RD's comments from the recruiting forum

[Porkestrator]

it's not 'he and his family'. It's just he and his purple M5.

Hehehe.

[Inhogswetrust]

Which one, the Arkansas Johnson or the Miami Johnson?

She said that's one too many Johnson's.

[Pork Twain]

She said that's one too many Johnson's.

Your Johnson is possessive, mine is plural.

[redeye]

I want to believe this so bad but how the hell are we 11th out of 14 in assistant salaries then??? With a National Top 10 Forbes ranking for profit
.

Everything Mike Said is correct, but that's still a great question!  The answer is that assistant salaries are going up quickly and we're slow to catch up.  We were well behind other SEC schools before Bielema was hired, but Bielema did, in fact, say those things after he was hired.

Personally, I think Bielema and Long have done a great job, but I've been arguing that we need to spend more for assistants for years, now.  The conventional wisdom today is that to win big, you need great assistants, and to get great assistants, you need to money up.  That started in the SEC, but I remember hearing recently that Harbaugh told Michigan's AD that he didn't want to be the highest paid coach in college football and would rather they gave that money to his assistants, which sounds a lot like Bielema to me.

[Steef]

In fairness, Coach Smith didnt have a pedigree as DC when he came on board. He was compensated accordingly.

Now...he does. And will continue. And we will no doubt have to pony up.

For an annual top ten defense? Pay the man.

[Mike Irwin]

Everything Mike Said is correct, but that's still a great question!  The answer is that assistant salaries are going up quickly and we're slow to catch up.  We were well behind other SEC schools before Bielema was hired, but Bielema did, in fact, say those things after he was hired.

Personally, I think Bielema and Long have done a great job, but I've been arguing that we need to spend more for assistants for years, now.  The conventional wisdom today is that to win big, you need great assistants, and to get great assistants, you need to money up.  That started in the SEC, but I remember hearing recently that Harbaugh told Michigan's AD that he didn't want to be the highest paid coach in college football and would rather they gave that money to his assistants, which sounds a lot like Bielema to me.

I think you spend money when you have to. When Texas Tech won a  bowl game in Kingsbury's first season the AD went bonkers and gave him a new seven-year guaranteed contract. In year two the football program is in shambles. If they fired him tomorrow they'd owe him 17 million dollars.

Arkansas is doing some good things in football but with two SEC wins last season there's no need to start throwing money at coaches.

Smith got a nice raise. Pittman got an upgraded contract last year.

They're fine for now.

[urkillnmesmalls]

I think you spend money when you have to. When Texas Tech won a  bowl game in Kingsbury's first season the AD went bonkers and gave him a new seven-year guaranteed contract. In year two the football program is in shambles. If they fired him tomorrow they'd owe him 17 million dollars.

Arkansas is doing some good things in football but with two SEC wins last season there's no need to start throwing money at coaches.

Smith got a nice raise. Pittman got an upgraded contract last year.

They're fine for now.

Ouch.  I didn't know that about Kingsbury.  That's gonna leave a mark if he doesn't turn that around quickly.  More importantly, how many more years do we have them on the schedule?    

[PonderinHog]

Ouch.  I didn't know that about Kingsbury.  That's gonna leave a mark if he doesn't turn that around quickly.  More importantly, how many more years do we have them on the schedule?   

One.

[Pork Twain]

I think you spend money when you have to. When Texas Tech won a  bowl game in Kingsbury's first season the AD went bonkers and gave him a new seven-year guaranteed contract. In year two the football program is in shambles. If they fired him tomorrow they'd owe him 17 million dollars.

Arkansas is doing some good things in football but with two SEC wins last season there's no need to start throwing money at coaches.

Smith got a nice raise. Pittman got an upgraded contract last year.

They're fine for now.

Wowsers, I did not realize they were in for that much.

[urkillnmesmalls]

One.

Bummer.       I was hoping we could run over them for a few more seasons. 

[Sivad]

It may have escaped the notice of some of you but Bielema came to Arkansas in part to improve his situation with assistant coaches. He took less money when he was hired to leave more money to hire assistants. He expects some loyalty from them because of that.

He understands any of them leaving for a promotion. He doesn't believe Shannon got a promotion even if he added the title of co-defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. Shannon will be doing the same basic job at Florida that he was at Arkansas.

Plus he will now be recruiting directly against Arkansas for another SEC school. Throw that in along with Florida adding the ceremonial title of co-defensive coordinator for the purpose of avoiding paying Shannon's buyout and yeah, I think we can assume that Bielema is a little miffed about this whole thing.

Clarifying and quite informative information.
Thanks Mike.

[DukeOfPork]

Here are my top 3 choices for LB coach and chief Florida recruiter

1. Jimmy Johnson
2. Howard Schellenberger
3. Dwayne "the rock" Johnson

Luther Campbell.

[DukeOfPork]

Your Johnson is possessive, mine is plural.

This is Hogville.  No one makes a distinction between the two.

And they're proud about that.

[DukeOfPork]

I think you spend money when you have to. When Texas Tech won a  bowl game in Kingsbury's first season the AD went bonkers and gave him a new seven-year guaranteed contract. In year two the football program is in shambles. If they fired him tomorrow they'd owe him 17 million dollars.

Arkansas is doing some good things in football but with two SEC wins last season there's no need to start throwing money at coaches.

Smith got a nice raise. Pittman got an upgraded contract last year.

They're fine for now.

Exactly.  And I feel like Ole Miss just Kingsburied themselves with Freeze's new contract. 

These guys aren't nearly as "proven" as Kirk Ferentz.

Think about that.

[HognitiveDissonance]

I think you spend money when you have to. When Texas Tech won a  bowl game in Kingsbury's first season the AD went bonkers and gave him a new seven-year guaranteed contract. In year two the football program is in shambles. If they fired him tomorrow they'd owe him 17 million dollars.

Arkansas is doing some good things in football but with two SEC wins last season there's no need to start throwing money at coaches.

Smith got a nice raise. Pittman got an upgraded contract last year.

They're fine for now.

Agreed.
People tend to get ahead of themselves, either panicking or going bananas for winning a few games.
Smith deserved a raise, for sure, and apparently he's getting it. Let's tread easy on the others for now.

[urkillnmesmalls]

Exactly.  And I feel like Ole Miss just Kingsburied themselves with Freeze's new contract. 

These guys aren't nearly as "proven" as Kirk Ferentz.

Think about that.

So much pun in that.  VERY nice.  Not sure if you intended it that way, but that was outstanding.