to have all of the money in the world. It does help, but look at the emergence from some of the smaller programs across the country. Look at Houston under Tom Herman. If he'd stuck around a few more seasons, who knows where he could've gone. I feel his last season was a fluke because he knew he was about to go to Texas. Everyone did, but look at what he did with Houston. Houston and Oklahoma was the talk of the nation before that game because Houston has the ability to compete. Louisville is in Kentucky and it's becoming a very dominant football program. Sure they lost to Clemson, but they are still a top 25 quality team. Arkansas doesn't even have that right now, and it starts with two things. One the coach. If the coach sees the system is broke and isn't doing anything to fix it, then he's a bad coach and needs to go. And the second thing is these faithless fans who feel Arkansas can't doesn't have what it takes to compete. We have the money to do a multi-million dollar expansion on the stadium just to close it in. We can afford a quality coach. The problem is we think we have to have Saban 2.0 or else we suck. We need a new coach, and though it's going to cost us, it'll cost us more next year if Bilema's still around and we look like we do next year when Bama comes to town. Can you imagine it. Razorback Stadium with either twice as many Bama fans because Hog fans didn't want to go see a slaughter, or worse, empty seats in the upper decks because everyone knew it was going to be a massacre....

I agree with lot of your points.  Herman did not sustain a winning program at Houston.  Sustainability goes beyond a single coach.  When he left the program dropped immediately back.  The consistent number of quality athletes in a particular base is what sustains programs over time and even then they have bumps in the road.   

Our population is limited.  We can't fix that (unless we hand out free Viagra), but if a movement started we could fix some of the infrastructural issues that affect our high school/youth athletics. 

Coaching is not the only or the primary issue causing our current status.  They come and go, so we should focus on the main issue which is the lack of home grown athletes.  We succeed when we have home grown studs (DMAC, Jones, CBP's group.) 

Firing a coach every five or six years, does not guarantee success.  Its the easiest strategy, and it rarely works long term. Fixing the youth infrastructure is 100 times hard and it is difficult, and is why everyone overlooks it.  Its much easier to build suites, a new learning center, new jumbo tron.  These things improve recruiting right?  However, everyone is doing it, so how do you keep up.  They don't focus on the problem. 

[Andrew Hogfan]

Did/does Jaden Hill have an offer to pitch for the hogs?