Like alot of folks, I was bothered by Booger’s comment. Not that I don’t see where he’s coming from. But I didn’t like it.
The truth is though, several things will have to happen before we can compete for a National Championship IMO.
Pick a great coach that wants to be here and stick with him. I do believe Arkansas football took a downturn that we never have really recovered from when Hatfield left for Clemson. From that point until now only Houston Nutt gave us any sort of stability. And stability is what our program is going to need moving forward.
With stability, a new staff will hopefully recreate the sort of recruiting ties in surrounding states we have to have. This is part of the reason I stated that I didn’t think 5 years was enough time for Bret, who had to undo damage from the previous regimes. I agree with Holly Rowe on this one (or she agrees with me, as I have been saying it for weeks!). Recruiting ties take time to develop…unless you are lucky enough to inherit them. Bret certainly didn’t. Or…have your own from your previous job. This is an argument for a new coach that ALREADY HAS THEM.
Arkansas HS football is gonna have to improve. Especially in Little Rock. I cannot think of a single great Arkansas team in my lifetime that did not have several very good and at least one GREAT player from the Little Rock area. I do believe an inspiring Razorback head coach with a successful team can inspire more LR high school kids to play football over time. I do believe that. That’s why all of my friends went out for football back in the day. We were all gonna be Razorbacks. (Fat chance on that with me). But…its the old chicken or the egg problem. Do we need LR talent to be good enough to inspire that LR renaissance we need? Its a tough one. What we really need that one really breakthrough, difference maker player and season to get it rolling. DMac was almost that for us during the Nutt years. Petrino seemed to have done it with Mallett…but that came crashing down. Watson was that for Clemson. And Dabo has kept it going.
Bottom line…I don’t disagree with Booger. But I sure didn’t like hearing it. Now that Bret is gone…I am all in for getting someone with built in recruiting ties and proven recruiting ability. In our part of the world.
The problem with Boogers comments are : For one don’t tell me Arkansas can’t win big in the SEC. BP proved that wrong. Getting Arkansas ranked in the top 5 & getting us to 10 wins proves it if you hire the right coach.
Arkansas should never have to settle for the bottom. Our state has too much pride for that. This program has won big in the SEC recently & we can win big again with the right hire. So please don’t tell me it can’t be done. His comments didn’t settle well with me & he has no business telling Arkansas what our ceiling should be.