Jeff Long is similar to CBB, he talks a lot. I do think finances are his number one priority, not sure where winning is. But I know he’s saying one thing to the public and anther to CBB. He wouldn’t invest so much effort into giving us top facilities in the country if we were just going to be complacent with mediocrty.
CBB has done some great things, win a lot of games is not one of them. But the next coach will have a good platform to do so. I don’t personally believe CBB will finish his career here, he’s a bad loss at A&M away from completely losing the fan base. But, fans should be grateful for the attempt, and what positive he did do. I never was sold that he would make it in the SEC
When I look back at the firing of Arkansas coaches through the years, I realize that I am usually one of the last to jump on the fire the coach bandwagon. Doesn’t mean that I’m satisfied in any way with the results that we see on the field or on the court. I just want to give these guys every chance in the world to succeed. Sometimes it takes time. I’ve always thought that every football coach should have at least five years and every basketball coach at least four, before you can honestly evaluate what kind of job they have done. So far, CBB has been a bit of a disappointment record wise. On the other hand, off field problems have been minimal, and the academic performance of the players has been admirable. In many ways, his career at Arkansas has paralleled Mike Anderson’s. There were some folks who were ready to fire Mike in the middle of last season. Everything that has happened since then has told me that would have been a big mistake. I have to admit, things don’t look good right now. Whether the problems with the O-line, receivers and kicking game are fixable remain to be seen. If they are not, and our record marches backward, then it might be time to seriously consider a change. Barking for one now however, seems not only premature, but also somewhat self destructive.
I don’t disagree. Frankly I think he has done a masterful job at building young men. I also think we are going backwards on the field. I’d give him year 6 no matter what. I’d also hope as an AD he’d send Anderson to Maine.
UA would be better off if he was still here in 2022, but it ain’t gonna happen if field results don’t improve. Not wins and losses – the idiocy we see on the field.
Guy has a newborn daughter. I’d like to see him kicking tail and hauling his daughter on the field.
The two go hand in hand. If we don’t have resources, and that goes for DVH, MA, Bucknam and every other coach we have as well as BB, we aren’t going to win. But if you don’t win, it’s increasingly hard to get those resources. So is it the chicken or the egg? Right now, since we’re not winning big, JL is faced with trying to come up with the money to not only maintain but improve our programs, everything from the NEZ to the Jones Family Center to getting the best shoes from Nike. Jeff’s job would be a lot easier if we were winning big; the ticket and donor money would come pouring in. He has to figure out how to get us there, without taking the Hugh Freeze shortcut.
I laugh at the people who say Jeff Long had nothing to do with getting the Jones Center built. Jerry Jones has been very rich for a long time. But he wasn’t writing huge checks to UA for new facilities, until Jeff approached him about this. On top of that Jerry has made the big land donation in south Fayetteville which will either provide a site for future facilities or a source of future income as the land is sold or leased.
I agree with the article and the consistent winning is now the only thing left to do after all the facility upgrades are completed. Hopefully this happens under CBB, but if not, I think with the state of program, there will be more interest and I think we can pull in a good head coach.
I think JL is fantastic when it comes to keeping us up to date. I’d like him to publicly show he is concerned about winning a little more. I’ve had enough of the we aren’t a win at all cost, and CBB is not on the hot seat B.S., we all know that’s not entirely truthful, both cases
This university will be very attractive to the next coach, top of the line facilities, only P5 school in the state. A good young coach, good recruiter, would likely be attracted here. We can and will recruit better than we have in recent years, a lot in part because of the facilities, new stadium expansion, etC.
I do not think it’s a stretch to think in the next 5 years we will be in the top 20 recruiting classes, likely the last half, but that’s a good recipe for wins. We aren’t ever going to out recruit the LSUs, Bama, or those type, but we can for sure be a middle of the pack SEC recruiting wise, then we can be set up to beat the big guys. I’m a firm believer there’s big jumps between the top 5 classes, but 5-15 I don’t think there’s a ton of difference. F we could consistently pull around 18-22 we will have a good future.
I like where you are going with this. My question - What makes you think a coach can consistently recruit top 20 classes here when it has never been done before?
I would love to have it. I just dont know that it can be done ethically.
I think it can be done within the rules. Arkansas seems to hover around 25 to 27 now each year, so top 20 isn’t a stretch. I do think it is going to take some more dynamic recruiters on staff who are able to embed themselves in talented areas, like Michael Smith has done in New Orleans, for instance.
Well some may not agree with me, but I personally don’t believe CBB is as great of a recruiter as some think he is. I think he is very appealing to the parents, but more so to them. I know he’s considered a players coach, but I think we aren’t seeing the best recruiting possible. We are getting close with him to a top 20 class already, and we know he only goes for high quality guys, which causes him to miss on a lot of quality football players. I don’t want thugs recruited, but if they aren’t wanting to be a doctor or lawyer, I’m also ok with them being a football player. That may be taken wrong, but I’m not the best at explaining my thoughts.
I think that with a coach that specializes in his ability to recruit, has connections in the south, we will pull a top 20 class. We have top 10 facilities, we are not a historically bad program, average? Yes, but not bad. CBB is from the north, he had no connections, Enos is from the north, Rhoads has had time in the south, but mostly the north. If we build a staff with ties to Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, on into the south east, watch what we can do. I predict our recruiting will go up soon, we just need wins to help it, or a coach that is fantastic at it.
See why I like Frank wilson in other posts, I think he’s the man who could do it.
– extra add in
Not to mention, NWA is an amazing place.
With the rapid growth we are seeing, accessibility will only become easier, which has long been the problem in recruiting.
I know someone who runs a pretty good sized company. He told me once, “You have the board’s confidence until you no longer have the board’s confidence.” In other words, they are going to support you - publicly or otherwise - until they tell you it’s time to go.
Jeff is not the type to say disparaging things about an employee’s performance or issue an ultimatum the way Texas A&M’s AD did for Kevin Sumlin this summer. He is going to publicly support his coaches until the time comes for them to leave. It’s his management style.
I don’t believe in not fully supporting the coach, but I do believe in adding a little motivation via pressure. I don’t believe they should go as far as A&Ms AD, but something along the lines of I expect a better performance instead. A little stern, not too much.
I am old school, but in my line f business a little added pressure has always shown me what they’re made of. You have to strain to see what you can actually do. Sometimes a little outside pressure makes you get that extra motivation. But it doesn’t need to be over done, as I mentioned. I hope I made that clear, I don’t like A&Ms AD way of handling, it was classless in my opinion, it can be handled much more effectively, with much less said.
What we don’t know is what is said behind closed doors. Who is to say that pressure isn’t being asserted in private? I do know it’s not going to be asserted through the media or social media, though.
Jeff’s statement that he is “always concerned after a loss” is as much as you’re going to hear from him.
Absolutely, I’ve stated I don’t buy that things are all peachy behind closed doors. I think there’s plenty of pressure.
But the fans don’t see that, that’s whereJL wouldn’t catch as much flak if he did have a subtle comment. I also think it would be an eye opener to CBB that he’s now saying something out loud, not in private.
That’s the outside pressure in getting at.
Am I happy with the product on the field right now or last year…NO. Do I think Arkansas is a school where a coach should only get 5 years to turn it into a winner…NO. I think Arkansas is a school that needs a coach like CBB in that he wants to recruit and develop players. We will never recruit as well as LSU and Bama, but with player development we can compete against them when we are using 5th year Seniors ans 4th year jRs going against five star freshmen and sophomores. I truly believe that. Does that mean in year five CBB’s 5th yer SRs should have us there…NO. I think we should looking at Bill McCartney’s career at Colorado and Frank Beamer’s career at VA. Tech. By most standards of people on this board both of their careers we would love to have at Arkansas, but by those same standards we would have fired them after year 5 and they never would have developed the programs they became. Arkansas needs a program to grow into maturity not fire a good coach that needs time…and it will take some time to get there. I know the majority of readers of this board do not accept that and have valid arguments against my stated thoughts but it is what I believe and feel. We need to be patient when in this day and age patience is not accepted.
IMHO, we have a top ten AD at Arkansas.
I believe the vast majority of our board members
are pulling for coach BB to get our program to the point where we expect to be ranked in the top 20
year after year. It appears he is stalled in this quest.
My hope is for him to turn this around and get us to a
bowl win this year and next. Otherwise, we will likely
be shopping for a new coach.
First and foremost to me is having a clean program. If you have any doubts about this, look at the program next door Old Miss. That or what we have? What we have is a program that is rising from ashes, its good but not good enough and is clean with potential to be much better. Current team has many four star players on both sides, that with some experience will be better. The recruiting is good, we have true student athletes, with about 3 point GPA, and a respectable program. I for one do not want to step backward. I am looking at the bigger picture and not a loss to TCU. Let these people do their job; firing and hiring is like getting stuck in the mud.
Agreed, nshir24. I think Jeff Long and CBB have done much more to help Arkansas than most see. Most just look at the bottom line (W-L), which anybody would love to see get better, including the two at the top of the program. Whenever that next coach is hired (hopefully 20 years from now), then he should inherit a program on solid ground. And whether people want to believe it or not, they have JL and CBB to thank.