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Not Much Sizzle…But A Lot Of Steak

December 6, 2007 by Walking on Sunshine 

He’s not flashy or flamboyant…but that’s okay.  He is understated…no-nonsense…solid.  He is Jim Grobe, and it appears he will be the new head football coach at the University of Arkansas.  And I think Hog fans are going to like him.

After ten days of searching — and managing mainly to secure raises for about half of the college football coaches in the South — it appears that new Athletic Director Jeff Long may have fallen ‘bass-ackward’ into something very promising with the hiring of Grobe.

Jim Grobe (AP Photo/Lynn Hey)By all accounts, he is a player’s coach who gets his teams to overachieve.  Before becoming a head coach, Grobe spent 11 years coaching linebackers at Air Force (1984-94).  As a former player himself — doubling at Virginia as a guard and linebacker in the early 70s — he is defensive-minded, while empowering his offensive staff to run the offense and call the plays.

As a head coach, Grobe’s claim to fame has been his ability to turn downtrodden programs into winners.  His reclamation projects at Ohio (1995-2000) and Wake Forest (2001-present) are almost beyond belief.  Both programs were in shambles before he got there…especially Wake.

But it took Grobe and his assistants just six years to mold the Demon Deacons into ACC Champions, win 11 games, and secure a BCS bowl bid to the Orange Bowl.  His 2007 team went 8-4, and will face Connecticut in the Meineke Car Care Bowl later this month.

Recruiting players to come to a private school like Wake Forest couldn’t have been easy.  Playing in tiny Groves Stadium (now BB&T Field) — capacity 31,500 — probably didn’t help much either.  The facilities at Arkansas will make recruiting a much easier task than what he and his staff have been used to.  And Grobe has a reputation as a high-character guy that recruits high-character kids.

Nationally, Grobe is well respected.  Clemson coach Tommy Bowden (who was, of course, also courted by the Hogs) had this to say about Grobe before their teams played last month:

“He’s a good coach, and by that I mean he takes players and does things that give them a chance to be successful. Like their offense, there is a lot of misdirection and trickery with play-action passes deep. Defensively, he’s hired a good staff. They play extremely hard. They are sound and challenge short throws and pressure you. They’re well-coached and they have good players.

“He seems to be very humble. His team plays well. He is well respected in the coaching profession.  […] My respect for him came mostly when I went up there one year (2003) and got beat so bad and he could have put a lot more (points) on us, but he didn’t.”

ESPN college football writer Ivan Maisel is a big fan, too.  And CBS Sportsline columnist Gregg Doyel literally pleaded with Miami to hire Grobe after last season.

Whoever the coach was going to be at Arkansas next season was going to be challenged.  The schedule and key departures will make it an uphill battle.  But my guess is this guy won’t bat an eye.

So…from all of us here at RBN…welcome, Jim Grobe, to the Razorback family.

GO HOGS!

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Comments

17 Responses to “Not Much Sizzle…But A Lot Of Steak”

  1. gas hawg on December 6th, 2007 8:24 am

    Walking on Sunshine and the rest of Razorbloggers admin,
    Great journalistic work - as always. I’ve got to hand it to you guys - you have the best razorback centered website out there and I look forward to your insightful and interesting blogs. I have seen WF’s old stadium and been to Winston-Salem many times when I was considering going to school at Wake. If he could win the ACC there with that low level of support, he can make us proud in NW Arkansas. GO HOGS!!!

  2. BlindHog on December 6th, 2007 8:52 am

    Once again, excellent coverage and analysis, thanks.

    After sleeping on this I could not agree more. Considering the circumstances he seems like an excellent hire. I’m not sure I don’t like him better than the two Tommys anyway although Tubs reputation and accomplishments were deserving of first consideration.

    Excellent. I can’t wait for the big introduction and a chance to get to know Jim better. I hope the kids and recruits are pleased.

    I do think that there is some foundation for next years team. The cupboard is not completely bare. I hope the team will take up the no respect rallying cry and pick up a couple of those wins that got away this year. They will certainly be under the radar and easily overlooked.

    That is the great thing about the SEC, with so many big games to play each year it is really hard not to overlook the trap games.

  3. Jim Grobe Trough « Hawg Blawg on December 6th, 2007 9:00 am

    [...] his Wikipedia page and his bio on the Wake Forest site. The Hog Blogger likes the pick. So does the Razorbloggers. AS360 points to some columns that showered love on Grobe last year. That’s when he was named [...]

  4. HogBlogger on December 6th, 2007 9:03 am

    Great post Sunshine. Great links. Fans should Google Jim Grobe and spend some time reading about him. He is very well thought of in the coaching community. Fans just looking at his record will be missing the real story. You did a great job of capturing the essence.

  5. Razorbilly on December 6th, 2007 9:10 am

    Uh oh….

    http://wakeforest.scout.com/

    Please, God, it’s not happening again.

  6. Houston we have a problem on December 6th, 2007 9:13 am

    http://wakeforest.scout.com/2/708893.html

  7. Hog-a-geddon on December 6th, 2007 9:19 am

    Well, this latest news sure puts a nice polish on the Arkie job, doesn’t it?

    Let’s just stop the madness and offer the job to Keith Jackson. Having listened to him commentate the past few years I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s forgotten more football strategy, both offensive and defensive, than most coaches know today. He would be a master motivator, too.

  8. Carolina Hog on December 6th, 2007 9:34 am

    Shit! I haven’t bitten on any of these announcements but this one got me. Shit!

  9. Walking on Sunshine on December 6th, 2007 9:41 am

    Left at the alter again. I give up.

  10. Hog-a-geddon on December 6th, 2007 10:00 am

    Hire ‘em TODAY!

    Fitz Hill, head coach
    Keith Jackson, offensive coordinator
    Bernie Cox, defensive coordinator

  11. Razorhorn on December 6th, 2007 10:02 am

    Okay, let’s go get an Arkansan who will view this job as a Promotion.

    Charlie Strong for HC.

  12. DANIEL on December 6th, 2007 10:04 am

    WHAT IS GOING ON UP THERE! THE ONLY THING I CAN
    THINK OF IS OUTSIDE OF THE STATE IN THE COACHING
    CIRCLES THE WORD IS THIS IS NOT A GOOD JOB.

  13. Useless Hog on December 6th, 2007 10:07 am

    How ’bout this suggestion: Tell the Razorback Foundation goofballs and the Board of Trustee goofballs to stop talking to the media. Nobody talk to anyone until the new coach has landed in Fayetteville, has signed the deal and is walking to the podium to take the job.

    Once it gets out in the media, the forces from the other school start applying opposite pressure and viola, the next morning the deal is off. Our board and foundation guys need to take a “How to deal with the media” class.

  14. Jim Daly Sr. on December 6th, 2007 11:14 am

    This hire reminds me of Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schembechler. All three had successful careers at Miami (of Ohio) and then went to coach programs that were in hunt for the .National Championship nearly every year (Paseghian had a succcessful stop at Northewstern before ND. NW is sort of a Wake Forest of the Big Ten). We’ve got a similar hire here. We didn’t get a “Nutt” for a Nutt nor a young unproven whippersnappper like Malzahn, but a coach who has proven his ability to win with less resources than his opponents. Arkansas should be very attractive to him. Regarding Wake’s loss to Nebraska, UM lost to App state and Alabama lost to UlM. Lots of embarrassment to go around. Also, Nebraska was ranked at the time and had yet to go into free fall. Grobe’s a good hire. I for one wish him the best. Just hope he signs the contract, but I don’t see how Wake can out bid UA,

  15. Jay Dub on December 6th, 2007 11:42 am

    What is going on at Fayetteville that would cause all of these
    coaches to not want the HC job? I believe that the headaches that Nutt went through (some were self inflicted) is causing people to second guess on taking over the Arkansas program.

    Give the job to Reggie Herring (a least he is on record wanting the job) and see what he can do over the next couple of years.

  16. darrell(Hog in LA) on December 6th, 2007 1:03 pm

    Useless Hog is right, they(administration) should probably just keep everything quiet until the ink is dry. Futhermore it is time to do a reality check, this job maybe down the tier in desirable places, they should probably go the coordinator route and stop approaching these establish guys who seem to want to use this opening as a big payday for the current job. The ACC is competitive, but not compared to the SEC, maybe Grobe just had a change of heart.

  17. OzarkMtn on December 6th, 2007 3:50 pm

    Unless you’re a high school coach or an assistant coach at a small college this is not one of those “coveted” coaching positions. It is really amazing, well not really, that they cannot even give this coaching job away.