He’s A Good Gun
December 17, 2007 at 6:05am by Walking on Sunshine
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
One of my favorite western movies of all-time is the 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. The stellar cast, Academy Award-nominated score by Elmer Bernstein, and excellent direction by John Sturges make it one to remember.
As Chris (Brynner) and Vin (McQueen) try to round up as many men as possible to protect a small Mexican village, the word goes out that they are looking for hired guns. It’s evident from the start that Chris will accept no marginal candidates. (Those who know the movie well will remember how the hotheaded Chico (Horst Buchholz) failed the “clap your hands” test.)
The last mercenary to ‘interview’ with Chris and Vin is Lee, portrayed by the iconic Robert Vaughn. Lee is a man of few words, but his reputation is well-known. Lee is on the run, and desperately needs to ‘get out of town.’ A job in Mexico is perfect.
As Lee leaves the room, Vin is unsure about the ultra confident Lee. Chris reassures him:
“Don’t worry. He’s a good gun…and we aren’t heading for a church social.”
Just as the small Mexican village was an oasis for Lee, the Arkansas job is just that for new Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino. It’s a chance for him to be a head coach in the SEC (a longtime aspiration) and, in the process, get away from the growing cesspool that is the Atlanta Falcons.
Those in the national media (along with outlets in Louisville and Atlanta) have been quick to tell us that Petrino is self-centered, demanding, obtuse, and (some would say) a bit on the ’slimy’ side.
It’s funny…because I think you could say that about a lot of successful college coaches, including the likes of Nick Saban, Bob Stoops, Steve Spurrier and John Calapari.
Razorback fans need to understand…Petrino is a hired gun…and a good one. His job is to win football games and graduate student athletes. He isn’t a cheerleader. He won’t direct the band after a win. And he probably won’t score big points on the Razorback Club circuit.
But I think most fans are more than ready to give up a few antics for success on the field at the highest level. I know I am.
“Better the Devil you Know”, “He’s a good Gun”, I will take your word for some of that. I assume you have your sources. I will have to say, so far, he just comes across as a football coach. I don’t know why there has to be this slightly negative slant to that.
I know we just came from the fine christian texter who was just supposed to love the kids and the helmet. I think Superior is great, dedicated, accomplished, funny. I liked Holtz very much, also very human by all accounts. This is the bigtime college football. I didn’t know being human was a negative. Last time I was in church I found people to be pretty human there as well.
Frank and Dale earned their little soap opera. Bobby appears to have been pretty anxious to move up and made some pretty hasty, and in the last case, bad decisions (being in Atlanta, not leaving there.) Dale never appeared to learn from his mistakes. Maybe Bobby won’t either. If he were to happen to learn from Dale’s he might see that unless he has terrific success, the only place to go from here is down.
Mr. West Virginia, I love that helmet, just left town for Michigan.
So far, I like the guy, what little I know. He game across as a fairly calm straight talker at his press conference and by all accounts the kids, coaches, and parents love him on the recruiting trail. What’s so negative about that?
Wouldn’t we all love to have a textual relationship with Mustain right now just to get his thoughts about the coaching change? Maybe someone on this blog has a relationship with Beck Campbell? Come on, tell all!
I choose to be excited until proven wrong. “The proof is in the pudding” I’ll just wait until the pudding is served before I say I don’t like it.
So that’s what the Razorbacks need? A hired gun. This is what college football has come to?
Tom Osborne coached Nebraska for 20 years before he ever won a National Championship. Back in the day when the Orange Bowl was the yearly goal for Nebraska, it took him six years before he was able to lead his team there. He took his team there one more time and lost before he was finally able to win it. He ended up going nine times but only won it twice.
While it’s easy to do, don’t mistake the Orange Bowl of yesterday with the Orange Bowl of today. Tom Osborne wasn’t leading his team to a BCS game. The Orange Bowl of yesterday is what the SEC Championship game is today.
Given his record, it’s quite apparent that we’d run Tom Osborne out of town before he’d even have a chance to get his Orange Bowl victory.
All in the name of replacing him with a hired gun.
Dumb
Razorhorn—-how do you square your views with the fact that HDN got ten years and would have had more if his deportment away from football had been better?
Like it or not the world of college football coach’s has changed. It is what it is and we will no go back to the days of Osborn. You may not like it but it but you will have to except it. TV money has changed the complextion of the game and will continue to do so.
So as I see it, and could be wrong, you either play the game or become a Duke. I would rather not have a program than to have what Duke has with their football program.
Most coaches today are hired guns. The days of undying loyalty ia over. That’s the society in which we live in.
GO HOGS and Coach P
You are both right.
And, ironically this actually started at Nebraska with the firing of Solich. (I’m sure you can find a few older examples here and there, but that was the real headline that said finally, its only about winning and winning big.)
You can put this in the same catagory with the ridiculous salaries. Alabama is of course the latest and worst offender but I believe that also started in the Big 12 at Oklahoma with Stoops. LSU followed suit with Saban and here we are.
Both reasons are why I believed we should have gone with Muschamp on Day One for a mil and had a second Pelphry. (Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about Petrino)
But, T-towner is right about Arkansas. Our fans would be happy with a good 8-4 coach who was honest and put an exciting brand of football on the field. (Frank and DWC will tell you that you can’t put good football on the field at Arkansas and go 8-4) Ironically, as T-towner says Dale would be here today if not for Frank’s messing around.
And, irony or ironies, we could be sitting here today with two SEC crowns, a National Championship, the best spread offense in America, and Dale as the head coach and Frank as the AD of the year. All for less than 2 million a year and life time tenure. Amazing!
But, I digress. It is about leadership. Supposedly, having the college presidents take over the NCAA was going to make things better. We have the worst arms race ever. At least with the coaches and ADs in charge they had the sense to protect their own @#$.
And, that is why this is really not about Petrino. He was just in the right place at the wrong time.
A national chamionship and two sec championships? And they say that Arkansas fans are delusional. I’ll bite my tongue and resist temptation with that one.
On to the present and the future as I was listening to ESPN radio this morning and the QB who is considering going to Michigan with Rich Rod and how he can start next year, I’m thinking Mallet should come on home and then later on I hear Herbstreit suggest the same thing. That’s something to look for.
Well they alread have two QB’s coming in now and maybe more because of Petrino’s willingness to pass the ball around. Mallet will probably stick it out in Michigan but who knows. I wish they would do away with that silly rule about sitting out for a year. This class has potentinal to be one of the better one’s in years if everyone qualifies.
Mallet may have been the best pro style QB in last years class. I think we could find room for him. Rodriguez likes a running QB which Mallet isn’t. With Mallet’s talent I don’t think he’s going to stick it out if they bring in a freshman to take his job. But hell, why am I arguing about this. I just thought it was an interestin possibility but not one worth putting energy towards at this time.
I think the red shirt rule is essential so that kids have to fully weigh a move instead of just bolting anytime pastures look greener or they get frustrated with a coach.
Has anyone heard any comments about Rodriguez leaving WV for Michigan before they’ve even played their bowl game? That smacks of cowardice to me. Certainly betrayal at the very least. I mean what kind of lesson is he trying to teach these young men? (I’ve been working all day and haven’t been able to check things out. ;^)
Razorhorn: I have no doubt what so ever, that your not even attemting to compare Tom Osborn to Houston Nutt. We don’t want to bring integrity into that discussion. Osborn also was a great recruiter in a region even more difficult to recruit to than Fayetteville, but he did it. Also, those were the days of power football. Nebraska and OU alway’s had the best run-blockers up front, and a stable of blue-chip all-americans running behind them. Those days are gone, otherwise we’d still be doing it. College football hasn’t nessesarily changed for the better, but it has, so we might as well deal with it.
Thier not coming down on Rodriguez like they did Petrino. Not even close. From everything I’ve heard Hawgfan, everyone is pretty much saying how classy he left the program. All of the players are sad, but still showing respect for him. It was reported he called a team meeting, where he actually broke down and cried in front of his players. One of the players stated he still respect’s him because of everything he’s done for the program. Buisiness as usual.
Carolina Hog: Terrell Pryor is the QB recruit that’s thinking of following Rodriguez to Michigan. He’s ‘6-6″, 210 lbs. and runs a 4.4. Very accurate passer, with a strong arm, and is getting a lot of comparisons to Vince Young. Most of the recruiting gurus consider him the #1 overall recruit in the country. Word is, there are other top recruits willing to follow as well.
Thanks Gonzo, I suspected as much. One of these days somebody’s gonna have to tell me what little ol’ Arkansas ever did to deserve all this ill-will. it had to have happened before my time…what do you say, Old-Timers? ;^)
‘6-6″, 210 lbs. and runs a 4.4?!! Where do they find these mutants?!
I think Tom Osborne was a hired gun this year. They hired him to come to do their dirty work. Thanks for a great illustration to back up Arkansas Razorhorn.
It is pretty standard to leave your current team for your new team before the bowl unless its the championship game. Otherwise its just a glorified exhibition. I will agree that ESPN has piled on a bit but the initial hit was deserved. There isn’t a huge difference between Petrino and Rich Rod but its the little things that make the difference. Like finishing the season and meeting with your team face to face. I am willing to get behind Petrino and give him a chance but I continue to be amazed at the excuses some of you make for him. If one year from now he leaves us with 3 games to go and he does it with a form letter, how will you feel? Is it that hard to understand why some are pissed?
Carolina Hog, interesting that you should ask that last question to this group since there are a few folks around here that haven’t given many here that same consideration!
Carolina,
By his agent’s account he had been lied to from the beginning, they had denied him an interview with Arkansas despite previous promises, which is simply a professional courtesy to begin with, and finally they threatened him, which turned out to be more like a promise.
Should he have handled it better even under those circumstances? Sure. But, should they be pissed? Those seem more like crocodile tears to me.
Owasso,
Your feelings are facts. Be pissed here. We don’t mind. But that doesn’t give you the right to your own facts, just your own feelings. Like with Petrino, there are always at least 3 sides to every story, sometimes more. We should be able to discuss all sides here without being to tough on each other.
Owasso, perhaps I misunderstood, but do you feel oppressed. For every 20 comments on this board there were perhaps three of us defending our former coaches with 17 railing on them so I never felt like you were overcoming persecution and displaying great courage to make your feelings known. I always understood why you were pissed I just didn’t agree with it. At times I’ve even come to enjoy and expect the dissenting oppinion which is why I inquired as to your where abouts after the Petrino hiring. Again, maybe I misunderstood your comment.
Well, Arkansas has had its 15 minutes of infamy with Petrino jumping from Atlanta to the Hogs. I haven’t looked at ESPN lately, but they are sure to have hypocritical egg on their faces if they don’t criticize Rodriquez for jumping ship before an important BCS bowl game. After all, 3 more games for Atlanta isn’t going to settle anything. (Hasn’t Nutt left before the Cotton
Bowl Game?)
Old time Arkansas fans can certainly sympathize with the humility suffered by West Virginia in losiing a top flight coach, with an excellent record, leaving for a bigger major school Arkansas had that experience with Fast Eddie Sutton “who would’ve crawled to Kentucky”. Not only did Michigan raid WV’s football coach, but previously took their basketball coach as well. But Michigan, with its impressive reputation, like Arkansas didn’t get its first and seccond choices either should get some of the anger out of fans who thought the UA process too slow. It does make you wonder what the Wolverines may or may not have coming back. Sorta like what must have been part of Nutt’s decision to jump ship to a lesser program.
I guess my point was that one/few/some/many (choose the amount) can be vocal but “some” other(s) feel the need to chastise others for their feelings or believes. Include me into this group but hopefully just not as often!
Keep in mind that this wasn’t directed at you but as a general comment. I’m perfectly fine with folks that disagree with me (whoever you are). I don’t hold grudges for those folks. In fact, I normally don’t remember (or care) to categorize those for or against a particular issue. Life is too short for this. Besides, I’ve never bought into the philosophy of political parties as we know them today. I don’t believe that the number of issues are just so one sided that folks are so divided by GROUP. The same goes here… I may agree (or disagree) with somebody on a particular issue but the next one maybe totally opposite.
BTW – I did take your Petrino comment to be purely of interest and I appreciated you asking.
Well guys, it look’s as if we lost our first verbal commit. Okpara, out of Sugarland, TX commited to Boston College yesterday. For some reason, I was starting to get a funny feeling about him. I check on the recruits as often as I can, to see if there’s any news. There wasn’t any recent news about him having any reaction to the Petrino hire, like there was most of the other recruits. Only that he was taking official visits to other schools, and was going to make a decision soon.
I believe that the purpose of these blogs, rightfully, is to share ideas and information. Some one throws out an idea that you disagree with and then how you respond is a matter of personality and philosophy. Other times, you just do not understand why someone would say what they did and you want them to clarify, defend, restate or whatever they want to do—-like ignore you if they see fit. Case in point would be my question above as posed to razorhorn. I am not trying to pick a fight on this blog, just asking a question.
Gonzo, for the most part I think Okpara is the only one that has said anything negative. The LB from Memphis however is going to take some trips after meeting Horton and Petrino last Friday. I question if the young man is trying to take some moral stance or is he upset that Chris Vaughn is no longer on the staff. This could also be negative tactics from Boston College not sure, these things happen we did get another quarterback and let’s face it we need as many qb’s as possible. Casey will be a senior next year.
darrell, It’ll be interesting to see how well Casey developes under Petrino, starting in the Spring. Nathan Dick could still become a suprise next season also. I didn’t really think about it until just now, but wouldn’t it be really strange to have brothers as the #1 and #2 QBs on the team, with The HC and OC being brothers too? Has any other team had that before?
Gonzo, that would certain make for a good Aflac trivia question but I think Tyler Wilson and Jim Youngblood might have something to say about that. Just from a offensive skill position stand point there is potential for alot of freshman to play next year. Louisville under Petrino was crazy and unpredictable 1st down 5 receiver set, 2nd down I-formation it will be a welcome change. I love when offenses dictate what the defense does not the other way around.
You got that right brother! It’ll be a most welcome change to see a diversified offense, that keep’s a defense honest when your facing 3rd and 3, or 4th and 6 inches. I’m so tired of seeing 8 or 9 in the box, and everytbody in the stadium know’s what the play is, and who’s going to get the ball. I’,m not sure what kind of an impact Wilson and Youngblood will have thier first year, but one thing is for sure, the future is starting to look a lot brighter. GO HOGS!!!!!
Last night on Drivetime they commented on the complete absense of calls about the Cotton Bowl.
I don’t think with the soap opera anyone, certainly not Rick, wanted to admit how sick people really were of that stupid 5th grade offense. We had one of the great running backs in NCAA history and no one really cared much because they knew that that stupid offense wasn’t going anywhere.
Thank God all of that is finally behind us. Spring practice is going to be huge!
I have tried to move on and get behind Coach P but I didn’t believe we should run Nutt out of town. He’s gone and so I accept it, but the 5th grade offense you claim we were all so sick of ranked #2 in the SEC in points and total offense so remember the day when that wasn’t good enough for you. That’s one hell of a 5th grade offense. You may want it back some day. I know, I know you’ll take this chance to educate me on balance and running a modern offense but personally I don’t give a crap if we go back to running the veer if we can get those results.
As for the soap operar being over, I doubt it. Our delusional fan base is still alive and well and probably more emboldened than ever. I look at this as more of a commercial break than an end to the soap.
Carolina Hog, you are correct we did have one of the best rushing attacks in the nation let alone the SEC, however my frustation with Nutt was his unwillilgness to open up the offense and not be so predictable. We don’t know anything about Casey Dick because the previous staff didn’t really practice or focus on a passing game. I am very optimistic now at least we have a guy who will open things up.
Sorry, guys, but I’m about to tear up.
Razorhorn, you may be missing Nutt, but Nutt was/is no Tom Osborne.
And, in a gunfight (SEC football race), I’d pick the Hired Gun every time.
Carolina Hog, it seems to me that when you talk about Arkansas ranking #2 (SEC) in Points and Total Offense, we’re really talking McFadden and Jones (Give me those 2 guys and I could pull a little success out of a football program)- Nutt had little to do with it – he RELIED on it for any success that he had – just as he will rely and hope that his assistants will pull him through at ‘Ol Miss.
Carolina Hog, against what teams did we compile this statistic? The SEC, (4-4) or the combination of the SEC and the Sunbelt? (8-4) Granted, our defense isn’t what it need’s to be, but making big gains running the football for 40 yards, or 70 yards, only to stall out on the 2 yard line, as we did against Kentucky at home, isn’t acceptable in my book. The run doesn’t last, because eventually the other team will stop it with nothing more than an average defense. The inconsistant record reflects the type of inconsistantsy that Houston Nutt coached. The only championship teams I recall, that could win with consistantsy, running the type of offense Houston Nutt ran, was the Baltimore Ravens in the year 2000. They won the 2001 Super Bowl with that type of offense, but their defense was rivaled only by the ‘85-’86 Chicago Bears. Those types of Defenses come around only once in a blue moon. In most years, there has to be some sort of an equilzer. I know were talking about pro ball here, but it’s still the same concept. The last championship team in the SEC that came even close to running that type of offense was Alabama in 1992. They won the SEC and the National Championships with a dominating defense, that scored almost as much as the offense. Even then, it still took Sr. leadership at the QB position, and a dominating defensive performance against a high scoring Miami Hurricane team, to pull out a close one that Miami had a chance to win.
Great Post Gonzo,
That is the rest of the story for Dale’s 5th grade offense. DWC should have been the one to post that.
Dale’s offense only makes sense if you have a great defense and he never did. He combined a high risk defense with a low risk offense. With Dale’s offense you have to recruit defense and build great defense if you have title hopes. He recruited offense and played high risk defense just to get to 8-4. Anybody remember why they called the Nebraska defense the black shirts?
NO wonder people tired of that. Arkansas carried him, not the other way around. Look for a move from Ole Miss to Rice in the near future. That formula will be worth about 6-6 there.
OK, I shouldn’t have brought Dale’s name into it. Sorry. I just meant that style of offense. I hope that Dale replaces Urban Meyer at Florida and wins 5 National titles running the ball.
Gonzo,
We hung 513 yds on LSU so I don’t know what your point is. We scored 38 pts. on Bama. 48 on USC East. Now thats one hell of a 5th grade team. I love it when you guys make the arguement that we wouldn’t be that good if you took away our best two players. What teams isn’t that true for.
That’s fine. perhaps your right. All I’m saying is that time will tell and there may be a time when we look back and wish to hell we had the 2nd best offense in the SEC. Sometimes we get caught up in the arguement and it becomes about HDN but my point is really more to try and get Hog fans to appreciate what you’ve got. We have Seniors who started their carear at 5-6 and 4-7 and have busted their butts to get us to two straight New Years day bowls but as someone said, we don’t even talk about the Cotton Bowl. We ought to be celebrating this team and what they’ve accomplished to keep us from slipping off the map after two straight losing seasons. We’ve had much to chear about the last two years but its all been about the bitching.
Great, great kids. Hillis, Monk, D-Mac, Felix, M. Grant, Luigs, R. Johnson, Dacus, et al., great kids. In D-Mac’s time 22-15 with an SEC appearance and 2 New Year’s bowls.
Was that the best they could do?
Was it close? That is the $64,000 question. It is the question that hounded the program for 2 years.
You can agree with Frank. We are 8th in the SEC in resources and we can never really rise above that. It is our place. We are a perrenial 3rd place team with a Cotton/Music City/Independence Bowl birth. Relax and enjoy it.
Those who just laid out $2.8 mil for a new coach obviously are going to test that theory. Many on this blog for two years have questioned recruiting, coaching, play calling based on the idea that we could do better. The whole deal behind the soap opera beside a little smell was, is it in the in the best interest of the program?
Love those kids, great kids, celebrate the seniors and high draft pick juniors and love that Cotton. But, Gonzo has a point about football and the program, and yes about coaching and philosophy. I happen to agree with several points. (As far as the 38 points against a Bama team that finished 6-6, it wasn’t worth much without that last 1st down. But, fun to watch though.)
Carolina Hog, The points that either of us are trying to make could be argued all day, but maybe in this case, as loyal Hog fans, we should just agree to disagree. Everyone is entitaled to thier own opinions, but the reason we’re here to begin with is because we love our program. Hopefully, it will continue to get better and better. GO HOGS GO!!!!!
Enjoy… Getting Grinched
OwassoHog, who is that and where was this performance taped?
Sorry… I don’t have any more details as I received the link in an e-mail. Looking at the description from YouTube it says, “Little Rock Television Reporter takes on negative Razorback fans and recaps a tumultous year by rewriting “The Grinch” and performing it at a celebrity Christmas karaoke fundraising event. “
I just recently learned that Tyler Wilson is now considered by Rivals.com, the #12 Pro-Style QB in the country, and has a rating now of 4 stars. That doesn’t alway’s translate into greatness at the next level, but I’m glad their recognizing this young man’s talent. Looking forward to seeing you in that Hog uniform Tyler. GO HOGS GO!!!!!
It’s the Petrino Factor. Our stars are on the rise.