Don't rush to anger without conceding reality

[Biggus Piggus]

I would not call it "homers protecting Bielema" when someone correctly points out that the preponderance of available information is in the hands of the coaches, not data-poor fanboard critics.

Feel free to criticize, if you are working on evidence not speculation. And please, when you level outrageously illogical blasts at the Razorbacks, don't be outraged when someone calls you out for your toddler-like feet-stomping hissy fits. That's the part I'm sick of seeing. Some people are on an emotional hair-trigger, leaping on the slightest excuse to heap insults on our coaches and players.

They are the Razorbacks, and we are not. I am all for calling out anyone on the team whose behavior clearly is not in the interests of the Razorbacks. Houston Nutt deserved that. He ruined a promising team, and he intended to do it. He was so arrogant, he thought he could diminish the team solely so he could gain full control over everything + still keep his job.

Nutt should never be remembered with the slightest reconsideration, because he left us in the situation we are in today. A knot of perpetual pessimism has lodged itself amid Razorback fans. Nutt had a chance to make Arkansas a football giant, had he known how to lever a good instate run of talent into sustained recruiting + been willing to work with the bright young coach who fell into his lap.

I don't know what's going on with people. Once Razorback football was respected. Frank Broyles struggled to sustain it, then retired on the verge of having his greatest team. Lou Holtz blazed but couldn't sustain it. Ken Hatfield was a clean winner in the dirtiest era of the SWC, but he did not make Arkansas a top contender. Broyles and boosters needled him until he left recruiting fallow for two seasons and fled for Clemson, alma mater be darned on the eve of joining the mighty SEC.

Jack Crowe got 2 and 1/11th seasons to salt our soil. Our first SEC football season was led by a friggin' interim coach, at a time when the Hogs should have used the conference change as a prime recruiting opportunity.

Broyles hired Danny Ford as a safe, easy and cheap solution. But Ford had been out of coaching and never quite got his staff right, having to restart from scratch. Chronic shortages of offensive skill players ruined his efforts, as Ford inherited a program with no tradition at QB and a triple-option legacy. The rest of college football was well into the offensive renaissance. Ford never had a dynamic assistant to lead his offense. When he tried to modernize at the end, the effort was sabotaged by, of all things, a lack of talent in the backfield.

The alumni committee chose Nutt for his enthusiasm and in-state connections. Nutt had more staff turnover than even Ford. Ted Harrod's summer job infractions, which Broyles certainly knew about, hurt recruiting for an extended time. It was visible in the 2004-05 downturn.

Then Nutt agreed to take on Gus Malzahn to salvage recruiting and save his own ass. Then he immediately set about undermining "Mal-a-zahn" in the smarmiest, most unmanly ways possible. The 2007 season should have been a triumph. You know how that ended. One last big emotional push, then gone with a big talent hole left behind.

Bobby Petrino was a great name to hire, but he came in carrying more baggage than Amtrak. Could you find any more damaging way to steal an NFL coach? Petrino had a very hard time assembling a staff, and he was upgrading and repairing the rest of the way. Recruiting was spotty, the team might have peaked for a while, then Petrino plopped his doozy on us. It was the messiest, hire-your-bimbo-pay-her-hush-money-and-don't-stop-lying personal/professional disaster one could imagine. When your supporters can't come up with anything better than "at least he wasn't banging little boys," it's bad.

John L. Smith served as clueless-caretaker coach for one insufferable season. The program Petrino had wound so tight sprung open and spilled out everywhere. Everyone is left wondering whether Arkansas football had fallen back to its SEC caveman beginnings, or maybe even lower.

Bret Bielema came from Wisconsin, hired the first staff of assistants not handed to him, and set about a rehabilitation project.

If you see what Razorback football has been through, what it had become -- why so easily leap to the conclusion that the current coach is to blame? How long do you think it should be before he can make a difference?

I didn't like what I saw last season, and I believe betting all on one quarterback was irresponsible, in part caused the disaster. But it also makes sense to acknowledge the unusually difficult schedule. And also -- perhaps we should consider the possibility that this turnaround really had a long ways to go. We were maybe wrong to feel we weren't that far away from 2010-11. It is possible that most of the problem was our unrealistic expectations.

[Biggus Piggus]

Looking over our history, one recurring theme pops out.

Holtz-Hatfield-Crowe-Ford-Nutt-Petrino. When each was hired, Arkansas had the opportunity to hire head coaches who would have put recruiting first. Broyles won with talent. He pulled Holtz out of a pro job, after his NC State staff was long gone. Hatfield was at traditionless Air Force with the requisite mid-major staff. Crowe had nothing. Ford started from scratch. Nutt was at Boise State before it had ever won, period. Petrino came to Arkansas without a staff.

Each time, the hire left Arkansas behind the eight ball in recruiting. Every damn time, it came back to haunt us.

If Bielema is to right our ship, he has to get the talent flow thing right first. Heaven knows nobody did it before him.

[pfrg999]

That was a painful walk thru Razorback Football...

[chitwnhog]

That was a painful walk thru Razorback Football...

No doubt. I must agree with Biggus the Razorback program has made mistake after mistake and add to that the fact that we are often on the wrong side of luck, you get what we have now.

[Hawgon]

Petrino was the one coach we've had in my lifetime that I felt wrung every bit of potential and more out of his teams.  Well, I guess you could include Holtz in there as well, but that is a long time ago.

The thing that really concerns me about BB, more than anything else, is that he left three wins out there last year because of coaching mistakes and decisions. 

At Arkansas, we will always be somewhat deficient in talent.  So, whatever system a coach runs, he needs to be an absolute genius with game decisions.  We had that, I'm afraid BB falls far short of that.  That isn't completely fair to BB because most any coach would probably look poorly in comparison, but here we are.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

There's only one direction to go.

[Hans Gruber]

There's only one direction to go.

Isn't that what we said after 2012?

[Inhogswetrust]

Looking over our history, one recurring theme pops out.

Holtz-Hatfield-Crowe-Ford-Nutt-Petrino. When each was hired, Arkansas had the opportunity to hire head coaches who would have put recruiting first. Broyles won with talent. He pulled Holtz out of a pro job, after his NC State staff was long gone. Hatfield was at traditionless Air Force with the requisite mid-major staff. Crowe had nothing. Ford started from scratch. Nutt was at Boise State before it had ever won, period. Petrino came to Arkansas without a staff.

Each time, the hire left Arkansas behind the eight ball in recruiting. Every damn time, it came back to haunt us.

If Bielema is to right our ship, he has to get the talent flow thing right first. Heaven knows nobody did it before him.

Boise State had a good record of winning prior to nutty getting the job there. Started with Tony Knapp in 1968. His first two years were as an NAIA member then moving up to the NCAA and the Big Sky.  It was not in a top conference but it never has been really. Nutty is the only Boise coach to have a losing record there since then.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

Isn't that what we said after 2012?

Good point. We just haven't started to move yet.

[flynhog]

Biggus,

All accurate and yes painful. 

I ,too, did not like what I saw last season.  However,  The base is getting bigger and stronger.  CBB is doing the right for the Hogs across the board.  His track record says it all.  Results of the past usually predict results of the future. There will be bright spots this season but it may still be very painful to watch. 

Im looking forward to see the defensive backs and the O line play early in the season. We are finally headed in the right direction for a bright future with the right staff.   

[RazorFlix]

Agree wholeheartedly on unrealistic expectations of our fan base...as is true for most fan bases. 

Razorback fans are definitely a special group though because we have such a high percentage of our sports fanaticism devoted to the Razorbacks.  Makes bad outcomes hurt even more.

[Biggus Piggus]

The thing that really concerns me about BB, more than anything else, is that he left three wins out there last year because of coaching mistakes and decisions. 

"Because" is over-strong, and I'm struggling to find the three. What coaching mistake caused the Hogs to lose to Rutgers? I'd like to say they should have had one backup ready who was capable of playing sandlot and throwing an accurate pass. In game, don't see any one coaching mistake that was fatal. Players dropping passes hurt more than anything, if you overlook the secondary's foldaroni--which wouldn't have mattered had the right guys caught the passes right in front of them.

Alex Collins fumbled on the Mississippi State 9-yard line when the Hogs could have won the game. That was more significant than any coaching blunder.

LSU was the other winnable game. We had the lead and had pinned them at their 1 with hardly any time left. LSU finally recognized that it could move the ball on us if it passed nonstop. Remember - we had the ball at their 32 in the first half and threw a pick in the end zone. We had to kick a field goal from their 3. We had a prayer with the ball at our 39 and 42 seconds left, but Allen fumbled on a sack, game over.

We got the ball deep on our end twice late and went three and out. Not coaching blunders, failure to convert third and 1 and third and 3.

I'm thinking the really dumb-headed trick play and fake punt calls were not as important as they seemed.

[RazorFlix]

Petrino was the one coach we've had in my lifetime that I felt wrung every bit of potential and more out of his teams.  Well, I guess you could include Holtz in there as well, but that is a long time ago.

The thing that really concerns me about BB, more than anything else, is that he left three wins out there last year because of coaching mistakes and decisions. 

At Arkansas, we will always be somewhat deficient in talent.  So, whatever system a coach runs, he needs to be an absolute genius with game decisions.  We had that, I'm afraid BB falls far short of that.  That isn't completely fair to BB because most any coach would probably look poorly in comparison, but here we are.

If you look at Bielema's teams at Wisconsin he had success despite multiple years of poor recruiting rankings.  Seems that would be a good fit for Arkansas.

[hawgsalot]

Petrino was the one coach we've had in my lifetime that I felt wrung every bit of potential and more out of his teams.  Well, I guess you could include Holtz in there as well, but that is a long time ago.

The thing that really concerns me about BB, more than anything else, is that he left three wins out there last year because of coaching mistakes and decisions. 

At Arkansas, we will always be somewhat deficient in talent.  So, whatever system a coach runs, he needs to be an absolute genius with game decisions.  We had that, I'm afraid BB falls far short of that.  That isn't completely fair to BB because most any coach would probably look poorly in comparison, but here we are.

Petrino's genius lead to god awful defense and little points against the big boys so I guess he's a great playcaller against most but there is a heck of a lot more to football to playcalling.  I'm not trying to run him down at all but I just didn't see the greatness that some want to bestow on him.  Great offensive playcaller, Horrible defenses, avg to below avg recruiter.  That doesn't lead to long term success in my opine and that's why I think we'll have better sustainable success with Bret.  He's still young, he'll grow.

[Hawgon]

I'm thinking the really dumb-headed trick play and fake punt calls were not as important as they seemed.

I disagree, but that is no surprise.  Plus, the Rutgers was lost because of the decision to rely on one QB and think that we could get through with Derby.

[Biggus Piggus]

Boise State had a good record of winning prior to nutty getting the job there. Started with Tony Knapp in 1968. His first two years were as an NAIA member then moving up to the NCAA and the Big Sky.  It was not in a top conference but it never has been really. Nutty is the only Boise coach to have a losing record there since then.

NAIA, nope. Not even remotely comparable. No budget, lower recruiting sights, shorter roster. They had to completely turn over their talent before they did anything.

[cosmodrum]

We are who we are.

[Hans Gruber]

We are who we are.

Your sig is hilarious.

[Biggus Piggus]

I disagree, but that is no surprise.  Plus, the Rutgers was lost because of the decision to rely on one QB and think that we could get through with Derby.

Yes. What I can't do is evaluate the decisions they made to get there. After seeing Derby, my thought was I would have panicked about backup QBs way, way back. It was hard to stomach a backup who could not hit a receiver. Then he played a half-decent game at Rutgers, which would have been better had his receivers caught what they should have. They still had to gimp the offense with him in it.

What did everybody else look like? Were they really worse than he was? Probably comes down to the learning curve with the playbook and signals, something like that. Rushing a freshman would have been an act of desperation. I believe they should have been desperate, but I can't say it would have made any difference.

[Hog Fan from Camden]

That was a painful walk thru Razorback Football...

Painful but true. 

[Inhogswetrust]

NAIA, nope. Not even remotely comparable. No budget, lower recruiting sights, shorter roster. They had to completely turn over their talent before they did anything.

I agree except they DID win BEFORE nutty was hired and have AFTER he left. That was the point I was making  You made it sound as if they had never won prior to him being there. Their rise in college football was short and very fast. Not trying to dog you or anything but here is your quote about Boise and nutty with bold for emphasis:

Nutt was at Boise State before it had ever won, period.

[Hawgon]

Yes. What I can't do is evaluate the decisions they made to get there. After seeing Derby, my thought was I would have panicked about backup QBs way, way back. It was hard to stomach a backup who could not hit a receiver. Then he played a half-decent game at Rutgers, which would have been better had his receivers caught what they should have. They still had to gimp the offense with him in it.

What did everybody else look like? Were they really worse than he was? Probably comes down to the learning curve with the playbook and signals, something like that. Rushing a freshman would have been an act of desperation. I believe they should have been desperate, but I can't say it would have made any difference.

Rutgers was panic time and I and few others said as much at the time.  The entire season hinged on that game.  I honestly believe that had we won it, we would have played better down the stretch and might have gone bowling last year.  That would have been huge to recruiting and set the tone for BB's tenure here.  If I could see that, why couldn't BB?  That is kind of my point.

I never questioned Petrino because I could see that he was so much smarter than me about football.  But with BB, I'm getting the same feeling I had about Nutt.  I could almost predict what he was going to do with pretty much unerring accuracy and dammit, I'm no football expert.  If I can do that, what can our opponents do?  And if I can see a decision is a dumb one, why can't our $3.2 million a year coach?

That is all I'm saying.  I don't like where this movie appears to be heading.  I honestly hope I am wrong.

[Hans Gruber]

Right now we're at that scene in the green mile where the guy catches fire.

[Biggus Piggus]

I agree except they DID win BEFORE nutty was hired and have AFTER he left. That was the point I was making  You made it sound as if they had never won prior to him being there. Their rise in college football was short and very fast. Not trying to dog you or anything but here is your quote about Boise and nutty with bold for emphasis:

Talking about Division I-A. They had just moved up. They had zero tradition, little talent, and no resources. They were playing a completely new array of opponents. Saying they won on the NAIA level is like saying their players won when they were in high school. What carries over from NAIA success (where they weren't exactly a dynasty)? Fans? Not coaches, and certainly not talent.

Point was--sheesh--it was not the Boise State of today. It was the Boise of then, which had absolutely zero accomplishments on the major college football level. Sorry if I intentionally disregarded their meaningless NAIA football history.

[hawgsalot]

Rutgers was panic time and I and few others said as much at the time.  The entire season hinged on that game.  I honestly believe that had we won it, we would have played better down the stretch and might have gone bowling last year.  That would have been huge to recruiting and set the tone for BB's tenure here.  If I could see that, why couldn't BB?  That is kind of my point.

I never questioned Petrino because I could see that he was so much smarter than me about football.  But with BB, I'm getting the same feeling I had about Nutt.  I could almost predict what he was going to do with pretty much unerring accuracy and dammit, I'm no football expert.  If I can do that, what can our opponents do?  And if I can see a decision is a dumb one, why can't our $3.2 million a year coach?

That is all I'm saying.  I don't like where this movie appears to be heading.  I honestly hope I am wrong.

Disagree completely, bottom line last year was a rebuilding year period.  No one in there right mind thought otherwise.  I firmly believe you don't put young QBs in bad situations and hurt confidence unless they are really, really ready.  As a first year coach I wouldn't burn a promising freshman QB's year of redshirting for one game.  I bet Bobby Allen didn't want Austin playing in one game last year either.  Much more to this than just the Rutgers game.

[Biggus Piggus]

I never questioned Petrino because I could see that he was so much smarter than me about football.  But with BB, I'm getting the same feeling I had about Nutt.  I could almost predict what he was going to do with pretty much unerring accuracy and dammit, I'm no football expert.  If I can do that, what can our opponents do?  And if I can see a decision is a dumb one, why can't our $3.2 million a year coach?

With Nutt, you could second-guess play-calling, and you knew exactly whom to blame. It is hard to get used to having a head coach again who doesn't call plays. As for predictability, they were minmaxing on offense most of the season. Unless somebody wants to tell me about the overflowing talent that Petrino left us.

[Hogwild]

LSU was the other winnable game. We had the lead and had pinned them at their 1 with hardly any time left. LSU finally recognized that it could move the ball on us if it passed nonstop. Remember - we had the ball at their 32 in the first half and threw a pick in the end zone. We had to kick a field goal from their 3. We had a prayer with the ball at our 39 and 42 seconds left, but Allen fumbled on a sack, game over.

We got the ball deep on our end twice late and went three and out. Not coaching blunders, failure to convert third and 1 and third and 3.

I'm thinking the really dumb-headed trick play and fake punt calls were not as important as they seemed.

LSU didn't punt in the 2nd half. We had 3 4th quarter drives, they went 9 plays for 24 yards.  The LSU coaching staff made better adjustments in that game.

[Atlhogfan1]

The one issue I had with the RU game was the second rugby punt that led to the TD and changed the game.  The first one went the wrong way and was nearly a disaster.  To let him do it again was stupid. 

The other trick plays were out of playing with nothing to lose and trying to give the team a chance.  I normally wouldn't care for them and hope they become much more limited in the future.  But last season, I understood what they were thinking when they did it.  Execution made them look like much worse ideas than they were too. 

[wupigsuey]

I dont think we have enough material to determine how CBB will be here. It's quite possible everything we saw was a reflection of the players we had on board. Playing to their strengths.

[ArkansasI]

I know that this isn't the purporse of the thread, but I think it is interesting to review each hire with the benefit of hindsight.

Holtz - Frank hired him as his own replacement.  I've never known how these two hooked up.  A few years earlier Texas hired Fred Akers (Arkansas grad, one year at Wyoming).  Switzer had been promoted at OU.  Why didn't Frank look within his own coaching tree to find his replacement?  What made Frank think Lou would succeed in Fayetteville?

At the time, a high ranking assistant from Texas or OU might have been a wise choice.  I've heard that Frank contacted Barry, but he wasn't interested.  Hard to blame the guy - he was rolling at OU.  Any other known candidates?

In my mind, Lou ranks among the greatest reaches and the most interesting hires.  He was a great coach and fairly successful until his lack of recruiting caught up with him.

Hatfield - We've all hear about Jimmy Johnson getting bent out of shape about this.  To my knowledge, Jimmy hasn't graced us with his presence since he finished his eligibility.  If true, that's pretty crappy to me.  At the time Jimmy hadn't exactly put Oklahoma State on the map - and I thought there were rumblings about violations.

Kenny had beaten Notre Dame a time or two while coaching a service academy.  That's a pretty good resume builder no matter how bad Notre Dame was at the time.  I remain a Kenny fan and think this hire made sense.  I also thought Ken had to go when he did.  Whatever pressure he was under, he stopped performing.

Crowe was a knee-jerk hire.  The man was a visionary without talent (you can read that a couple of ways - not sure which is right).  Did we have time to find another coach?  With the pressure Ken was under, I think that Frank should have been better prepared to see this coming.   If not Jack, I don't know who our options were at the time.  Jack was - and has remained - an offensive guru.  I'm sure that his staff was a mess.

Ford - My God those were dark days.  I remember feeling that the Hogs were down for eternity.  Danny built the talent on that team as best he could.  We won a few that surprised all of us.  Hope was restored at the cost of all the joy in Mudville.  I don't think there was any known coach that would take the job.  Danny took it because we wouldn't offer the job to Joe Kines, and he had no hope of finding another job.

Nutt - Tubberville.  We can assume that this was a missed opportunity, but we'll never know.  There was no one else.

Petrino - Muschamp.  Anyone else?

John L. Smith - who else?  Fulmer?  Really?  One of the assistants?

Beilema - again, who else?  Malzahn?  Would Gus have foregone Auburn to come to Fayetteville?  He had first hand knowledge what was already on the Auburn campus.

How would we feel about Gus today if he had his current staff at Arkansas?  What do you think his record would have been last year at Arkansas?  No Skipper, Kirkland, Collins...

Maybe we're better off than we realize.

[Chief Mac]

Petrino was the one coach we've had in my lifetime that I felt wrung every bit of potential and more out of his teams.  Well, I guess you could include Holtz in there as well, but that is a long time ago.

The thing that really concerns me about BB, more than anything else, is that he left three wins out there last year because of coaching mistakes and decisions. 

At Arkansas, we will always be somewhat deficient in talent.  So, whatever system a coach runs, he needs to be an absolute genius with game decisions.  We had that, I'm afraid BB falls far short of that.  That isn't completely fair to BB because most any coach would probably look poorly in comparison, but here we are.

each coach makes in game mistakes, look no further than the Iron Bowl this year and Saban's error on the field goal that led to Auburn run back for the game winning TD.  However, most teams with talent, can often over come one or two coaching errors.  When your talent is down, it magnifies coaching errors. 

Acting as if Bielema is the only coach to make horrible calls that leads to teams losing is misplaced

[Inhogswetrust]

Talking about Division I-A. They had just moved up. They had zero tradition, little talent, and no resources. They were playing a completely new array of opponents. Saying they won on the NAIA level is like saying their players won when they were in high school. What carries over from NAIA success (where they weren't exactly a dynasty)? Fans? Not coaches, and certainly not talent.

Point was--sheesh--it was not the Boise State of today. It was the Boise of then, which had absolutely zero accomplishments on the major college football level. Sorry if I intentionally disregarded their meaningless NAIA football history.

I did agree with you it wasn't the same. I didn't know you only meant D1 but I can see where that could have been inferred. However to take it a step farther then nutty is the ONLY coach they have had since jumping up to D1 that has a losing record. On a smaller note I don't think the NAIA is "meaningless" in history. A lot of former schools that were in it at one time would disagree such as some of the old AIC schools in Arkansas.

[cosmodrum]

Your sig is hilarious.

Thanks, booby.

[Inhogswetrust]

"Because" is over-strong, and I'm struggling to find the three. What coaching mistake caused the Hogs to lose to Rutgers? I'd like to say they should have had one backup ready who was capable of playing sandlot and throwing an accurate pass. In game, don't see any one coaching mistake that was fatal. Players dropping passes hurt more than anything, if you overlook the secondary's foldaroni--which wouldn't have mattered had the right guys caught the passes right in front of them.

Alex Collins fumbled on the Mississippi State 9-yard line when the Hogs could have won the game. That was more significant than any coaching blunder.

LSU was the other winnable game. We had the lead and had pinned them at their 1 with hardly any time left. LSU finally recognized that it could move the ball on us if it passed nonstop. Remember - we had the ball at their 32 in the first half and threw a pick in the end zone. We had to kick a field goal from their 3. We had a prayer with the ball at our 39 and 42 seconds left, but Allen fumbled on a sack, game over.

We got the ball deep on our end twice late and went three and out. Not coaching blunders, failure to convert third and 1 and third and 3.

I'm thinking the really dumb-headed trick play and fake punt calls were not as important as they seemed.

There are always questionable coaching calls during a season both good and bad. However some fans think a lack of execution such as the dropped passes and fumble you mentioned during the game is strictly on the coaches when it isn't. Coaches coach and players have to execute. I'm a big believer that a poor third down conversion rate is HUGE to winning and losing over a season. That and turnover rate.

[Wants2Win]

You don't fire one of the best coaches in the college ranks and not pay for it. And who pays? Razorback football fans.

[pigroots]

Good thread...and I agree with most all of it. Petrino would have been a consistent winner here but the lack of emphasis on defense would have likely never led to a title. He was the best offensive coach on the hill in my 45 years of watching Razorback football. I think CBB is doing a fantastic job. Our recruiting has gotten better and I really believe he is recruiting a certain type player which will fit the system and the program.That is a huge part of recruiting that some overlook. It's not just the stars but the attitude, toughness, teachability as well. CBB knows how to find and develop those guys as evidenced by the NFL draftees he's had. Our style of play will never be called flashy but I guarantee you no one will enjoy playing us either. At Wisconsin he turned them into a high scoring team without the flash. I believe we'll see that here.We are about to bloody some noses in the SEC. That style will work on defenses accustomed to playing against finesse offenses. CBB was a great hire and anyone anywhere who thinks you can completely change a program's direction in a year(or even 2) is not a realist. I really like what I see in our program right now. The police probably do as well. Discipline is being built into our program. A couple of years from now the only dissenting voices will be over style of play. My thought is not original...but i like it...."Just win baby!"

[Dwight_K_Shrute]

each coach makes in game mistakes, look no further than the Iron Bowl this year and Saban's error on the field goal that led to Auburn run back for the game winning TD.  However, most teams with talent, can often over come one or two coaching errors.  When your talent is down, it magnifies coaching errors. 

Acting as if Bielema is the only coach to make horrible calls that leads to teams losing is misplaced

Took Petrino a year and a half to realize Knile Davis was the best back on campus.  Think that 2010 Bama game came down to Mallett throwing an INT, think again.  Hell it took him 4 years to figure out Willie Rob wasn't cutting it as an SEC DC.  Coaches are human so they all make mistakes, the good ones make fewer and learn from the one's they do make.

[Atlhogfan1]

I wish we could have hired a coach like Bielema in December 1997 or in 1977.  Bielema fits Arkansas for many reasons.  He played at a program similar to Arkansas in terms of recruiting vs their competition for a Broyles assistant.  He has been a head coach for a program that is similar to Arkansas in recruiting vs their competition.  He builds good coaching staffs and makes decisions to make changes within the program when needed. Outside of Ford, we've not hired a football coach who brought the experience and success Bielema does and he is in the prime of his career unlike Ford.  I think Ford doesn't get the credit he deserves for rebuilding us from ashes at a time we were at a great disadvantage to the SEC in more than just recruiting.  It just wasn't going to work with him past his prime and our players having quit on him to an extent.  The program did need a change. 

Timing affects how successful a coach will be.  I don't think Bielema could have picked worse than coming to Arkansas when he did.  For that, I don't know that he will make it long term.  I think he and his staff is the best group of recruiters we have had in our modern era.  But I don't know if they can overcome our recruiting disadvantage of having to go out of state to get so many of our players when our competition has the most productive recruiting territories other than California in the country near their campuses. 

[Inhogswetrust]

each coach makes in game mistakes, look no further than the Iron Bowl this year and Saban's error on the field goal that led to Auburn run back for the game winning TD.  However, most teams with talent, can often over come one or two coaching errors.  When your talent is down, it magnifies coaching errors. 

Acting as if Bielema is the only coach to make horrible calls that leads to teams losing is misplaced

To play "what if" if that field goal had been good OR if the guy doesn't run it all the way back and Bama won then Saban would not be criticized about his decision. I guess I'm saying I don't think it was a terribly bad coaching decision. A gamble yes, but all play calls are gambles to some degree.

[Inhogswetrust]

You don't fire one of the best coaches in the college ranks and not pay for it. And who pays? Razorback football fans.

Really? Coaches that have won NC's have been fired.

[ArkansasI]

I wish we could have hired a coach like Bielema in December 1997 or in 1977.  Bielema fits Arkansas for many reasons.  He played at a program similar to Arkansas in terms of recruiting vs their competition for a Broyles assistant.  He has been a head coach for a program that is similar to Arkansas in recruiting vs their competition.  He builds good coaching staffs and makes decisions to make changes within the program when needed. Outside of Ford, we've not hired a football coach who brought the experience and success Bielema does and he is in the prime of his career unlike Ford.  I think Ford doesn't get the credit he deserves for rebuilding us from ashes at a time we were at a great disadvantage to the SEC in more than just recruiting.  It just wasn't going to work with him past his prime and our players having quit on him to an extent.  The program did need a change. 

Timing affects how successful a coach will be.  I don't think Bielema could have picked worse than coming to Arkansas when he did.  For that, I don't know that he will make it long term.  I think he and his staff is the best group of recruiters we have had in our modern era.  But I don't know if they can overcome our recruiting disadvantage of having to go out of state to get so many of our players when our competition has the most productive recruiting territories other than California in the country near their campuses. 

I think I left out a coach that interviewed at the same time Houston was hired.  Dennis Franchione...  I think that he might have been a spectacular hire at the time.  If memory serves, he brought his wife in to the interview as well.

Came down to Houston and Tommy.  I wonder where we would be if it had been Dennis.

[Peter Porker]

Took Petrino a year and a half to realize Knile Davis was the best back on campus.  Think that 2010 Bama game came down to Mallett throwing an INT, think again.  Hell it took him 4 years to figure out Willie Rob wasn't cutting it as an SEC DC.  Coaches are human so they all make mistakes, the good ones make fewer and learn from the one's they do make.

Willy was only doing what Petri no told him to do AND in our losses it was the offense that caused us to lose those games for the most part.

[Hawgon]

Took Petrino a year and a half to realize Knile Davis was the best back on campus.  Think that 2010 Bama game came down to Mallett throwing an INT, think again.  Hell it took him 4 years to figure out Willie Rob wasn't cutting it as an SEC DC.  Coaches are human so they all make mistakes, the good ones make fewer and learn from the one's they do make.

No, it took Kniles that long to learn to pass block and pass blocking and knowing the plays was more important to Petrino.  That doesn't mean Petrino was right, that is just the rational he used.  Other coaches look at different things.

[Mike Irwin]

I would not call it "homers protecting Bielema" when someone correctly points out that the preponderance of available information is in the hands of the coaches, not data-poor fanboard critics.

Feel free to criticize, if you are working on evidence not speculation. And please, when you level outrageously illogical blasts at the Razorbacks, don't be outraged when someone calls you out for your toddler-like feet-stomping hissy fits. That's the part I'm sick of seeing. Some people are on an emotional hair-trigger, leaping on the slightest excuse to heap insults on our coaches and players.

They are the Razorbacks, and we are not. I am all for calling out anyone on the team whose behavior clearly is not in the interests of the Razorbacks. Houston Nutt deserved that. He ruined a promising team, and he intended to do it. He was so arrogant, he thought he could diminish the team solely so he could gain full control over everything + still keep his job.

Nutt should never be remembered with the slightest reconsideration, because he left us in the situation we are in today. A knot of perpetual pessimism has lodged itself amid Razorback fans. Nutt had a chance to make Arkansas a football giant, had he known how to lever a good instate run of talent into sustained recruiting + been willing to work with the bright young coach who fell into his lap.

I don't know what's going on with people. Once Razorback football was respected. Frank Broyles struggled to sustain it, then retired on the verge of having his greatest team. Lou Holtz blazed but couldn't sustain it. Ken Hatfield was a clean winner in the dirtiest era of the SWC, but he did not make Arkansas a top contender. Broyles and boosters needled him until he left recruiting fallow for two seasons and fled for Clemson, alma mater be darned on the eve of joining the mighty SEC.

Jack Crowe got 2 and 1/11th seasons to salt our soil. Our first SEC football season was led by a friggin' interim coach, at a time when the Hogs should have used the conference change as a prime recruiting opportunity.

Broyles hired Danny Ford as a safe, easy and cheap solution. But Ford had been out of coaching and never quite got his staff right, having to restart from scratch. Chronic shortages of offensive skill players ruined his efforts, as Ford inherited a program with no tradition at QB and a triple-option legacy. The rest of college football was well into the offensive renaissance. Ford never had a dynamic assistant to lead his offense. When he tried to modernize at the end, the effort was sabotaged by, of all things, a lack of talent in the backfield.

The alumni committee chose Nutt for his enthusiasm and in-state connections. Nutt had more staff turnover than even Ford. Ted Harrod's summer job infractions, which Broyles certainly knew about, hurt recruiting for an extended time. It was visible in the 2004-05 downturn.

Then Nutt agreed to take on Gus Malzahn to salvage recruiting and save his own ass. Then he immediately set about undermining "Mal-a-zahn" in the smarmiest, most unmanly ways possible. The 2007 season should have been a triumph. You know how that ended. One last big emotional push, then gone with a big talent hole left behind.

Bobby Petrino was a great name to hire, but he came in carrying more baggage than Amtrak. Could you find any more damaging way to steal an NFL coach? Petrino had a very hard time assembling a staff, and he was upgrading and repairing the rest of the way. Recruiting was spotty, the team might have peaked for a while, then Petrino plopped his doozy on us. It was the messiest, hire-your-bimbo-pay-her-hush-money-and-don't-stop-lying personal/professional disaster one could imagine. When your supporters can't come up with anything better than "at least he wasn't banging little boys," it's bad.

John L. Smith served as clueless-caretaker coach for one insufferable season. The program Petrino had wound so tight sprung open and spilled out everywhere. Everyone is left wondering whether Arkansas football had fallen back to its SEC caveman beginnings, or maybe even lower.

Bret Bielema came from Wisconsin, hired the first staff of assistants not handed to him, and set about a rehabilitation project.

If you see what Razorback football has been through, what it had become -- why so easily leap to the conclusion that the current coach is to blame? How long do you think it should be before he can make a difference?

I didn't like what I saw last season, and I believe betting all on one quarterback was irresponsible, in part caused the disaster. But it also makes sense to acknowledge the unusually difficult schedule. And also -- perhaps we should consider the possibility that this turnaround really had a long ways to go. We were maybe wrong to feel we weren't that far away from 2010-11. It is possible that most of the problem was our unrealistic expectations.

I agree with this 100% 95% (not sure the decision at QB last year was irresponsible). If more posts were like this one I wouldn't post at all. There would be no need.

[hawgbawb]

As painful as last year was, I saw improvement over the course of the season. IMO we will be better this year and even better in 2015. Anyone that thinks we should be expected to win an SEC title in the next couple of years is delusional.

[Inhogswetrust]

That John White damn alumni committee idea still gets me madder than anything the UA administration has ever done.

[Tony Sloprano]

I agree with this 100% 95% (not sure the decision at QB last year was irresponsible). If more posts were like this one I wouldn't post at all. There would be no need.

How many wins did you predict we would get last season in your pre-season prediction ?

[Mike Irwin]

How many wins did you predict we would get last season in your pre-season prediction ?

I don't make predictions if I can avoid it. Sometimes Wess and Michael Smith will pin me down and force me to say something. Usually whatever it is ends up being stupid.

Nobody can predict college football consistently with any degree of accuracy unless you're saying something no brainer like, Alabama will be good this year.

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

..."At Arkansas, we will always be somewhat deficient in talent.  So, whatever system a coach runs, he needs to be an absolute genius with game decisions.  We had that, I'm afraid BB falls far short of that.  That isn't completely fair to BB because most any coach would probably look poorly in comparison, but here we are."...

I believe BB has recruited better than any coach we have previously had. He understood the personnel limitations that existed here. He has a plan. He is sticking with it. The least we could do is be patient and not heap inertia against what he is trying to do. His run at Wisconsin is PROOF that he knows how to coach. Fear of a return to Nuttville is ruining this place with negativism...

[Mike Irwin]

I think I left out a coach that interviewed at the same time Houston was hired.  Dennis Franchione...  I think that he might have been a spectacular hire at the time. 

At the time Franchione was starting to do good things at TCU. But he was not viewed as a serious candidate. Frank wanted Tuberville. The committee wanted Nutt. Tuberville played hardball over money and Frank caved in to John White and the committee.

The media was camped out at the Broyles Center that week. I do remember some of the  ex players on the committee saying that if they made a hire strictly based on the actual interviews Franchione would be the hands down winner. Too bad things couldn't be that simple.