I don’t post often but I’m curious about Long. Long did play college football but only spent one year as a position coach. The rest of his career is in admin. He has done well as a CFO type guy. But with no coaching experience I wonder if he has the ability to analyze what might be most successful on the field. Especially at Arkansas which has unique challenges as a member of the SEC West.
I wonder if replacing him with a successful former football HC with AD experience could help the situation. Im sure he gets advice from his many contacts so maybe he’s good for the job. I just wish he had more experience in coaching. It seems it would give him a broader perspective.
By all accounts, Long is held with high regard around the country and as we know has headed up the BCS in the past.
He has built new facilities as well and has done th U proud more than not.
When football was at rock bottom he got a guy who went to three Rose bowls and come to a place where we didn’t even have a locker room to house the entire team.
Seemed a pretty good hire.
The huge buyout is ridiculous and worthy of scrutiny and cuts the AD’s veneer for sure.
It may cost him a coach at a high price, and maybe his AD tenure when all over.
His goal is likely to get himself and coach another year to fix the things - which may work if improvement is shown on field to close out.
Next years schedule is more favorable and if we pick up some juco linemen coached by new O line coach (inevitable), there may be a chance at improvement on field next year and this year more a blip on otherwise building last few years.
If we hadn’t tanked last year, we win 9 and this year just would have been a down cyclical year which happens.
It’s combo of how last year ended and this season fire that rightly causes questions and may lead to change.
Across the board I’ve been glad we’ve had Long who clearly could be an AD at many places.
A major mistake is clearly giving a guy a 20m buyout when modest progress shown.
If we won big and everyone wanted coach B, AD was a hero keeping him.
Tanking the way we have questions all of it and equally worthy of major scrutiny.
They either ride this out and improve or the athletic department may be the worry of another administration.
I contend a lot has to do with not just the money but how the rest plays out.
The days of former coaches becoming AD are dying fast. You have to have a strong business sense about you to make it very long in that world.
I was reading about airline crashes. It is rare that an airline crashes when one thing goes wrong, or even two things. It usually takes a series of things going wrong in the right order to bring down a airline. I think that is what we are seeing here. The combo of last years flame out and this years no show is a killer. You are 100% correct that if we win 9 last year, this year would be a disappointment, but just be seen as a one year glitch. But we didn’t win 9, we did flame out, and this year looks more like a pattern than a one year problem.
Not sure where the truth lies. I was not a fan of the hire when it was made so I know I am not a good judge. I will leave that to other.
I’m sure the Chancellor and the BOT signed off on it…where are they in all this?
Let’s all go back in time.
Most people thought the program was on an upswing. No one complained he got an extension.
Show me 1 article, 1 post by anyone who thought the buyouts were ridiculous.
Everybody is a genius looking backwards. Can’t tell you how many brokers have said it was a bad idea to own a stock after it tanked. Did one of say it when you bought it? No.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say Chip Kelly wants to come here. He wants a $15m buyout year 4 and 5. Do you you hire him?
Long is safe unless he willingly leave. Overall, all of the athletic programs are doing well. He is the guy for the job without a shout of a doubt in my opinion. In year 5 I don’t think anyone would’ve imagine the football program being behind the sticks with CBB at the helm. It just hasn’t worked for whatever reason.
I agree
Long took a gamble with the big payout. It doesn’t look good now, but it doesn’t mean it was a bad risk then. People will claim it was, but hindsight is always 20/20. But even if someone says they stated it was a bad deal back then, one mistake as the A.D. (and the BofT) is not reason to get rid of him. JL is a good athletic director. Period. People are way off when saying he doesn’t care about the UofA and is only in it for his self-interest. Winning in all sports makes him look better, so he’s as disappointed as anyone that the football team is struggling. But last I saw the basketball team, the baseball team, the golf teams, the track teams and other sports are doing well. Plus, the athletic department as a whole is in good shape financially, which is a big part of the job of the athletic director. The UofA is fortunate to have him.
Long needs to go. All the excuses in the world does not justify a contract that gives the coach an extreme amount of protection and offers no protection to the university. If coach B was a great coach he would be poached by another college because he can leave and pay next to nothing. However, as a horrible coach, the penalty to terminate him is huge. If Long’s supporters claim he has good business sense, then I want the drunk off the street to to be the AD because the drunk off the street would make much better business decisions.
I guess that is the part of this deal that bothers me. Of course in hind sight any amount to be paid to him on termination was a bad idea, but that isn’t fair to Long or anyone else. But what I always THOUGHT was the case was “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” If we had to pay him 12 million (or whatever) to leave, we should have been paid $12 million if someone stole him.
All that said, that “screw up” is purely an academic discussion. No one wants to hire him away from us, so, isn’t it kind of “no harm, no foul”??? Long may have entered into a contact that was really a bad idea if X happened, but since X didn’t happen. Oh well. ??? (Just rambling thoughts, I am not sure how I feel about all this).
Again, I don’t think anybody thinks the buyout was a good deal, but not many who are bemoaning it today were doing so at the time it was signed. I’m sure some will say they thought it was a bad deal, but I don’t remember hearing an outcry then. And yet, this is just one deal out of many deals Long has made to put the athletic department in position to be self-supporting and even able to give back to the university.
I agree. Even though I have never been a huge BB fan, I don’t think I objected to the buy out back then. I will say that I thought it went both ways, was also a buy out if he left us for Nebraska or whoever. But as I noted, that really is a moot point. No one wants to hire him away so we weren’t hurt by it even if it was a “screw up.”