The article mentions that if there is an opening, Arkansas would/should look at:
Mike Norvell (Memphis)
Bryan Harsin (Boise)
Mike Leach (Washington State)
Eliah Drinkwitz (Appalachian State, and lots of Arkansas history)
Also mentions Malzahn, if auburn goes 8-4 and he is unexpectedly let go, despite the buyout.
I did not realize that Drinkwitz had so much Arkansas history.
Of these my personal preference would be:
Would not hire the App St. coach - not enough of a track record as a HC.
Yes, he does. He played at Arkansas Tech and coached high school football in Alma and Springdale, and was an assistant coach at Arkansas State. I know people who have worked with him who say he has a bright future.
Forget this proven head coach stuff… go get Joe Brady. Maybe he will be the “next” Lincoln Riley. 
Drinkwitz is an Alma HS grad. I worked with his brother Jeremy who was an executive at Sparks Hospital in Fort Smith and now runs Mercy’s operations in Joplin.
I’d prefer to get away from the Malzahn and Morris tree, which includes Norvell and App State guy.
I know we all feel likewise, but I really don’t care about which coaching tree someone comes from as long as they win.
Gameday coming to Memphis… big opportunity for Norvell this weekend.
Interesting…not buying Harsin, I’d say that is a stretch by ESPN.
I’d be ok with norvell
Maybe Drinkwitz , want to see him against South Carolina. He already has more P5 wins than chad though. I think he could be the next big thing. It’s just, is he ready yet,
Not one of the people who want leach. He’s old, (sorry, in coaching years) and he can’t recruit. Coaching them up will only last so long, you need the Jimmys and Joes eventually to last in the SEC. Hes a great coach, and a great interview, but I’m not interested.
Leach is 10 years younger than Saban. How many years are you expecting a head coach to be here for?
He’s also not Saban. Your point?
If leach had won a national championship I might change my mind, if he was an elite or even good recruiter, I’d change my mind. He’s just not either of those, and Saban was.
Because your primary reason for not wanting him is due to his age…
Not my primary reason, but it’s definitely a reason. He’s 58, will be 59 by the time we got him.
He can’t recruit well, that’s my main one.
He’s polarizing, which is good and bad.
I think he’s a good coach, I just personally am not interested in him. I’d like a coach that we could potentially have for a while. One that has an ability to recruit and relate to recruits. I think that’s key. Our talent level has to increase if we ever want to win big in college football. He’s one of the worst recruiting P5 head coaches.
He’s fun to watch talk. But I am not as high on him as a lot.
I wouldn’t argue that he’s a great recruiter. One thing I really like about him though is that he almost ALWAYS has a terrific QB on the field. They may not be 5-stars, or even 4-star recruits, but always seem to run his offense efficiently. That is huge in college football, as we are, unfortunately, finding out these last few years.
How about we give him a nice budget to hire away a handful of offensive and defensive assistants who are known as great recruiters? Also money to hire an excellent DC.
At this stage, I’d be fine hiring a coach who could pretty quickly dig us out of this monster hole we find ourselves in. Who can make us into a winning program (top 5-6 in the SEC). He has proven, at Wash. St that he can have that one or two top 15 teams nationally over that span. Then in 5-6 years, we will be a program attractive to that outstanding younger coach, who can come in and put us in the top 3-4 SEC teams and a staple in the top 10-12 nationally on a regular basis.
Harley–we can’t give him a nice budget, we have to start paying players, perhaps football will have to pay also for other sports.
I don’t think Chad will get it done… but I do think he will get another year… and I think the App St coach will be an option for us…
Look our state has produced some dang fine Head Football coaches… this guy is the NEXT one! It’s about time we look to hire one!
I think many Arkansas fans are delusional about the caliber of coach that can be acquired here. Leach is a great coach. Maybe not uber elite, but a wInner. He will recruit just fine for what he needs. Arkansas would be damn lucky to have him.
Seems like a lot of y’all think he’s odd, or unconventional, or reminds too much of Lou Holtz (funny but can’t recruit), or even Petrino (great offense, no defense). Get over it. This guy is a proven winner. Exciting offenses, which is 180 degrees opposite of our present LLHD. Should’ve been hired a couple of years ago I guess. Let’s not miss out on him again because we think he’s not good enough for Arkansas. Not good enough for Arkansas? Come on.
He needs to be in the mix of a change is made. I’ve got several T Tech friends that would love to have him back. Sort of like Petrino here for many.
