So What Did You Really Expect?
December 5, 2007 by HogBlogger
Who wants to coach at some place on the rebound? Face it…we have issues. The divided and empowered and fickle fan base will not become happy and unified anytime soon. They’ve had too much practice being difficult to each other.
The new Athletic Director is just that — ‘new.’ The old Athletic Director announced to the world that Arkansas can’t expect to be competitive year in and year out at the highest level of the SEC.
If Butch Davis is as smart as I think he is…there’s no way he comes to Arkansas. Besides there’s his health and the whole ‘prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown’ thing. Plus he’s not going to want to have to constantly deal with his own personal benefactor on the Board of Trustees.
And I couldn’t see any good reason to hire either of the ‘Tommy boys.’ I think both of them are too boring.
Throughout all of this, these quotes have come to mind: *
I don’t know what they have to say,
it makes no difference anyway –
whatever it is, I’m against it!
No matter what it is or who commenced it,
I’m against it!
If I told you what it takes
to reach the highest high,
You’d laugh and say ‘nothing’s that simple’
But you’ve been told many times before
Messiahs pointed to the door
And no one had the guts to leave the temple!
“In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Our coaching choices appear to be: a) someone brave and fearless on the way up — which means success will cause them to move on, or failure will send them back to the minors; or b) someone who got knocked back to the minors over some stupid issue and is working their way back up.
Looking from the outside in, who in their right mind would want to be ‘next?’ We just ran off a coach that won 18 games over the past two years. We don’t exactly have history on our side. This place has all the markings of a snake pit.
This is not an easy hire. We have way more going against us than for us.
* We’ll give away a RazorBloggers t-shirt for the best interpretation and application of these quotes.
Comments
30 Responses to “So What Did You Really Expect?”
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18 wins - Thank you Sun Belt.
Sun Belt? How about 11 and 5 in the SEC regular season over the last 2 years. Some of you guys seem to be squirming a bit and thus are quick to start pointing out Houston’s short comings everytime this search goes further south. Well you shold be because those of you that advocated black shirts and fly overs own…. well, you own this.
I don’t think you’ll find many of us claiming that Houston had no flaws but we remember a time when it was worse and that time looked a lot like this. Coming off probation plagued years, a west chamionship, 2 new years bowls, defeating a #1 and #2 in a 13 month span, a Heisman finalist 2 years in a row, best recruiting class in years….
Are these not signs of heading in the right direction.
While begging Arkansas fans not to embarrass the program with some of their antics because it would hurt the future of this program I was rediculed and told to get a clue. Well, here you go. Enjoy! I will gladly eat crow if we are better off in two years than we are now.
Some of you will now lecture me about how this is about integrity, not wins and losses. If that were the case I would think we would have seen more of a positive response at the news of Tommy Bowden who is Houston Nutt without the personal issues.
“We just ran off a coach that won 18 games over the past two years. ”
Hardly. That accolade can be laid at the doorstep of Mrs. HDN, Theresa Prewett and HDN texting on a public telephone, along with a supersize ego that couldn’t tolerate a very popular “SEC Offensive Coordinator of the Year.”
The reason we are in this mess is due entirely to the mismanagement of the Athletic Department by the BOT and Administration.
Here is a quote for you:
“Don’t look where you fall, but where you slipped.”
This could have been taken care of back in 2004 and 2005 when Houston had back to back losing seasons. But it was mishandled.
And here we are 3 years later blaming it on the fans.
Carolina, Cato is right…the on-the-field part didn’t do Houston in, it was the off-the-field stuff.
HogBlogger, anyone who can quote Groucho Marx, Pete Townshend, and Abe Lincoln in the same post….wow! Hats off.
How about another Lincoln quote?
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. . .Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.”
Carolina Hog, Obviously, I look at this differently… try 42-40 in the last ten years. Are we better off in two years? Heck, I’m thinking we are better off RIGHT NOW. Ok… just kidding a little there but 2 years - maybe not as I’m guessing the lack of players in the queue and tougher schedule will not show a “better off” status. I’m guessing in 3+ years we are definitely better off.
Carolina - you have some really good points. some fans have been sharks. however, sharks by themselves are harmless without blood in the water and something to bite. lectures aside, to a degree this was about integrity, not wins and losses. it was about a lot of things. certainly the fans didn’t write the e-mails.
Catohog - you’ve certainly got a few good points. however, it was the collective ‘we’ that ran him off, or fired him, or however you want to think about. the wife and friend did what they did and it wasn’t very nice.. Houston Dale taking the position that he knew nothing about it at the time was not credible. however, the party was already well underway for many other reasons. I do believe Mrs. Houston Dale drove the final nail. running off assistant coaches is par for the course. delighting in physical harm to either a present or former player’s mom is definitely out of bounds.
HogBaller - take out the word ‘entirely’ and you have a point also. however, you don’t go back near far enough into history. name a football coach since Coach Broyles where the events leading to the departure weren’t ‘mishandled’?
to some extent you are all correct. so now what?
Boyer - great quote!
Owasso - guessing is not allowed. you must have a definite totally unsupportable view of the future that you put forth. wait, maybe guessing is all that we can expect?
Sunshine - tipster made me cut back . . .
I do NOT support the thinking, “Nutt should go but the administration will screw up the new hire so therefore Nutt should not go.” That seems to be what a lot of folks have been saying. That is a forumula for mediocrity, which we have had, and a guarantee that we will never aspire for much more than a few 9-3 and 8-4 records every now and then, a blowout loss in an occasional SEC championship game, and no BCS bowls.
Nutt had to go and the administration has the task of hiring a new coach. If they screw it up (which we won’t really know for some time anyway) it doesn’t mean anyone was wrong in saying Nutt had to go. By the way, this thing is not over yet. We might end up being “Pelphried”, which won’t be bad at all. Hang in there Hog fans!!!!
This whole Nutt issue reminds me of the 3 guys going for the Darwin award. The first guy shoots himself in the foot. The second guy shoots himself in the foot then re-loads. The third guys shoots himselt in the foot then goes and gets another gun.
I’m convinced that we all (or most) believe that Nutt is one of these 3 guys but the difference between us is that we don’t agree on which one of the three guys he is.
Useless - your comments are far from useless. that last paragraph is spot on.
Owasso - who cares anymore? he’s gone. you have to wonder why people want to be exactly right about why.
I am impressed with the Blogg chiefs and the posters here who are making more sense than the local sportswrters. At least they are coming from different perspectives in their analyses . The posters points are always of interest, whether I agree with them or not. I would just like to add 3 things reagarding the new coaching search..
1. Gus Malzahn. I like Gus, I like his offense. But those who are advocating him for the Hog job are not familiar as to how management works. Gus’ biggest drawback maybe his inablility to attract top drawer, proven assistants. Some have said that head coaches are only as good as their assistants who do most of the basic work. Head guys put it together. Gus’ youth and lack of experience and connections would inhibit him in attracting desirable experienced assistant coaches because they would not respect him. We saw that in the way that the Arkansas coaches treated Gus, especially Reggie. At the very least Gus needs another successful year at Tulsa and then to move up to a a head job at a Conference USA team, make his connections and assessments about coaches, and then also be successful as well. Then Gus will be ready for the big time. (then there is also the little matter of the inevitable explosion regarding that choice between the nuttcrackers and the nuttlovers)
2. Reggie Herring and even the assistants going to ole Miss are in an interesting spot. Wally Hall was in a manic mood the other day screeching loudly about the new ole Miss coaches stealing our in-state recruits. After taking his Prozac and settling down, he realized the danger, if any, was from other out of state schools redirecting these young men. I contend that unless these other out of state schools are national powers or programs, e.g. Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, LSU etc., that the recruits will wait it out.
The really interesting situation to me, is the arguement being made, also by Wally and now by Ms. Oakley , that that the assistants will not care about the bowl game. I find this hard to believe since the reputations of these coaches are also on the line. (Some one should tell Ms. Oakley that the assistants are not yet coaching at Ole Miss, just there reassuring recruits of their scholarships, like Tim Horton at UA). But what is being missed here is the human element. This is Reggie’s chance to shine. If he wins it and he doesn’t get the head job than what happens when he goes to Ole Miss? He would have done what Nutt has failed to do in recent years, i.e., win a bowl game. If Herring developes a good defense at ole Miss and Nutt otherwise fails to deliver, guess who is there to take over? It’s a rule of managers that you hire competent personell but not somebody who can easily replace you. Same goes with the other assistants. An undertone would be, “By ourselves, we won and Nutt couldn’t..” Oh well, we know that St Dale is above all of this self absorbed, survival stuff.
3. Why hsn’t it been mentioned much that although Nutt left as a multimillionaire he is going to much lesser program than Arkansas. He’s stepping down. So, are we to hope that a coach at a higer level program will also step down to us. In other words, well we get a “Nutt” to replace a Nutt.
DWC. Ii noticed that one poster referred to my loquacious and long posts as evidence for my not having a life. Since you also broght this up (not referring to me, I presume) would you agree that all long winded posters do not have a life?
Jim, weeding through the long comments I did find the gem… it’s all about connections. Make enough connections and Gus will get quality assistants that could make this work. I too agree that Gus needs some additional time for a bunch of reasons but coaching is not one of them (at this time). A Head Coach is so much more then just coaching. It’s the glue that ties all of the coaching and direction together. It’s also the glue that ties the fan base together and energizes the program.
If you are adding to the “charge”, you are a “drain” on the battery!
I was watching espn the other day and they mentioned the LSU defensive coordinator who just took over the HC job at another program and still at that time planned on coaching in the championship game. I agreed with the commentators I don’t think coaches who have commited to another program should be allowed to coach. How can you truly be focused on the task at hand when you are thinking about all the things you have to do for the other program.
Interpretations:
Marx: Some fans will bitch about the goings on on the hill regardless of the situation. Some people are negative and allways will be.
Pete: We (the fans) become to comfortable in our surroundings to venture out and try something new (ie. giving an up and comer a chance instead of an established HC)
Lincoln: Sometimes your situation must reach a breaking pt. to facilitate a mend (Nutt had to go, however it happened, for the fans to be able to come back together.
Where’s my T-Shirt?
This is a snake pit.
Not because of the fans. Razorback fans for the most part are excellent fans. We only divided over defending a winning coach who was making improvement and wanting an honest, decent man to represent our university. Both are right to defend.
This is nothing like the Florida fans who had a fit the moment Ron Zook was announced (although there are excellent lessons to learn there from that search. They announced they were after Stoops or Shanahan. How did they think Zook was going to compare to those names?) This is nothing like running Willingham off from Notre Dame after 3 years. This is not the same as running off Solich after a 9-3 because he did not make the BCS, and although there are those who will say it is too close, this was finally about character, leadership and very bad timing. There was no way to leave Houston in place for 2 losing seasons. The timing was just bad for all concerned. That part is really nobody’s fault.
If this is a snake pit it is because those in charge do not have the best interest of the University and the program at heart. Those people who have the responsibility of leadership at this University will not come to an agreement and work together for a proper, common goal (Groucho Marx.) Present a mature, unifed front to a viable candidate and not this absurd soap opera and we could move past this in no time. But, that is not going to happen (Peter Townsend.)
Unless we stumble onto a Pelphry by accident we are about to go through another Jack Crowe/Danny Ford period just to resolve the power struggle on the hill. In a few years when J. Frank and J. White are gone we can get a real coach and move forward (Abraham Lincoln.)
[...] and are staying at their respective schools. The Razorbloggers’ Hogblogger asks “What did you expect?“. SEC Coaches named 8 hogs to their all-SEC teams. McFadden is handling the Heisman pressure. [...]
Carolina Hog
You and I are snout to snout on this thing. I bet we’re from the same pigpen…the days of Jim Mooty, Bambi, Billy Moore.
“In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virture and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” - C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
And what has LOng done at Pitt???
With the best backfield we will ever have, who did we really beat this year besides LSU?
QB is still the most important position on the field.
(Besides the fine christian man who loved his kids and that helmet yet still couldn’t find the truth or any peace) the real paradox with Nutt was that he could build the program to a fairly high level (5 pretty good teams in 10 years, kids to the NFL from inconsistent recruiting classes) and still accomplish so little. He had lots of meaningless wins, some huge meaningless wins, but never more than a couple of weeks at a time in the top 25. Very, very strange stuff. Maybe he was in the verge of putting it all together.
They never made much of an effort to save him, just let twist in the wind.
2 Tour and Blind - worthy interpretations in some respects. note that the Townshend quote has two distinct parts to it that must be dealt with in coming to the interpretation of the whole. Also, you might consider the overall container of the Townshend quote. As to Lincoln — that quote has obvious application that you might wonder why I’m even bringing it up. i’ll leave Groucho up in the air (or ‘down here below’).
[...] wondering what Groucho Marx, Pete Townshend and Abe Lincoln could teach us about the current mess. The Razorbloggers have the answer, along with an insightful assessment of the situation. Filed under: Jeff Long, Wally Hall, [...]
Perhaps the situation we’re in at the present time would fit Abraham Lincoln’s quote of saying ” A house diviided against itself cannot stand”. The university’s BOT could be in a power sruggle over who the next coach should be. Basically, it’s Frank Broyles job to have the final say, and I’m sure he will, but when you have a guy like Tyson on the BOT, who is giving a heck of a lot of money as a booster every year, believe me, he will have a say, and they will listen to him. Money alway’s talk’s. I agree that Gus would be a bad fit right now, as a HC. He is still assistant coach material, and is lacking the contacts of someone with exsperience on this level. Even if someone were hired, who wanted to bring Gus in as the OC, I don’t think Gus would come back here anyway. I definately think his next step up will be with a different program than Arkansas. It’s sad to say, but I honestly don’t believe that big name coaches look at this program as a job of opportunity. This job belongs to the “up and comers”.
If and when we get a new coach I believe it will take 3 years to see improvement in the fan base.
Old Hog Boy
The fan base was divided on Nutt, not the Razorbacks. All 17,000 Arkansas alloted tickets for the Cotton Bowl were snapped up in short order. Many more fans will go. The fan base will be behind the ‘Backs next year no matter what. And when the Hogs play the Rebels next year at home you can bet that the fans will not be rooting for Nutt.
I agree that there is a lot of blame here to go around. But let me share my 2 cents: I think that Coach Broyles is partly, if not mostly, to blame for this whole mess. We probably wouldn’t be in this position if Gus Malzahn hadn’t come into the picture and while I don’t have any hard evidence and only heresy by sources close to the program, Gus had Coach Broyles to thank for the step up to Razorback football from his very successful, but still a high school coaching position. This story also proves to have a little validity in the fact that Coach Nutt listened to Lee over Malzahn. I agree that Coach Nutt handled the situation the best, but put yourself in his shoes. How would you respond if you were told you had to hire someone that hadn’t worked his way up the ranks like everyone else. You would probably grow to resent it. And resentment toward the fans and this programis something that I have seen from Coach Nutt for a while now. I thank and appreciate all Coach Broyles has done for this University and its program but he has had his hands in the daily management of Razorback Football that far exceeded his position. Coach Nutt wasn’t the only egomaniac up there!!
HogFanofNWA, That’s one of the best posts I’ve read in quite some time. I believe you sumed it up to the “t” , as they say. Frank Broyles has done a lot of good for this university, but unfortunately, he’s done a lot of damage with his interference of the football program. What a waste!
HogFanofNWA, I don’t agree with the “if Gus wasn’t here…” theory. Under Nutt, we had too many up the middle, up the middle, up the middle, punts plays. This would have continued without him being forced to do something differently. By “opening it up” some, Houston was able to buy some time with his career here.
As far as Nutt handling it himself, probably so until the wheels started to fall off then he “turtled up” and things just got worse. Houston could have handled the post portion much better and things might have settled down some.
Sure Frank was a major part, firing Stan but not Houston, Dallas meeting, Mitch, Dana, etc, etc, etc. White added his two cents too - support Houston but silence about Stan. Not to mention the whole situation with Nolan from a few years back thrown in to the mix.
Lots of folks contributed to the mess including the fans but the fans were the ones that “piled” on.