Expectations...................................

We all have expectations from the team what love. BB has been here 4 years. All it takes is 3-4 years to get all of his players into his system. So, why is 10 games too much to ask for? Why is being ranked at the end of the season too much to ask for? I am not saying BB should win 10 games every year but by now we should. If we don’t win 10 games this year then how many more should we wait? Technically, last year we should have done it. Everyone brags about the win against LSU and the being lucky against Ole Miss. You can’t talk about a SEASON without including all the games. We also had horrible loses against Toledo, Tech and A&M. I truly hope we win against A&M. But if we don’t I don’t have high hopes for the rest of the season in getting 10 wins. I am also curious to why more fans don’t have these expectations. Is it alright to be mediocre every year and have no expectation of being great EVER? How many more excuses are we going to have for BB year after year??? I am rooting for my Hogs but I also have expectations and it’s not being satisfied with 7-8 wins every year.

I think the answer to your basic question is simply: The University of Arkansas doe not have the advantage some schools have in recruiting. It comes down I think to the basic fact that our state does not produce nearly as many top quality football players in high school as other states like Texas, Georgia, Florida, or Louisiana does. Which means we must go out of state for most of our quality players. During some stretches of winning we can attract a goodly number of players from out of state but year in and year out we are at a distinct disadvantage. This cannot be overcome by good coaching actually. But winning more games does help for sure.

Winning 10 games isn’t a lot to ask for in year 4 of a program. But it is a lot to ask for being in the SEC West and as Bob mentioned about recruiting. If we don’t win 10 this year then hopefully next year or the next… Coach has done a lot for this program and the SEC West doesn’t have pancake conference opponents like the ACC does, for example.

One of the most critical aspects of goal setting is making the goal realistic.

I have always understood our recruiting. That is why I don’t expect 10 wins every year. However, our recruiting has always been the same geographically. In the 80’s we were ranked almost every year at the end of the season. Why is that so hard to do NOW? We are not talking 10 wins every year. If we had a consistency at winning 7-9 every year we would end the season ranked. Good coaches and recruiting go hand and hand.

Coach has done allot??? What has he done. All I hear are excuses why we can’t. I understand the challenges. But BP was able to do it. We were ranked in the top 10 two years in a row. That proves it can be done. Why don’t we have those same expectations for BB? Once you see it can be done you should expect it. And I do.

So, the 4th year of coaching at Arkansas a realistic expectation should be what? another 7-8 wins? That’s where we should always be?

No, a reasonable expectation is 8-9 wins, which we are trending toward.

We play in the SEC West. We are on a strong winning streak. Perhaps you should wait for your sky is falling adoration of Bobby Petrino till AFTER we lose a game. Right now, all you are doing is whining with no grounds. Wait till we see what happens, then whine.

I’m somewhere in between the OP and others.

I’m glad that Long fired Petrino. I don’t hate him personally, and I don’t wish him ill will. But, I also don’t give a crap about his success or failure at Louisville, unless he’s on the other sideline against Arkansas.

I like Bret and was really excited about the hire; I still am. And I think he will get us to a place of consistent winning. But, at the same time, having a Mark Richt problem of winning 10 games a year and not getting it done is a little bit different than a winning 8-9 games a year and not getting it done problem. There are a lot more coaches out there who can get 7-9 wins a year than there are 10-game winners.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if we’re seven years in and Bret is still topping out at 9 wins, we need to be objective enough to start looking elsewhere.

This isn’t Little-Sisters-of-the-Blind University. We have a better history of winning than programs like Oregon, Houston, and TCU. And our head-to-head records against Ole Miss (14-10), Auburn (11-12), and even LSU (10-14) since 92’ is nothing to be ashamed of considering they are, for the most part, better recruiting schools and have experienced some measurable success in that time, especially LSU. I’d love to pull even with Auburn this year and get even closer to LSU.

Now, our record against Bama and Florida–yikes! But, those are the kind of games that Bret is going to have to win in order to move into that 10-game winning zone. I still think he can.

Or better paying, in the case of 2 of the above. :wink:

Touche!

8 wins is reasonable? Really? We had 8 wins last year so I see. As long as we get 8 wins you are good. Sorry, not good enough. You can be a mediocre lover all you like because that’s exactly what that is.

7 years…WOW. And some were not willing to give the BB coach another year. Sad, what we are willing to accept from football but we want final fours in basketball.

I do expect us to win 10 games this year just as I expected us to win at least 9 last year, we fell 1 shy of that, and at least 2 of those L’s should have been W’s.
I also thought it would be an amazing feat to win 9-10 games last year, not because BP did it that soon, but rather that BP put us so deep in a dumpster after ditchgate. Then J L Smith further buried us when a pretty good squad he inherited just laid down on him (except Tyler Wilson), and so did his assistants and we went in spiral downward so fast, I don’t think Saban or any other current elite college HC could have dug us out of the hole must faster, without cheating.

  1. He has pulled us out of the Gutter that we were in before he arrived ( petrino walked into a much better situation when he came here and when he went to Louisville than what CBB walked into here.)
  2. He has got kids in here who will stay out of trouble( petrino had a lot of trouble with this)
  3. He has improved our schools reputation (which is the most important thing to me).
  4. He has helped our student athletes become better students (another thing that was lacking under petrino)
  5. We have improved each year since he’s been here, where as some coaches hired around the same time as him, started hot quick but now are falling way off and on the hot seat. I.e. Tenn, auburn, ole miss. If we want consistent winning seasons, we need to keep a consistent coach here that can win and he can, he has already done it.
  6. He has brought us praise from the media. People love him and the person he is. All I remember from CBP’s time is we had a great offense, but man they hated petrino. Now we have all this positivity around our program.
  7. We are graduating kids and putting a bunch in the pros.

I hope he and Anderson have a big year this year, but I think next year will be the best year for both groups.

You may not think my reasons are good examples. But they are to me and a lot of other people. I would say 10 wins a year after this year is a reasonable expectation for fans. But going undefeated should be the expectation for the coaches. But as long as we are getting around 9 wins a year I am happy. Because that means we are beating 3-5 really great SEC football programs a year. That’s where most programs stay. Alabama is the only exception to this. With all the great recruiting that Texas, FSU, USC, Ole Miss, and a bunch more have had, the teams recruiting better than us are getting about 9 wins a year when you average all them together and some have much easier conferences than us. As long as we are competing with everyone on the field, then I am happy. When’s the last time we have lost by more than 14 points?

Have I missed something? Have we already been excluded from winning 10 games this year? I can’t even see that bridge yet; much less ready to cross it.

We were good enough to win 10 games last year. A chip shot field goal against Miss St, a blown pass coverage again A&M, a choke against Toledo kept us from winning 11. Every year a few breaks or little luck can make the difference in a great year and a good year. If you start counting from the Tennessee game last year I think we have won 10 of 11 games. That would be a 10 win season if it was counted that way.

I was actually thinking about that this morning, before I saw this topic and your reply. We are 3-0 (I picked us 5-7 pre season, I don’t think it’s possible to finish 5-7 now), we have games against Alcorn St, Misstake, and Missery that I personally consider gimmies. So that’s 6 wins. I think by the time we get Awbarn, the Gus bus will be in the ditch and we won’t have that hard of a time. So we are at 7. I’m worried about this game (aTm), if we lose I think Bama beats us easily, if we win I think we have a chance at Bama. I’m just not that confident in AA. I know his last series of regulation at TCU and overtime jaunt has given a lot hope, but I saw a lot of bad decisions last week. Fortunately for us, T St didn’t have the players to make him pay. aTm does. This game in my opinion will make or break the season. So, we are at 7-2 . We get LSU. This game, no matter where each of us are always seems a toss up, being after Bama week for LSU, I like our chances. That’s 8-2. Then we have Ole Miss, I’m not sure about them, they could have a game that everything clicks for them, or they can continue with self destructing (let’s hope for that). I’m not sure if they’re clicking we can beat them, and I don’t think they’re convinced they’re done. So 8-3 with Fl left. I haven’t paid that much attention to the East so far, but they seem to have our number, so 8-4. Even a bowl win gets us to nine. So, I think 10 is out of the question, of course beating aTm might just change my expectations again.

We were also a few plays from 5-7 and no bowl.

All that sounds good. There have been plenty of coaches that have done the same and gotten fired. Why? Because this is sports. The biggest thing that matter is wins.