High Expectations
May 9, 2008 at 6:05am by HogBlogger
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
Now that Bobby Petrino has wrapped up spring practice and released a post-spring depth chart, let’s take a moment to recap some of the changes in mindset that have occurred on The Hill over the last five months.
After a strong finish in February, these coaches should feel they can recruit against any program in the nation.
Quarterbacks are going to want to come to Arkansas to play in an offense where they can make NFL-type decisions and throws. And receivers will like that the ball is spread around with plenty of chances provided to make plays.
Running backs will see the history of these coaches getting players to the NFL. And defensive players will like running an NFL-type scheme that allows ample opportunity to display their talents in the toughest conference in the country.
So what will we see from this team in the fall? Yes…this will be a Razorback squad that will need to outscore opposing teams. The defense has some good players, but there is a real shortage of bodies in general on that side of the ball.
But how will we do? Who knows…I guess we’ll all try to figure that one out between now and August 30th.
But the administration and mentality that said we could only expect to be middle of the pack among SEC schools is gone. Bobby Petrino made the decision to come to Arkansas because he thought he could win a national championship here. And it’s been easy to see that he expects to be very successful.
Not ‘hopes’…expects. And more than any newly installed offensive or defensive scheme, that mindset has been the biggest change of all.
Mind-set, or confidence, if you will, is everything. The mind-set off the past was mediocraty. The mind-set now is perfection, and we’ll not settle for anything less. When your coaching skills are limited, it’s only natural to set the bar at mid-range, hoping to get lucky, and break out every once in a while. When coaching skills are at an innovative peak, and you know not many can touch you, there is an auroa of confidence in the air. That’s the difference from last year on the hill, compared to this year.
Oh, well said, Hogblogger.
I always say it was the ‘69 game but I have no idea where it began. Was it just moving to the SEC? Kenny won some SWC titles but that was against SMU and it seemed we were never given much credit nationally. That damn flexbone had to be one sign that we were headed nowhere fast although the Bear was running the triple option at Bama for a while too. Of course just the hirings of Jack Crowe, Danny Ford and Houston Nutt were the acts of an AD who had completely run out of ideas.
Except for Holtz, the veer, and Orange Bowl the last 40 years has been a long, slow, march to mediocrity. But, I mean, look at that hiring pattern; Fire Lou Holtz for Kenny Hatfield, Jack Crowe, Danny Ford, and Houston Nutt. We should be ecstatic that we did as well as we did. Was it just that Frank found out after hiring Lou that his position was in jeopardy if he actually hired a real coach?
Blind is on to something. I’ve kind of felt this too. The ‘69 game predates me (don’t worry, any fan worth his weight in Texas cleachy is well aware of it), but since Holtz, we’ve had this inferiority hanging over our heads. From Hatfield (Miami and all the bowl games) to Nutt (Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and of course bowl games), there was a feeling we didn’t belong with the big boys.
Sure, we hit some very high high-water marks in most athletic programs thanks to Broyles, but there is a possibility that we could have hit Nebraska or Oklahoma highs during the 80’s/90’s/00’s with a less controlling AD.
I think one thing that hurt Nolan, and he couldn’t understand, was that most Razorback fans would trade at least 2 basketball national championships for 1 in football.
I was seven when the ‘69 game was played, living out of state with a mom and pop who grew up in Arkansas and loved the Hogs. I can attest that all these years since it seemed to me that we didn’t think we could compete with the big boys. Remember the string of losses to Texas in the ’70s? Granted, we had a few really good wins every now and again (Orange Bowl, Texas ‘79 and ‘81), but most of the time it was a state-wide mindset that the Hogs were a step behind the big schools. For some reason, Broyles pushed the philosophy of close- to-the-vest, no mistakes, keep it close mentality, resulting in every regime from Holtz on being quite conservative. Think about it, how many great QBs signed with the Hogs since Holtz arrived in ‘77? We recruited guys like Tom Jones, Quinn Grovey, Robert Reed, Robert Jones, Peanut Adams. An occasional Brashears or Mustain, but we know how they ended up.
I have a theory. Most of us read Orville Henry’s column and his books since before we could wipe our own butts. For YEARs, my gosh, DECADES, Orville pushed Frank’s philosophy in his columns. The whole state was educated on the close-to-the-vest no mistakes football for about 40 years. We all thought it was the right way to do things, the “Arkansas” way. Result was good but never great teams that didn’t scare anybody, but we drank the Orville-Frank kool-aid and were believers. There was no way that Nutt, who grew up reading Orville and learning and playing under the Frank philosophy, was ever going to break out of that mindset. Sometimes it takes someone who has been around and seen different things to come in and convince folks that something new can be done. Petrino has SEEN the other way. He has TRIED it and LIKES it. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the old way of thinking. He doesn’t view Arkansas with a small state mentality. How could he, he never was educated under the old system. He hasn’t won a game yet and the jury is still out, but this hire of Petrino may turn out to be a very, very, good thing. Haven’t we all wondered how Nebraska in the Nebraska glory years became Nebraska? It’s cold as hell up there and they don’t have a population base, but they developed a great program. Petrino sees the same potential here and more. He wasn’t raised on the compound, doesn’t know how to limit his thinking, hasn’t been preached to by Arkansas preachers. This is a good thing. Combine it with a growing high school crop of tcoaches and players in the state who have a bold mentality and this is very good. Let’s give it a shot and see what can be done; heck, maybe we can land a spaceship on the moon. Have we ever thought we could before?
All points made by the above 3 posts are good ones, and all of them point right back at Frank. I think anyone who has been familiar with Razorback football the last 30 to 40 years know’s how controlling this man was. Lots of people try and stay away from the truth because they believe it might seem or sound disrespectful to the man for doing all the great things he’s done here for all sports. He’s done many things we can all be proud of, but one thing is certain. He never retired from coaching, and that was his and our biggest downfall as a program. It almost seemed like an addiction for him, and he held on WAY too long.
GonzoHog, I totally agree that Frank stayed too long. His “negative” impact began in late 1982 for me and it continued to rise year after year.
Cowboys fans know, Jerry Jones likes to apply the Frank formula.
No, I really don’t want to open the poor old Frank can of worms. I does seem obvious 40 years after the fact that the Board really deserves great credit for letting all of this go on too long. The old boy must have been a hell of a politician.
I like the Orville angle. It is true that the media has been just another arm of the athletic department for years and years. It was all one Big Red fish in a tiny pond. And, we never really noticed or cared for years.
Truly Amazing looking back, now that it is all over. What a huge, wonderful relief for it all to be just about football again. And Petrino. We changed all of that for the era of Bobby Petrino.
There are compenstations for living in the Lone Star state, however few. Bad news, or the lack of good news travels fast. I learned this week from a local tv station in Austin that the University of Arkansas and the University of Texas football games scheduled for this year and NEXT season in Fayetteville has been postponed until further notice. After calling today and talking to the appropriate sources at UA
I found that the football game this season in Austin will be played..
The UA/UT game scheduled for 2009/10 season in Fayetteville has been postponed. No reason given.
Momahog, The series between the Hogs and Horns was postponed until at least the 2014 season, due to the renewed series with Texas A&M. They’ll be playing in the new Cowboy stadium Jerry Jones is having built. I’m assuming this will be every year, like the series the Horns have with the Sooners in the Cotton Bowl. I’m not sure exactly how far Austin is from Dallas, but hopefully it won’t be to far to travel. A lot of people are kind of upset that the UofA dropped the Horns to pick up the Aggies, but it should be great for recruiting in that area.