Of the candidates’ names being currently circulated for our new football HC - and even including a “dark horse” candidate or two into the mix - which prospective new HC do you think would be able to maximize getting the most out of 2-star and 3-star talent (with an OCCASIONAL 4-star stud added in there) and make Arkansas competitive with the perennial 5-star blue chip talent-blessed high-powered football factories?
NOT who can necessarily turn things around in a drastic recruiting coup overhaul, suddenly flooding our roster with 5-star talent; - - who do you truly think could get the most productivity out of the talent on hand - and future 3-star talent, causing our W-L seasonal record to suddenly blossom from 4-8 to 8-4? Who is the candidate who is most likely capable of filling that bill? - - - - Who?
I want to see - as the priority - an Arkansas team that won’t give up a half-dozen 3rd and 15s a game ( my overall assessment of the most glaring tendency). So that means I 'd focus on building a defensive mindset that sets the tone. I think there are so many variations of offense that most (minus the 3 yards and a cloud of dust plan) can get you 28 points a game without too much sweat. Arkansas - the school and the state - can put those offensive players on the field and get that done (in my opinion). So - bring someone in that is going to ensure that the defense is reliable and built not necessarily to shut everyone else out, but that can keep you in a game.
Coach Venables with his connections for good assistants & he will shore up the defense quickly.
If we only had some semblance of a good defense, we add 2-3,wins in each of the last 3 years, including this one.
I want a coach who brings a high powered offense and an attacking defense. Im tired of Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust along with Bend But Don’t Break/Read n React. I want a coach who will recruit Texas because that is our most natural recruiting territory.
I’m thinking among what is now our top 4 all would bring that to some degree but I think Chad Morris might be our best bet. He is the creator and engineer of the offense that just won a NC at Clemson and he can recruit Texas like no other.
I realize he has only been a coach three years and his record is unimpressive but he has them bowl eligible for the first time in 5yrs and he has done it with a very young team. IIRC his last two recruiting classes are made up entirely of Texas athletes.
Norvell is still my #1 but the more I find out about Morris the more impressed I am.
I would put Morris in my top 5. Actually, I kind of prefer him over Norvell. My concern though regarding both of their offenses is that they may be too pass oriented. If we are going to eventually win the SEC we will need to run the ball.
Geeze. Morris created the freaking offense that Clemson used to beat Bama and win the NC. But yeah…we need to do what we always do because you know that has been soooooooo successful. I mean Bielema loved running the ball and man he was successful at Arkansas…wait no he just got fired because that philosophy didnt work. But yeah, let’s discount these coaches because they don’t subscribe to a philosophy that hasn’t worked and let’s be the Football embodiment of Einsteins definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.
Yea but there are different ways of running the ball. Malzahn and Chip Kelly’s offenses are running offenses. Beliema’s problem is that he played what I like to call keep away ball, that is run the ball just to control the clock. His offense did not take advantage of individual match ups, or put playmakers in space. Look at the teams that won the SEC over the last 10 years and you will see that they either led the conference, or were in the top 3-4 for rush yards per game, rush defense, and points per game. If our goal is to ultimately compete for and win the SEC, then we need a system that is going to produce in those three categories.
Agreed…I really love Willie Taggarts Gulf Coast Offense. Power running out of a spread with straight up down blocking and a nice mix of quick short and vertical passing. Very effective and fun to watch. Mostly I want us to get a coach in that runs a high powered offense because that attracts recruits and if there has been one thing we have struggled with over the years it is recruiting.
It simply floors me that Arkansas doesn’t have anyone with whom we are personally connected who is capable of making an astute, logical, in-house HC decision, and feels compelled to rely on an outside “search firm” for the procurement of a competent new HC.
I believe there are several good candidates that could get the ship turned and headed in the right direction other than just Gus.
Norvell, Morris, Brown, Littrell would all bring better overall athletes to the program and thus have a better chance to compete and win in the SEC.
Im not one that really want to bring Lane Kiffin because I do believe we can make just as good a hire without dealing with any possible baggage and drama.
One thing I have noticed and I am certain that these search firms probably do and good job of is make sure that whatever character issues a coach has had is up front so that the university can make a decision based upon all of the data on that individual and any skeletons lurking in their closet.
I wonder if this is why we aren’t hearing Coach Petrino being hired back to the SEC with all of these current openings? My feeling is absolutely, Yes.
I see he was OC at Indiana and Arizona, not sure how they were statistically though. I think we would have to exhaust a lot of options before considering him. Hopefully that is not the case.
Dfarris keeps bringing him up. I had never considered him before and while that loss to FAU was bad he has beaten some good teams this year and has them bowl eligible n in the Conf championship game.