It appears CBB has survived another week. I’m beginning to wonder if he survives to coach another year on the Hill. What’s your thoughts???
Put down the kool aid. He gone.
I suspect he will be released no later than Saturday and possibly by Friday light.
I certainly hope he does.
The damage visited on Arkansas football as a result of Bobby Petrinos indiscretion resulting in John L Smiths lost year was immense. Coach Tom Herman said after Texas first couple of losses that if the UT fan base expected some fairy dust to be sprinkled on the football program and turn it around they were delirious.
However it looks like CBB has lost the confidence of the fan base and more importantly the board. That’s a cryin’ shame.
He’s clearly an administrator and marketer with superior people skills. I don’t see anyone with superior qualifications out there other than Saban. If he had come after the debacle mentioned above rather than building a reputation with schools having a stronger recruiting base, I dare say he would be facing the same unfortunate fate as CBB.
A final thought. This coaching staff may or may not have been the right mix for Arkansas football but whoever thinks that it reflects well on this state to be vindictive towards any coach, coaches wife or children who have given their best efforts for this University is a person beneath contempt.
Impressive post ! WPS
Agreed!! I like Bielema and he has shown class through all this.
Maybe he would make a better AD. He probably would not want to take the salary cut but he may be more suited for that type job.
We all agree that Bret Bielema is a nice fellow and has done a reasonably good job at “off the field” coaching responsibilities. Unfortunately, he has shown a tremendous ineptitude as a game day coach. I can give several examples of such ineptitude but for brevity I will give one example as recently as last Saturday when he decided to go for it on fourth down with the game tied and three to four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Austin Allen threw an incomplete pass giving the Mississippi State offense a much shorter field to score the game winning touchdown. I hate to state the obvious but winning matters. His overall record to date is 29-33 and his SEC record is 11-28. This is unacceptable. He has been given 5 full years to compete in the SEC West and has been treated fairly on a professional basis. This is not personal with me. He simply has not performed up to expectations and there is little, if any, reason to believe that he can elevate the Razorback football program to a simple state of relevancy going forward. With a new $160 million dollar north end zone building coming on line, it’s time for a fresh start.
Let’s not forget, the “good ole boy” cadre of boosters who engineered Jeff Long’s termination are incredibly successful business people and they are every bit as adroit at understanding the “big picture” and affecting the future they want to see for Razorback athletics. I don’t have a problem with that because, more often than not, they have the same passion for everything Razorback as I. These people command and demand results and neither Jeff Long nor Bret Bielema delivered them with regard to football. Change was inevitable.
I agree that any fan or booster who caustically denigrates any administrator, coach, player or family member via any media platform is a pox on the Razorback fan base and we, as fans, should do our part to confront those people and, at the very least implore them to cease their childish behavior. I have fired lots of people in my career and have always believed that under most circumstances we should part ways with those being terminated allowed to leave with their dignity intact.
I certainly appreciate fans who demonstrate restraint, civility and class in guarding and self-regulating their manner of speech. Public decorum is a very commendable quality.
But sports fans have a right to feel the way they have been led to feel about a coach or an administrative staff, whether or not various individuals are willing to accord them that right.
Just because I may refrain from SAYING what I think in a particular manner doesn’t mean that I don’t have the inherent right to THINK it.
No one is obliged to apologize for things they don’t say. - - - - But everyone is entitled to THINK as he or she sees fit, - - - and to arrive at their own personal decisions accordingly, without being harassed, chastised and told how they should think.
For clarification only:
No one is obliged to apologize for things they don’t say. - - - - But everyone is entitled to THINK as he or she sees fit, - - - and to arrive at their own personal decisions accordingly, without being harassed, chastised and told how they should think.
Couldn’t agree more. If you’re making reference to my comment, ’ thinks it reflects well … to be vindictive’, was in reference to Dan Enos presentation yesterday where he discussed incidences he , his wife and children had been subjected to. These were acts not thoughts and friendly confrontation with that I think is important.
Prospectively there is no humanly way to be certain which path would be better. Reasonable people can disagree and I accept and support the measured decisions of those bright successful individuals closest to the program.
And you’re clearly full of it. Bielema doesn’t favorably compare with Saban in anything related to football. Recruiting, organization, hiring assistant coaches, teaching, coaching players, manner of relating to players, game planning, game-day coaching, and generally understanding the game of football.
Understand, I’m not saying had Saban signed as Razorback HC in late 2012, that he would have won a like number of SEC and national championships as he’s done at Bama. But, there is no doubt in my mind that had he done so, we would have had a consistently winning program by year three.
comments: if its done right they will acquire an AD first, and go from there. I don’t see him being here next season unless they don’t want to paid the buyout.
This is why it was downright stupid to fire Long if the plan is to fire Bielema. While we wait to hire an AD we miss out on great candidates for HC and every other SEC team will be ahead of us in this game as usual.
This is why I believe the Gus to Arkansas buzz…we will see.
I think they will let the interim AD “be the bad guy” and fire BB. The keeps the blood off the hands of the new AD (who ever it is).
I don’t mean for the firing rather for the hiring process. We either have a concrete plan in place going forward or are ridiculously unprepared for what is coming.
Agree 100%
What this tells me DawgTown, is that Long was given the option to fire Bielema, or be fired himself. Long refused and got fired.
And what I really think is that Long was ready to go do something else. Refusing to fire Bielema got him what he wanted, his $1 million annual salary and his freedom too.
I read an article that I think I googled, but I’m not sure I could find it now. Anyway, in a conversation with the then chancellor, at about his 5 year mark, Long had indicated he probably had over-stayed the good-will he once had from the BOT. Indicating, there were trustees who wanted to fire him. The chancellor at the time, talked with Long, sort of rebuilt his confidence, went to the BOT and got Long a salary increase from $500,000 to $1 million per year.
The article also noted there were two significant boosters and one trustee who tried to talk Long into delaying the north end zone expansion, however, their specific concerns were not in the article. Just that Long’s choice of a start date should be delayed to a better time. I might add that the BOT voted 8-2 to approve the project. So, at the time he started the expansion there were at least 4 significant persons no longer in Long’s corner.
More recently, I think he also misjudged the push back from the fans, boosters, and the BOT his “not a win at all cost” gaff regarding the football program caused. He came to realize his mistake but by then it was too late.
Long is not stupid although he misread some things and IMO, started feeling the heat again and elected to let himself be dumped.
This scenario very well may have played out. I have heard for years that Long did not have that “quality” that would ingratiate himself to the powers that be and was very business like in his dealings with them…aloof was a word I often heard. Regardless I feel we are in a perilous position looking to fill both positions.