When CBP was here, we never heard any derogatory reports about him, his recruiting, his personality, his ethics, his relationship with media/staff.
NOW that he is gone, he was “not a good recruiter”; “he was a bad person”; “he was immoral”; “he treated his staff like feces”…and so on… NONE OF THIS WAS STATED by our homer reporters while CBP was the HC!
When a poster says CBB could work harder at recruiting, our WHS staff defend him saying he is the “hardest working recruiter we’ve ever had!” (personally, I believe he is a recruiting slacker). With that in mind, what is our WHS reporting staff holding back with regard to CBB? I’m sure if he LEFT, we would hear it, but as a good reporter and one that is obligated to “let us know”, what are y’all holding back?
I’m not holding back anything. I know with Petrino, people within the program were scared to death to talk about him when he was the coach. When he left, people opened up about what went on behind the scenes. That’s typically the case with any boss who was not well liked, head coach or otherwise. I think the immorality was exposed to the fans at the same time as the media.
Dudley has said many times he knew about the affair with Jessica Dorrell before BP hit the ditch, but did not feel it was his place to reveal anything.
I know that when I was in school, people in the Broyles Center were scared to death of Lou Holtz, and LH did not have nearly the abrasive personality of Petrino. So I am not surprised at all that insiders did not want to talk about what was going on while BP was still running the show.
I would think as a reporter, our obligation is full disclosure despite our undying HOG love… That is why I like listening to the station that Bo/Wes Moore/Tyler W are on…although they love the Hogs like the rest of us, they tend to be less biased than nut-job Trey Bitty on the Buzz… RD also tends to always have a favorable hog slant too… You can love the Hogs and STILL try to be a little more objective in your analysis ESPECIALLY if that is your job as a reporter… WPS!
YES, you do a good job of “telling it like it is” Matt…and our posters appreciate that!
Let’s start with this - I don’t answer for any other media member but myself.
It so easy to throw out the word homer just as it is the word idiot, loser, etc.
I knew about BP-JD, but I didn’t and still don’t see my job as a TMZ reporter.
They have been several - really more than several - Arkansas head coaches and assistant coaches that have had affairs in the past 30 years and I haven’t talked about this either.
I don’t care who they are diddling.
Many of the things that I have said about Coach Petrino I said back then - as evidenced by archived radio shows and message board posts.
He did not work hard at recruiting. He did recruit some great players. It is what it is.
He was not a good person when he was here. He was a great coach when he was here.
He was not fired because of just the affair. It was a litany of things. I would be specific about some things, but those people that endured him are at different places now - a few of them here - and have asked me to not talk about it.
As for CBB, he and his are the hardest working staff that I have been around in 30-plus years.
But he has made recruiting mistakes and that is where the OL and the defense is where it is right now.
Dudley, I agree that the “affairs” are off limits and are not what we really want to hear/know about. We do want to know about your thoughts, whether positive or negative, about recruiting, staffing, play calling…everything associated with running a good program and being a good HC…Thanks for the “insight” re: OL and defense…THAT is what we want to know!!!
Like Matt said, people open up when a coach leaves. I knew Petrino was a hard ass while he was here, but I’m not sure that was breaking news to most people.
I’m a combo of old school and new school when it comes to coaching philosophy so coaching kids hard isn’t a problem with me. The problem I have is when a coach has nothing to do with his players off the field. Petrino is without a doubt one of the better coaches in the country, but most coaches will tell you there’s more to coaching than what happens on the field.
As far as recruiting, the assistant coaches had a tough time trying to get Petrino on the phone with kids. It was like pulling teeth.
After the Auburn game, I said it’s hard not to question things. I would say that about any school that gets beat 56-3 when it’s not expected. I’ve also said they need to get more speed.
I’m not a doom and gloom type. I use to be, but I was miserable and I took a look at myself and didn’t like what I saw. I think SOME college football fans are totally unreasonable. I think that’s the case with Hog fans wanting a coaching change when the season isn’t even completed. I’m a firm believer you at minimum you have to give a coach 4-5 years.
I’m a firm believer that Bielema will get the program at the level that most reasonable fans desire. I say that because I remember asking kids their offer list before Bielema and you very seldom would hear Arkansas beating out Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Florida State for kids and beating those schools in their own backyards. He’s also a guy that believes in building inside out. Is this year’s line play great? No, but lets see where they are in year five and six. I bet both lines are strong.
You must be able to hold your own at the line of scrimmage against the best of the best. Bielema gives the Hogs the best chance of that.
That is simply not true about CBP! remember the WR from Missouri, Dorial Green? He didn’t come her because his mom told people that CBP was a horrible person and would not let him come here. They even said that he wouldn’t call them back to answer questions they had.
I’m not sure why u think CBP is that great, he couldn’t beat ala or lsu. The west was way down then and the East was way better so he didnt face the sec teams CBB does now.
As far as recruiting he didnt do that great to me
When Arkansas hired Bret Bielema, it began a process that was going to require many years to mature, by definition. I liken it to when Barry Alvarez (Bielema’s mentor) took over Wisconsin, which had been nothing before him.
In year four, Wisconsin went to the Rose Bowl, Alvarez’s first bowl game as head coach. Arkansas’s year four under Bielema won’t be on that level. But Wisconsin cycled back down to a losing record by year six before the Badgers started winning more consistently.
I don’t know whether Bielema’s behind the curve that Alvarez set, but he’s in a tougher conference. In the 1990s, Wisconsin could beat up on crappy teams (Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, sometimes Northwestern and Iowa).
I think when you look at the overall state of the program when CBB took over, that 5-6 years is a more reasonable expectation for rebuilding. It would be different if we could roll out the red carpet and pick and choose which 5star attends, but that never has been, and never will be Arkansas.
Look Saban is closest to me with BPs edge and demand and lack of warm personality
He is in a position where recruits just line up to go but he also WINS and demands excellence from his players even if he is ahead 40 points
His tirades on the sidelines have come ahead in games and behind and even at assistants who don’t get it right he will let you have it
BB has his own style & you can’t be who you aren’t but at this point seeing his team being the most penalized is a troubling sign …it has nothing to do with recruiting its execution and it needs to get corrected moving forward if he wants another November run
Saban is not warm and fuzzy with the media, but I don’t care about that. From all accounts he is a demon on the recruiting trail, and not just because Bama can select, to borrow an unfortunate phrase from Razorback history. That’s the main difference between him and BP.
As for “most penalized,” that’s a relative term. We averaged six penalties a year in BP’s last season. The Sugar Bowl team averaged 8 penalties a game. This year we’re averaging 5.4 penalties per game.
When you have a gap in talent every penalty is costly and BBs motto on day one was not to beat yourself before the snap
I disagree that you never heard the negative stuff about Petrino’s abrasive personality when he was coach at Arkansas. His lack of people skills was well known and well-documented.
Agreed! Those of us on the old Hawgsillustrated site heard about the Cotton Bowl committee saying they would never invite Arkansas back again if Bobby Petrino was our coach. There were also a lot of question marks about some of his commitments of kids that were not highly recruited, which one could infer laziness in recruiting. We also seemed to have a lot of discipline issues during CBP’s tenure.
As far as reporters on this site, I can only speak from almost 20 years experience at the old Hawgsillustrated, but I know there were many times some asked why DD did not support the team more like Yancy over at the Ole Miss site. DD made it clear that he is professional in his reporting and needs to be unbiased. He is not a promoter of the University, it’s teams, or it’s coaches even though he personally may root for Arkansas. I think MJ works the same way. DD has always been professional in his reporting and that is why when he makes a statement of opinion like “hardest working recruiting staff”, it’s true.
Maybe you should quit your day job, assuming you have one, and become a reporter, recruiting coordinator, or head coach. You seem to think you have all the attributes to do a better job than any of the above, go for it.