‘That might be true, but that’s a hell of a thing to say.’
I thought of the quote that goes something like that from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I heard what Coach Broyles said at the Dallas Alumni Association meeting.
I was surprised that he said that the Arkansas football program was “eighth in potential” in the SEC. He followed up by saying that “his friends tell him” this is the reason we won’t be able to attract a “top coach.”
So, we have ‘experts’ that determine what offense we can’t run and ‘friends’ that determine the level of football coach we can have.
And, apparently we don’t have a ‘top coach,’ since we are not able to attract one. Houston Dale is apparently as good as we can do.
Is there some support for what Coach Broyles is saying?
In a recent valuation of college athletic programs by Forbes Magazine, the SEC held seven of the top 15 positions. Georgia was the third most valuable program in the ranking, and considered the most profitable. Florida came in fifth, Alabama seventh, Tennessee eighth, LSU and Auburn tied at tenth, and South Carolina in the lucky 13th position.
The Big 12 had Texas (2nd), Oklahoma (9th) and Texas A&M (14th) on the list. Notre Dame led, with the rest of the positions being filled by the Big 10.
On the other side of the coin…
Wake Forest and Maryland operated at a loss last year. Rutgers broke even. Rutgers and Wake Forest won 11 games.
Boise State won 13 games and defeated Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
Louisville, West Virginia, and TCU have programs that seem to be doing as well as ours, if not better.
Is Coach Broyles saying we can’t expect to be very good each year, or is he saying we are in a tough conference where we are at a disadvantage?
Is Coach Broyles saying that finishing better than eighth in the SEC makes us an overachiever?
Are the ‘experts’ and ‘friends’ that are guiding Coach Broyles’ actually causing him to be a limiting factor on the Razorback program?
There’s an interesting post over on the DawgSports blog comparing Coach Broyles to Vince Dooley of Georgia:
… Coach Broyles is throwing fuel on the fire, criticizing Coach Nutt’s assistants and lending credence to published reports demeaning the potential of the Arkansas program. Coach Broyles has become an embarrassing relic of a bygone age, permitting his legend to become an impediment to his team’s success as his utility is surpassed by that of the rising generation of professional athletic directors and capable coaches who want nothing to do with working for him.
Of the 65 schools in the BCS conferences, 35 have made BCS appearances. Plus, Boise State and Utah have made a BCS game. Houston Dale has the longest tenure among coaches that haven’t made it to a BCS game.
Should 37 schools be able to get into a BCS game while the Razorbacks can’t?
Was Coach Broyles simply trying to manage the fans expectations – in effect, saying ‘we can only expect to be so good’ and ‘be proud and amazed at what we accomplished this year?’
Or was he just making excuses?
Wally Hall has been nice enough to develop a roadmap for Coach Broyles to make a graceful exit. Since Wally’s original ideas tend to die from lack of company, I suspect that he’s playing shill for someone:
This may never happen, but what many would like is for him to announce he’s going to move to emeritus status this December.
What will Coach Broyles do? What is best for the athletic program at the University of Arkansas?
Why do the great fighters stay around until they finally get embarrassed and knocked out?
Lots of questions. You tell me.
Clearly Houston's wonderful start was only false hope. His recruiting has been below what might have been expected in both up years and down. His game management, play calling, and devotion to under achieving assistants has been disappointing at best, self destructive at worst, and his only real hold on the job appears to be his ability to keep Frank and Jim Lindsey happy. Whether as AD or member of the board, when your devotion to the program takes a back seat to personal politics you have out lived your usefulness. Frank has run off every coach he has hired. Houston as only exposed how involved Frank is in areas that he can only hurt. Except for Kenny's success in the last years off the old SWC, razorback football has floundered since Frank took over as AD. Sure Lou had a couple of great years and one great finish but five years out of thirty hardly outwieghs the overall decline of the program. Yes, Arkansas has some wonderful deep pocket supporters and, Frank has managed to take credit for all that they have done for the program but this last debacle finally is too much. The razorback nation is tired. It's a shame to see Frank go out with a whimper. But, if he doesn't take this last chance to go out with most of his reputation intact you really fear for the mess that might follow.
Some people just can't accept the reality that Arkansas is at a geographical disadvantage when competing against the major powers of the SEC. Frank Broyles has earned the right to step out under his own terms and should never be forced out by whimpering fans. I believe that we can continue the direction that our program is headed and be competitive (and win a title or two) for the next several years.
Go Hogs
Contrary to what Chuck said the other night, I am one of those who thinks that Broyles needs to go and then let's see what Houston can do unshackled by the AD. And contrary to what Chuck said the other night, I was griping about Frank's meddling in the HC arena for years.
I recognize that Frank has done wonderful things for this program – that point is irrefutable. However, I want the HC to make the decision as to who is going to be on his staff and who is not. The Malzahn, Stephenson, Crowe episodes of continuing reminders of what happens when a HC is forced to hire someone they don't want to hire. Frank has made it clear that when he retired from head coaching, he didn't really retire, he became HC Emeritus. Nutt has survived every single PR nightmare because he's been smart enough to include Broyles, and basically allow Broyles to interject his philosophy into Nutt's program.
Franks comments about what offense will work and won't work are clear cases of his meddling in the affairs of the HC of our football program.
Head coaches should not be subject to such constraints from Athletic Directors. That is not to say that coaches are not subject to ANY constraints, because coaches are…especially when it comes to budgets, character, and evaluations.
Anyway, to make it clear, I'm in favor of sending Broyles to retirement (or emeritis status), but keeping an unshackled Nutt until he has proven on his own merits (using his own coaches and his own recruits w/no NCAA cloud over his program) that he really is or is not an effective coach.
I would agree with Taxhog. I'm no fan of nutt but I think JFB is the bigger problem.
Coach Broyles comments were very troubling to me. It is one thing to read the transcript, but to hear the tone in which he delivered these remarks was very disconcerting. Even if the man who leads our Athletic Department THINKS these things, he should NEVER, EVER say them out loud….And I’m quite certain he should never speak of such things to alumni.
Was that supposed to be a pep talk? A fund raising speech? Saying that because of our potential we can never hope to attract a good coach. Is that supposed to fire us up enough to give some more money?
His tone describing the meeting with the Springdale parents was so demeaning too, it just made me shake my head and think that “he’s lost it”. Overall, his conversation with the alumni might have been suited for 1 or 2 people standing around chatting after a meeting like this was over, but it was totally inappropriate for a large gathering of supporters.
Let me say this, though, not in Frank’s defense, but just as a statement. We need to tread lightly here and be careful of what we ask for. When John White smells blood in the water and senses that Frank doesn’t have the votes any longer, watch out. We’ll have Bev Lewis or someone worse (if that’s possible) as AD playing the puppet while the Chancellor pulls the strings.
Wasn't that the reason Frankie run Nolan off? Because Nolan said it was hard to win in Fayetteville.
I think I have to agree with Walking on Sunshine when he says we have to watch out what we ask for. Frank may be meddlesome, but he's still one of the most powerful AD's in the country and he alone brings in a ton of money for the program. Who are you going to replace him with? If you are going to scream FIRE him, you need to complete the sentence with "and HIRE _____". But then again, I guess Jim Lindsay and the other board members would be in charge of finding someone anyways…it would not be up to us.
I agree that if Frank retires/goes/dies etc, that we are going to have to be careful who Arkansas chooses as its next athletic director. Hopefully, the BOT will be smart enough to look around at other successful ADs around the country (such as FL, TX, USC, etc) and seek out someone who can run the athletic program without trying to be HC Emeritis.
The blueprints of how to run a successful athletic program is out there, the question remains will the BOT follow that blueprint, or will the AD become a puppet of the Chancellor?
Time will tell…
JFB can still be an important asset to the program via fund raising efforts w/o also serving as AD. He has to move on at some point . . . I hope.
This site is an amusing spin on the sad state on the Hill
http://www.firegus.com
i think it's sad that broyles has remained in the ad position long enough that the fans have turned against him. he has done great things for the u of a but, he should have stepped down long ago and remained with the u of a in some other position. he has a lot of influence in a lot of areas and with a lot of people. but i do think he has been a liability on the atheletic dept for some years, especially the football program. he has kept houston nutt as a head coach much longer than anyone else. why? that's a really good question also. in ten years as a head coach the u of a should be in a better position in the rating than they are. no other school would tolerate ten years and just being so-so. its sad the situation has come to this but i think it will be the best thing for arkansas. if the trustees think hn is a head coach then give him some time, say a couple of years to prove it. if he doesn't produce then find someone else and let's move on. i wish mr. broyles the best but i am also glad to see this change, it is way overdue.