Revealing comments by three recruiting writers

[hawginbigd1]

The old staff never took 2-3 three weeks off after signing day. They took a week. The new staff took a week off shortly after the prospect day. Every staff takes time off after signing day. You can do it right after NSD day or shortly afterwards.

This is the guy i listen to, the others i read as information to be taken with a few salt granules. CBB recruited well, could he have done better most certainly but for the most part he competed and won many battles with P5 programs, he is different from CM, and maybe CM will be more successful, time will tell.

[Farmer Hogget]

The old staff never took 2-3 three weeks off after signing day. They took a week. The new staff took a week off shortly after the prospect day. Every staff takes time off after signing day. You can do it right after NSD day or shortly afterwards.

Right!  A BB hater made up some lie and it was repeated as fact by "professional" writers and now it's become a fact because no one cares about truth.  They hate BB so they will say anything that fits their agenda of hate.

[arlhog]

It's really pretty simple.   You write bad things about a staff and you don't get the same info as someone that doesn't write those bad things.  It really sucks.   You keep your integrity and you lose your inside info.  You nuzzle up to the staff and say friendly things and you get more info.  It's not that different anywhere.   

[B Ray]

well, some can say they are working for more subscribers, but hell it doesnt take a "scientific rocket" to figure out and see that Morris and staff are killing it. Highly energetic guys that are working hard to make Arkansas better. Everyone could see how lackadaisical Bielema was. So glad we made a change, and i think most will agree with me.  Especially when the wins start piling up,which i believe will start this coming season!

i agree with you , I can't wait to see his offense on the field, recruits will start considering us in their top 5 , that's where CCM has to build relationships and trust to get the signatures !!!

[PorkRinds]

Semantics. He was offered a job, and took it. You bet the people that gave it to him made a poor decision. But, when someone is given a job, then a huge raise with a buyout option, and doesn't even try to win--that's the same as stealing. Judging by all the 4th quarter cave-ins, the mouth breathing stares into space during crucial moments, the apparent lack of fitness of the team, the consistency of being out coached during games even by teams with far less talent...there is a lot of evidence there to lead someone to believe CBB wanted that buyout a whole lot more than he wanted to work to build the team.

That's a really simplistic and immature way to view contracts and business.

[liljo]

That's a really simplistic and immature way to view contracts and business.

Why, thank you! I feel younger already!

[HogFoo]

i agree with you , I can't wait to see his offense on the field, recruits will start considering us in their top 5 , that's where CCM has to build relationships and trust to get the signatures !!!

thanks,  i  will say that,  here's the deal, im not a Bielema hater.  Hell, i wanted him to win the same way  i want every Hog coach to win.  The prob. Bielema had and i know ive personally rehashed this many times as well as some others is that when Pittman left (the best OL coach/recruiter) and i dont care what some of you say, negatively about the guy, because he went down to UGA and got the same type players, except more of them. He was a good enough recruiter to get those guys pretty much wherever he went.  When he left, he took all of Bielema's mojo.  That would NOT have been a problem though if Bielema had went out and paid whatever it took to get the "#2 top coach/recruiter"  or even #3 or 4 or 5 or 6 etc... he could have just went down a list of who says these guys are the best and i guarantee he could have paid enough to have got one of these guys to come here.  But he didnt do that!  He get's some dude who coached 7games for the bills!!  A guy who had NO recruiting experience, let alone any top tier talent recruiting exp. and he wasnt a good  OL coach on top of that!  Also find out he holds grudge against a couple of players and doesnt play them, the dbag that he is.  Anyways,  point of the story is, we NEVER got the type talent we needed here at OL afterwards to run the style of Offense Bielema runs.  I mean, lets put this into perspective, the absolute, most IMPORTANT position on the frickin team!!  And Bielema hires a complete NOBODY!  That is what cost him his job!  had we been able to keep getting and DEVELOPING top talent at OL yeah, Bielema probably would have had more success and probably would have still been the coach here. perhaps even improving every year until who knows.   but it didnt. whoever is left on that train needs to move on too btw.   he gone.  and he gone because of the decisions he made himself.  bye.

Do i doubt the story about what was wrote in the OP?  Actually, i do not doubt it for once.  Because as mentioned, Bielema was too lackadaisical, so yeah, that story fits his personality.  And his actions. 

   Now, to Morris.  I absolutely believe that the style offense that Morris runs will be successful. I believe that that Morris will have the exact type success that Petrino had in near a similar type time table as well!  Here's the klinker thoug. Morris after watching some videos of his offense is absolutely the same type playcaller as Petrino, except he isnt the same kind of DBag that petrino was!  Oh, and he also LIKES to recruit!  Petrino hated it!! Thats why i believe that we'll have much more success here with Morris than we did with even Petrino!  After that 1st class of Petrinos, we could arguably say, did Petrino ever get a class as good as they were?  Thats where I believe Morris will pull ahead of Petrino, because i believe Morris' best recruiting classes are still ahead of him!  That's what is so exciting. As some of those recruiting guys had said; Trey biddy especially, if we had the equal size class that some of the other schools had had, and if we had just got the avg. type player that we had in the class, we would have had a top 20 class.  Which would have been the highest rated class we've had here since Nuttsack got a  #16/17 ranked class back many years ago.  Excitement in recruiting, definitely.  Especially with the ties that Morris has to talent filled regions.   

All that's left now is for Morris to show us on the field what we can look forward too.  This coming season was filled with potential of it being a winning season already, especially after Michigan backed out and we replaced them with Turd st. So, Morris has a chance to get 8+wins in his 1st season!  I believe that he will get at least that many! The talent we lost to injury, returning. The talent we had that we werent using. The talent we had that were out of shape. The infusion of talent in the current recruiting class that could possibly add immediate help. Namely Gerald, perhaps Parker or Pool, Fulwider, etc..  this class had some great talent.    I believe it's just going to get better and better Hog fans. 

Back to the OP.  Did Bielema really take off that much time? RD says he didnt.  i'll choose to believe that, but, like i said, with the lackadasical attitude Bielema had, it was almost like he had taken off more. let's just put it that way. hahaha

[B Ray]

thanks,  i  will say that,  here's the deal, im not a Bielema hater.  Hell, i wanted him to win the same way  i want every Hog coach to win.  The prob. Bielema had and i know ive personally rehashed this many times as well as some others is that when Pittman left (the best OL coach/recruiter) and i dont care what some of you say, negatively about the guy, because he went down to UGA and got the same type players, except more of them. He was a good enough recruiter to get those guys pretty much wherever he went.  When he left, he took all of Bielema's mojo.  That would NOT have been a problem though if Bielema had went out and paid whatever it took to get the "#2 top coach/recruiter"  or even #3 or 4 or 5 or 6 etc... he could have just went down a list of who says these guys are the best and i guarantee he could have paid enough to have got one of these guys to come here.  But he didnt do that!  He get's some dude who coached 7games for the bills!!  A guy who had NO recruiting experience, let alone any top tier talent recruiting exp. and he wasnt a good  OL coach on top of that!  Also find out he holds grudge against a couple of players and doesnt play them, the dbag that he is.  Anyways,  point of the story is, we NEVER got the type talent we needed here at OL afterwards to run the style of Offense Bielema runs.  I mean, lets put this into perspective, the absolute, most IMPORTANT position on the frickin team!!  And Bielema hires a complete NOBODY!  That is what cost him his job!  had we been able to keep getting and DEVELOPING top talent at OL yeah, Bielema probably would have had more success and probably would have still been the coach here. perhaps even improving every year until who knows.   but it didnt. whoever is left on that train needs to move on too btw.   he gone.  and he gone because of the decisions he made himself.  bye.

Do i doubt the story about what was wrote in the OP?  Actually, i do not doubt it for once.  Because as mentioned, Bielema was too lackadaisical, so yeah, that story fits his personality.  And his actions. 

   Now, to Morris.  I absolutely believe that the style offense that Morris runs will be successful. I believe that that Morris will have the exact type success that Petrino had in near a similar type time table as well!  Here's the klinker thoug. Morris after watching some videos of his offense is absolutely the same type playcaller as Petrino, except he isnt the same kind of DBag that petrino was!  Oh, and he also LIKES to recruit!  Petrino hated it!! Thats why i believe that we'll have much more success here with Morris than we did with even Petrino!  After that 1st class of Petrinos, we could arguably say, did Petrino ever get a class as good as they were?  Thats where I believe Morris will pull ahead of Petrino, because i believe Morris' best recruiting classes are still ahead of him!  That's what is so exciting. As some of those recruiting guys had said; Trey biddy especially, if we had the equal size class that some of the other schools had had, and if we had just got the avg. type player that we had in the class, we would have had a top 20 class.  Which would have been the highest rated class we've had here since Nuttsack got a  #16/17 ranked class back many years ago.  Excitement in recruiting, definitely.  Especially with the ties that Morris has to talent filled regions.   

All that's left now is for Morris to show us on the field what we can look forward too.  This coming season was filled with potential of it being a winning season already, especially after Michigan backed out and we replaced them with Turd st. So, Morris has a chance to get 8+wins in his 1st season!  I believe that he will get at least that many! The talent we lost to injury, returning. The talent we had that we werent using. The talent we had that were out of shape. The infusion of talent in the current recruiting class that could possibly add immediate help. Namely Gerald, perhaps Parker or Pool, Fulwider, etc..  this class had some great talent.    I believe it's just going to get better and better Hog fans. 

Back to the OP.  Did Bielema really take off that much time? RD says he didnt.  i'll choose to believe that, but, like i said, with the lackadasical attitude Bielema had, it was almost like he had taken off more. let's just put it that way. hahaha

I think the word was out on Bielema on the coaching circuit , he couldn't keep assistants at Wisconsin or Arkansas , you can't win in the SEC with half SEC COACHES and half SWAC coaches..

I believe the recruiting strategies is completely different , which will change on how many top players will look at us , the style of offense is more likeable to the recruits..

Bielema changed style of offenses and defenses , that is a difficult task in the SEC with the staff he had hired ...

[presidenthog]

The old staff never took 2-3 three weeks off after signing day. They took a week. The new staff took a week off shortly after the prospect day. Every staff takes time off after signing day. You can do it right after NSD day or shortly afterwards.

Well how about this

In the last two recruiting cycles prior to Chad Morris' arrival, #Arkansas hosted a total of 13 official visitors who were 4-stars by @Rivals. Tomorrow they'll have 13 unofficial visitors rated 4-stars, and Morris hasn't been on the job for 3 months yet.

No excuses here for this one. Bert was just lazy, and scared to fight with the big dogs. Chad ain't.  Can't get them if you don't try.

[HogFoo]

Well how about this

No excuses here for this one. Bert was just lazy, and scared to fight with the big dogs. Chad ain't.  Can't get them if you don't try.

agree. Not too much can be said to defend some of the things Bielema did.
How about this as well on defense.

[Flrazrback]

We certainly see Coach Morris and Staff are anything but lazy. These highly rated prospects are visiting The Hill and impressed with our offerings. Winning in recruiting is going to put us in better position to win ball games. Excited and looking forward to September !!

[HogFoo]

We certainly see Coach Morris and Staff are anything but lazy. These highly rated prospects are visiting The Hill and impressed with our offerings. Winning in recruiting is going to put us in better position to win ball games. Excited and looking forward to September !!

Oh yes, regardless of how many weeks either staff has taken off.  It would appear that Morris is 10x more energetic.  The whole staff seems this way. The results of that are in the type recruits we have visiting The Hill.  It's amazing so far the difference.  And, what i feel will be an ability to get these recruits to not only visit but become future Hogs!  Definitely am excited as well!  Looking forward to football season again! 

[BearsBisonsBoars]

Bert was an empty, LAZY, and clueless about the SEC windbreaker....Being BB...really?  what a joke...and his miserable record proves it. Tired of the "nice guy" stuff, he stole $30 million from our school and can live high off the "hog" for the rest of his incompetent life, wouldn't  you act like a "nice guy".....him vacationing in his flip flops and this staff working their ass off at the same times of year are facts, not opinions, and their efforts will show in their record.

You're supposed to use periods to end sentences. You're not supposed to pile them up in the middle of sentences.

[justmakeit2thebcs]

This staff tweets alot (letting you know where they are and how hard they are recruiting) and feeds minimal info to recruiting writers to keep them happy.  They have embraced social media and using it to promote themselves and the program, and rightly so.   But knowing members of both staffs, they are home with the family about the same or slightly less than Bielema's staff.  CCM is more more organized and is probably getting more done in less time.  They spent 100% of the time in Dec/Jan recruiting.  No coaches meetings dicussing the playbook, or schemes.  Emphasis only on recruiting Jimmies and Joes.  But acting like Bielema and staff laid around and went on vacation all the time simply isn't true.  They took one week off right after signing day, and one week in June before camps.   Otis Kirk would have you believe they took all of February off and never hosted a recruit during the month. 

I do like the stategy they took this weekend, they targeted elite prospects, got them together with some bonding time to help introduce the "family" vibe.  Big Jr days are alot easier when you recruit within driving distance.  Bielema recruited nationally at Wisc and here, making it difficult to build the momentum that was needed for top 15 classes.  In the end, I don't care where the kids come from.  I just want the best 85 we can get and I like how CCM is going about it.

[Grizzlyfan]

Semantics. He was offered a job, and took it. You bet the people that gave it to him made a poor decision. But, when someone is given a job, then a huge raise with a buyout option, and doesn't even try to win--that's the same as stealing. Judging by all the 4th quarter cave-ins, the mouth breathing stares into space during crucial moments, the apparent lack of fitness of the team, the consistency of being out coached during games even by teams with far less talent...there is a lot of evidence there to lead someone to believe CBB wanted that buyout a whole lot more than he wanted to work to build the team.

This MIGHT be just a little bit of speculation on your part.

[liljo]

This MIGHT be just a little bit of speculation on your part.

Admittedly.

[hogginbama]

agree. Not too much can be said to defend some of the things Bielema did.
How about this as well on defense.

Gotta ask yourself though, who started the recruiting and selling of those 6 players signed? Which ones were committed and kept their commitment to the U of A after the coaching change? Which ones had their first chat with a coach from the U of A after Morris was hired. If you are going to give credit to Morris for signing them, you gotta give credit to the previous staff for recruiting them and gaining their commitment.

[Redhogs]

You're supposed to use periods to end sentences. You're not supposed to pile them up in the middle of sentences.

Screw you...if I want to hear from the punctuation police I'll ask for it. It's an internet sports sports blog, not a 7th grade grammar class.

[SemperHawg]

love how our media get real brave after a coach gets fired

The University is always going to hold the cards as far as narrative goes.  Look back to the Petrino era...When he was here he was the best coach since Broyles or Holtz.  The minute after he was let go..."we all knew what a terrible person he was and and all of the shady stuff he was into personally"   Lather, rinse, repeat with this newest coaching change.   

In our particular state foot print (and most everywhere I suspect)  if you want the access you gotta go along to get along.  We'll here how much better this staff is, until they aren't there and then the Bo's and Mike's of the world will come tell you how they knew all along that it was never going to work.

[AirWarren]

agree. Not too much can be said to defend some of the things Bielema did.
How about this as well on defense.

Ouch.


Guess parroosing around in flip flops and a latte in one hand during practice really paid off.

[wildturkey8]

Heck, that would still be a better start than CBB's first 3 years.

touche.

[Richard Davenport]

Well how about this

No excuses here for this one. Bert was just lazy, and scared to fight with the big dogs. Chad ain't.  Can't get them if you don't try.

BS on the lazy part. I like what Morris and the staff have done thus far and think they're going to be very successful. No denying what they did over the weekend. Very impressed.

I would love to see your old posts and others from when Bielema and his staff landed the 25-30 kids that Bama, Florida, FSU. Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan and other elites wanted.

I remember posting about kids like Froholdt, Wallace, Ragnow, Kirkland, Collins and others early on and most fans posting Arkansas wouldn't be able to get them because the big boys were recruiting them. They obviously did and then when kids like Patton, Martin, Whaley, Calloway, Curl and others were being recruited fans were more optimistic about signing them because the staff had a track record of getting kids that Bama, Texas, OU, Florida and others wanted. People forget that.

That wasn't the case with Petrino and Nutt. They got a few but not the numbers that Bielema got.

[liljo]

BS on the lazy part. I like what Morris and the staff have done thus far and think they're going to be very successful. No denying what they did over the weekend. Very impressed.

I would love to see your old posts and others from when Bielema and his staff landed the 25-30 kids that Bama, Florida, FSU. Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan and other elites wanted.

I remember posting about kids like Froholdt, Wallace, Ragnow, Kirkland, Collins and others early on and most fans posting Arkansas wouldn't be able to get them because the big boys were recruiting them. They obviously did and then when kids like Patton, Martin, Whaley, Calloway, Curl and others were being recruited fans were more optimistic about signing them because the staff had a track record of getting kids that Bama, Texas, OU, Florida and others wanted. People forget that.

That wasn't the case with Petrino and Nutt. They got a few but not the numbers that Bielema got.

So then, RD, and I preface this with the fact I really do greatly value your opinion: What DID go wrong with Bielema at Arkansas that resulted in an 11-29 SEC record?

[Richard Davenport]

So then, RD, and I preface this with the fact I really do greatly value your opinion: What DID go wrong with Bielema at Arkansas that resulted in an 11-29 SEC record?

Several factors including some misses on evaluations, second half issues, D-line and LB recruiting. I understand why the move was made, but I said during this past season the coach in 2018 would have an opportunity to have a pretty good squad because of the young talent and I still believe that.

[Darren DeLoach]

Several factors including some misses on evaluations, second half issues, D-line and LB recruiting. I understand why the move was made, but I said during this past season the coach in 2018 would have an opportunity to have a pretty good squad because of the young talent and I still believe that.

Agree with everything you posted above and earlier in this thread. I would add, that he either did not prioritize Texas recruiting or failed in establishing Texas as a major part of our talent footprint. I understand this staff has a huge advantage in that they have massive amounts of previous connections and relationships in Texas, where BB had to nurture it from scratch. He never found that guy to be that connection or never tried to find that guy. Either way, Texas must be a major part of our roster development. Thanks for your insights Richard!!!

[liljo]

Several factors including some misses on evaluations, second half issues, D-line and LB recruiting. I understand why the move was made, but I said during this past season the coach in 2018 would have an opportunity to have a pretty good squad because of the young talent and I still believe that.

Thanks. I definitely agree there is talent on the current roster, and I just have a gut feeling this is a special staff that is going to come up with innovative ways to deploy it. It just seemed to me almost every game, after having the week to prepare, we competed until halftime. Then, when the time came for mid-game adjustments, we just looked lost.

Yes, there were games in which we were just clearly outmatched and those got ugly very quickly. I could just never even imagine a Bielema-coached team pulling a major upset. In years to come, I'll try to look back and just remember beating the burnt orange off those low-down stinkin' no-account Longhorns. That'll be my fondest memory of the Bielema era.

[greasy_corner]

Several factors including some misses on evaluations, second half issues, D-line and LB recruiting. I understand why the move was made, but I said during this past season the coach in 2018 would have an opportunity to have a pretty good squad because of the young talent and I still believe that.

Three of the four things you listed were recruiting related.  Sounds like a recruiting problem to me. 

[Arthur pigby sellers.]

Many of us agree with RD that there's better players on this team than the overall record. CBB did recruit slightly above Petrino and Nutt. Unfortunately the rest of the SEC West has been recruiting better recently as well.  CBB definitely failed in the hiring and coaching aspects of his job.

[East TN HAWG]

Agree with everything you posted above and earlier in this thread. I would add, that he either did not prioritize Texas recruiting or failed in establishing Texas as a major part of our talent footprint. I understand this staff has a huge advantage in that they have massive amounts of previous connections and relationships in Texas, where BB had to nurture it from scratch. He never found that guy to be that connection or never tried to find that guy. Either way, Texas must be a major part of our roster development. Thanks for your insights Richard!!!

I don't understand the hate for CBB now.  He was a very likable guy, and did a lot of good things for the program.

Semo, I think your 100% correct with your assessment.  Although I think CBB recruited better than some coaches we've had, he really screwed up in Texas.  When he made those statements about real men football leading up to the Texas Tech game, he alienated a huge majority of Texas HS coaches.  In hindsight, he was probably finished right there.

AR has to recruit well in the areas that CCM has focused.  We might get a hand full from FL, CA, but long term success will come from  3-5 hours from campus.  I've not been a huge supporter of CCM, but I think he has done everything right so far.  I really like what he is doing off the field wise. 

[LRhawg926]

As bad as Bielema's record was here, he did not leave the cupboard bare for Morris. We have talent on this team and Morris has brought in more! The players will have to adjust to a whole new system, but we may not see the adjustment period that we think we will see due to those factors because of the talent Bielema recruited to The Hill.

[Vantage 8 dude]

As bad as Bielema's record was here, he did not leave the cupboard bare for Morris. We have talent on this team and Morris has brought in more! The players will have to adjust to a whole new system, but we may not see the adjustment period that we think we will see due to those factors because of the talent Bielema recruited to The Hill.

I share your thoughts that the talent is likely better than the results the last one (+) season indicated. However, IMO the major glaring problem was that for whatever reason(s) the staff never adequately developed much of the talent that was on campus. They also seemed to underutilize/misuse some of the talent they possessed. Many of the kids seemed to lack mental and in some cases, physical toughness when it came to being able to close out games. So often we had leads going into the second half and/or fourth quarter and couldn't hold them. That smacks of being physically unconditioned and/or lacking the mental toughness to continue playing hard/smart when the game's on the line. The only real exception to that rule was last year's OM game when they actually fought back after being down big early. As for the come back against CC, that game should have never been in doubt to begin with.

[jkstock04]

As bad as Bielema's record was here, he did not leave the cupboard bare for Morris. We have talent on this team and Morris has brought in more! The players will have to adjust to a whole new system, but we may not see the adjustment period that we think we will see due to those factors because of the talent Bielema recruited to The Hill.

We will see...this seems to be the last gasping narrative of the Bielema lovers. Great guy and awesome recruiter...just couldn't quite get it done on gameday lol.

If and when we come out at win 10 plus games next year (if he recruited so much better than Petrino and Nutt something like this should be doable right?) I'll be first in line to step up and give Bielema props.

I still go back to the actual football season and the Hogs being a very slow and weak football team. Last year is something I'm not going to forget..especially when I read about how this is the most talented team we have ever had. Comes off as a little strange to me. You think about some of those players on Nutts best teams or Petrinos teams...and the narrative is we have more talent than that now?  Hmmmmm

I watched most of the bowl games and the talent disparity (especially in the later part of bowl season) was night and day different compared to the Hogs. Night and day...grown men vs boys. We'll see. I'm in the camp of if Morris can win 6 regular season games and then win a lower tier bowl game that'll be a banner year.

[Maximus Tusk]

Several factors including some misses on evaluations, second half issues, D-line and LB recruiting. I understand why the move was made, but I said during this past season the coach in 2018 would have an opportunity to have a pretty good squad because of the young talent and I still believe that.

I've always felt like our biggest issue was the lack of player development. We have talent but have not been able to get the most out of it. The rotating assistant coaches at a high rate is problematic. Just my opinion

[Richard Davenport]

Three of the four things you listed were recruiting related.  Sounds like a recruiting problem to me. 

I say D-line and LB recruiting, but I also believe the young talent at both positions is pretty good. I think you'll see that this season. Bielema did have to clean house and rebuild.

[prattville pig]

You usually don't see RD get this involved.

[Oklahawg]

I've always felt like our biggest issue was the lack of player development. We have talent but have not been able to get the most out of it. The rotating assistant coaches at a high rate is problematic. Just my opinion

I think you will see that player development wasn't so bad. The problem (my theory, but I have some tidbits from former players that give me reason to post this) was that CBB was very precise in the execution of day-to-day life as a player (how you go to class, how you practice, how you study film) and if you don't adhere to the team's way you don't play. This created issues in the position rooms and/or locker room. Some of those graduated but some will be back this spring.

These are not necessarily major, "hold the presses" issues. These are small things that pile up and matter only if you lose.

Some fans have this narrative that suddenly everything related to CBB is bad. Not true. One example that few people have talked about - the similarity in off-season workouts between Herb and our new S/T guy. Everyone will talk about how much faster we look, but no one will dissect the emotional desire to impress now they are given a fresh start and no one will suggest that a simpler scheme leads to "playing fast". (There is a reason Nutt kept things so simple - he wanted his players at full speed, not thinking.)

I am not a CBB apologist. I am smart enough to know that a new coach will always breathe new life into a program. We have a lot of assets to work with - what players step forward now that they get a fresh start?

[LRhawg926]

By no means am I a "Bielema hugger". I was ready for him to go as well. Just stating that he did not leave the cupboard bare. The team had his personality. Bielema is soft and it reflected his team. He was a genuine guy that did care about his players. I wished he would have won here! But, he couldn't. I'd rather have a hard coach with a fiery mentality. It's been quoted a lot, "Attitude reflects leadership", and it's true. You have a coach that loves relaxing, your team will lack the killer mentality. We need a coach that keeps the foot on the throat when we start that way. You finish as you begin. Bielema's teams would maybe start strong and tail off when they got a big lead. Or they played up and down to competition. It was frustrating.

[hawgfan4life]

There is a lot of talented players on the team.  Good talent!  Top twenty caliber talent!  The issue now as it has been is that we are competing in a conference that almost every team has more better talent than we have and the losses pile up.  BB's problem is that he lost a few games every year he could have won and some he should have won and the total wins were not acceptable.  It came to a head last year when the wheels fell off and the season tanked.  The margin between winning and losing in the SEC is super thin for the majority of the teams.  Just because we lost in recent years and win or lose this year will have nothing to do with whether we have talented players.  We have talent, but we likely won't have close to the talent of Alabama, A&M, LSU, and AUB.  We likely will have similar talent to Ole Miss, Miss State, and Mizzou.  Should have a little more than Vandy.

[Richard Davenport]

You usually don't see RD get this involved.

You have a part of the fan base that changes their opinions like the wind. I bet a lot of the people raving about Morris and the staff were the ones saying what a horrible hire he was and now they're the biggest fans of the staff.

I tried to do a search for the thread of when Hjalte Froholdt committed, but the search feature doesn't work for me or I'm not doing it right. I wanted to bring it back so people would see all the great things they were saying about the previous staff and Bielema and the ability to beat Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Florida State for a high caliber kid. People forget that before Bielema Arkansas rarely beat out the elite schools.

I remember this because I saw the reaction and I also remember talking to kids being recruited by Nutt and Petrino and they most likely didn't have Bama, Florida or other elite offers.

[presidenthog]

Several factors including some misses on evaluations, second half issues, D-line and LB recruiting. I understand why the move was made, but I said during this past season the coach in 2018 would have an opportunity to have a pretty good squad because of the young talent and I still believe that.

If you go back in my post history you will see where after the 2015 season I called the issues we had in 2017 on the D line.

The problem came from not recruiting any true rush D ends. None. Then we had 1 that fit the mold and we moved him to be 9th string TE.

We kept recruiting D ends that weighed 275 in high school and we bulked them up to 300. Basically we had a bunch of undersized DT's at rush end.

To show you how much different this staff is, our first guy from this class weighs 260 and is a DT. Guys like tj Smith, agim, and Marshall all weighed more in high school. Those are your end players.

[Vantage 8 dude]

There is a lot of talented players on the team.  Good talent!  Top twenty caliber talent!  The issue now as it has been is that we are competing in a conference that almost every team has more better talent than we have and the losses pile up.  BB's problem is that he lost a few games every year he could have won and some he should have won and the total wins were not acceptable.  It came to a head last year when the wheels fell off and the season tanked.  The margin between winning and losing in the SEC is super thin for the majority of the teams.  Just because we lost in recent years and win or lose this year will have nothing to do with whether we have talented players.  We have talent, but we likely won't have close to the talent of Alabama, A&M, LSU, and AUB.  We likely will have similar talent to Ole Miss, Miss State, and Mizzou.  Should have a little more than Vandy.

The overall talent we have on campus (and coming in) is likely better than the past few years records have shown. While obviously talent's important, the DEVELOPMENT of that talent, is very important as well. More so than at many other schools. If you're starting behind the "eight ball" when it comes down to "star talent" to begin with, you had better do whatever you can to get the most out of the kids you do have. Otherwise BOTH issues are going to sink you. It also doesn't help that IMO the staff generally let the kids down with a combination of misuse/underuse of some players as well as the lack of in-game adjustments, game planning, etc. Whatever the reason(s) for the continued collapses and struggling in games we should have easily won but either lost or barely squeaked by as well other issues didn't EXCLUSIVELY lay at the feet of talent deficiencies. BTW there's one other wildcard that some have overlooked: the DEPTH of talent. We may have some very good starters, however, in some positions the drop off in performance/potential once those are excluded is very noticeable.

[Richard Davenport]

Well how about this

No excuses here for this one. Bert was just lazy, and scared to fight with the big dogs. Chad ain't.  Can't get them if you don't try.

The lazy part is BS. I was with Bret and the staff for four days last spring and they were in the office from 6-630 am to 9 to 10 at night. I know there's a trend for some staffs to work from 8 am to abut 5 to 6 pm, during the season, but not the old staff.

Bielema believed in smaller groups of recruits while Morris likes larger groups. I see the pros and cons of both. I still would like to see your posts when Coach B and the staff was beating out Bama, Florida, FSU, Ohio State, Michigan and others

[IronMountainHog]

The lazy part is BS. I was with Bret and the staff for four days last spring and they were in the office from 6-630 am to 9 to 10 at night. I know there's a trend for some staffs to work from 8 am to abut 5 to 6 pm, during the season, but not the old staff.

Bielema believed in smaller groups of recruits while Morris likes larger groups. I see the pros and cons of both. I still would like to see your posts when Coach B and the staff was beating out Bama, Florida, FSU, Ohio State, Michigan and others

Were these type of hours and recruiting push you saw last year done in previous years RD? I'm pretty sure after second half collapses against Missouri and Virginia Tech the previous year, he knew his job security was becoming unstable.

[Hogindasticks]

So when the small group of recruits fails....you are without a team

[presidenthog]

I stand by my statement. After the 2015 season when we got Whaley, and we were on a bunch of high profile guys we changed our recruiting tactics under Bert.

We didn't get any of those blue chip guys that year, and we stopped targeting them. This started when we lost that one offensive linemen  to LSU at the last second. Can't remember his name. We swung for the fences again, and lost out on a bunch of guys right at the end. The 2016 class we didn't target so many high profile guys.

[presidenthog]

I will admit most of our high profile guys seem to be wide receivers. Using Sutton to show what he can do is really helping us there. Have to start getting elite players somewhere. Get a few of these guys, and get Henry, and some of these O line guys. We might convince gunnell to hop on board. Then we can get some stud defensive guys to want to come help those guys. Have to start somewhere. I think if we can win 8 games it will build enough momentum to get the ball rolling.

[Richard Davenport]

Were these type of hours and recruiting push you saw last year done in previous years RD? I'm pretty sure after second half collapses against Missouri and Virginia Tech the previous year, he knew his job security was becoming unstable.

Pretty standard.

[Richard Davenport]

I stand by my statement. After the 2015 season when we got Whaley, and we were on a bunch of high profile guys we changed our recruiting tactics under Bert.

We didn't get any of those blue chip guys that year, and we stopped targeting them. This started when we lost that one offensive linemen  to LSU at the last second. Can't remember his name. We swung for the fences again, and lost out on a bunch of guys right at the end. The 2016 class we didn't target so many high profile guys.

Petrino swung for the fences. Bielema swung for the fences. Schools go for the big guys.

As far as beating out bigger schools, the 16 class wasn't as good. They swung and missed on several.

The 17 class they signed seven guys with elite offers. That's pretty good ratio there. That's basically 1/3 of the class. 

If Arkansas can get 7-10 guys a year the elites want that's a very good class.

[redneckfriend]

You have a part of the fan base that changes their opinions like the wind. I bet a lot of the people raving about Morris and the staff were the ones saying what a horrible hire he was and now they're the biggest fans of the staff.

I tried to do a search for the thread of when Hjalte Froholdt committed, but the search feature doesn't work for me or I'm not doing it right. I wanted to bring it back so people would see all the great things they were saying about the previous staff and Bielema and the ability to beat Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Florida State for a high caliber kid. People forget that before Bielema Arkansas rarely beat out the elite schools.

I remember this because I saw the reaction and I also remember talking to kids being recruited by Nutt and Petrino and they most likely didn't have Bama, Florida or other elite offers.

I agree with the sentiment here. The fan base, as represented on this board, is very disrespectful of the effort coaches make on the one hand and on the other shower undeserved accolades on a new coach who has never coached a down here.

It was true of Nutt, then Bielema and lately Mike Anderson. Bielema had to go, Nutt had to go- that is true but it is no reason to libel the coach for failing or make comments about weight (I'd like to see the weight of some of the posters on this site). "Bert" did what he could, it is (was, for him) a high pressure job with everything at stake and to suggest he didn't try, especially when that is no more than a conjecture based on undeserved enmity toward him, is pretty low. The Arkansas job is, contrary to what seems to be the most commonly expressed opinion here, one of the hardest in the nation- the fan expectations are often unrealistic and the objective obstacles to success in the SEC west are enormous. Hopefully if Morris doesn't live up to expectations the reaction will be a little more temperate.

[redneckfriend]

error