I try not to be a “sky is falling,” or “the wheels have come off” kind of person. But, right now it’s difficult.
What’s the end game here? Season tix sales declining, attendance is abysmal, recruiting is suddenly a weakness instead of the strength of ‘‘tis staff, in-game decisions leave me scratching my head (albeit I’m not a coach) and nothing on the horizon seems to allude to the “light at the end of the tunnel.”
It’s a “darned if you don’t, dang’d if you do situation.” Fire Morris and no one else that’s worth anything wants to take the job. Give him another year to recruit his players and instill his culture sounds good, except recruits are bailing and freshmen are transferring. What’s the end result? Are we destined to be Illinois, Kansas, Rutgers, etc? Surely not…
At this point it appears all options are on the table, including moving on to another head coach.
Not saying that’s the case, but I hear it more and more from people around the program.
As I have noted before, I believe it is all in Hunter Yurachek’s hands, but he has not been in this particular situation before so there is no body of work to judge it on,
I actually don’t have a problem yet with the X’s and O’s or of the staff in the second year after abismal 5 years under other coaches who could not recruit a walnut. We have a good enough coach. His name is Coach Morris. He is recruiting the way we need him to. I read this morning the Alabama lost the commitment from A highly rated LB. See, it happens to everyone.
Give the coaches time to see the results of their efforts. Get off their backs because if we continue to not show confidence in them, the recruits will be swayed by our attitude. Patience grasshopper!
You always evaluate at the end of the season. I think the AD will wait until the end of the season and evaluate where the team is, the recruiting is and where he thinks revenue will be going forward.
What he will do, I’m not sure. So I guess I probably am no good at answering this question.
I don’t have to make that decision. It’s well above my pay grade, so to speak.
I agree with heknowsmyname. Disgruntled, fair weather fans make it all worse.
Morris inherited a MESS, not his fault! Get off his back, give him encouragement and let him do his job.
He is not a stupid man.
I look back to the firing of Mike Anderson for context clues. I asked Hunter Yurachek if there was anything Anderson could have done to keep his job, and he said, “I think just a little bit more of a vision for our program moving forward may have helped.”
What does that mean? I’m not certain, but I assumed it to mean staff changes and maybe some changes to recruiting. Anderson had been here eight years and Morris has been here two, so it is nowhere near an apples-to-apples comparison, but it is something we have to compare because of the high-profile nature of their two sports. We know that Yurachek is willing to make a tough decision if he feels it is in the program’s best interest, because he did it with Anderson.
I disagree. There are several HCS that would love to come to Arkansas. Now, it is not as good a job as it used to be but there are still several coaches that would love to come to Arkansas and most would be much more successful than CMC.
Would we still have the sky is falling mentality if we beat W Kentucky and beat either Miss State or Missouri? We would have 4 wins and that’s not too far off the mark from the prognosticators. We all wanted 6 and a bowl but 4 or 5 is what Vegas and most National sportswriters put us at a few months ago.
I appreciate Dudley, Clay and Matt weighing in on this question. I can sit here and bitch and moan, but I don’t have to face anybody in the athletic department or Coach Morris. Each of those guys does have contact with both and when your name is on the message…it’s out there for all to see.
Hunter Yurachek is a sharp guy who is all Razorback. I feel pretty confident he will do whatever he deems is necessary to restore the pride and success to the program…whatever that may be. I think he is a quality AD who can attract a really good coach. This time the hire is his…if he chooses to go that way.
A clue to the way Hunter would handle a potential termination was on display yesterday at BWA. It could have been very difficult, or even impossible, for Mike Anderson to feel comfortable in returning to honor Nolan. Now, make no mistake, MA wasn’t in BWA to stir the pot - he was there to honor Nolan - but it was made available. I cannot not imagine HY not knowing MA would be there and signing off on it.
Tells me that HY would be professional first and foremost. I can’t imagine anything more nerve-wracking. HY fired a coach with the looming renaming of the court and MA’s connection to the Nolan era.
Something tells me this will be obvious by the Saturday after Thanksgiving - either Morris will have obviously turned the corner or the program will be adrift at sea. I can’t fathom a middle path for the program (but I didn’t fathom we’d fall this far, either).
I am glad I get to sit in the cheap seats and comment vs. having to make the hard decision.
Agreed - whether Arkansas is one of those programs or not, you will see schools announcing that coaches will not be returning beginning in early November.
Early signing day is accelerating everything.
A prediction I made on here after SJSU - if Arkansas loses badly to Alabama and loses to MSU Morris won’t coach against WKU. I’m sticking to that. If I’m wrong I won’t post for one day😎
I would say there are probably 2 guys that I feel certain will come here regardless of the coach an sign early.
That’s no matter who the coach is and those two would sign early.
If a change is made, it would be similar to the last handofff from BB to CM when a lot of the kids would give great consideration to schools that had been recruiting them, listen to Arkansas, etc.
If he is kept around, I am not certain of what Feb. would look like.
