Portal thread. Who’s leaving, who’s coming.

[jdcatty]

If this doesn't tell you the landscape of today's athletics, then nothing will. Larranaga is a good coach. He took George Mason to the FF. He takes Miami to the FF and 8 of his returning players transfer out for more money.

https://x.com/JonRothstein/status/1872358787132411906?t=yUJxJuK9NfLhNIL60X9F7w&s=19

I agree.

[Barton Fink]

Yep, which is why I dont think it's even debatable that with the same exact money and any number of head coaches instead of Pittman we have a better record.

So you don't think it's debatable to ask a new coach to come in with less resources to win than 75% of the teams within the conference. What coach takes that job?

[Barton Fink]

I don't think there's any actual Pittman supporters.  If they had decided to can him this year we'd all be on board. 

It's remarkable really.  Nutt was pretty mediocre and he had very ardent and incredibly annoying support here.  I know people who actively hate Petrino to this day.  It was like a cult. 

With Sam nobody really cares.  I think we can just look historically and see that, outside of 1 coach in my lifetime, we've always made the wrong hire. 

Hatfield (should've been Jimmy.)
Crowe
Danny Ford
Houston Nutt (should've been Tuberville thanks Baz)
Bobby Petrino (the actual only home run)
John L
Bert
Egad Chad!
Pittman

That's 9 decisions by administration. 

1/9.  That's about a 12% chance of success.  Why does this happen?

Because Broyles decided Jimmy was too flashy and risky.  He went safe.
Then he made his colossal blunder with Crowe.  Safe.  Colossal fail.  Then inexplicably he goes for Danny Ford, a convicted cheater at Clemson.  Which led us to the snake oil salesman because Broyles had fucked up so much he was toothless to get Tuberville.

Bielema safe.
Chad because Jerrah and Gus lol. 
Pittman because we were desperate.

What's next?  I don't mind rolling the dice personally but, as we have seen, it can and has been a lot worse than what we have. 

In that aspect, in the University of Arkansas tradition, we have once again chosen the safe route. 

No program who wins does it this way.  You have to take risks and you have to lay all your chips on the table.  Ole Miss gets this.  They won't win it all but, by God, they are swinging wildly and you have to respect it.

You put that much better than I've tried.

[Thin Red Swine]

So you don't think it's debatable to ask a new coach to come in with less resources to win than 75% of the teams within the conference. What coach takes that job?

But if we have the best play caller in the country, that's a resource BETTER than 100% of our opponents. Who wouldn't take that job?

[Barton Fink]

Meaning, hire a new coach and keep BP? Like I've said before, count me in.

[red death]

Look at SMU.  They have billionaire boosters who literally passed on 200 million in tv revenue to get them into the ACC.  Literally they said it didn't matter and was chump change.

Chump change.  200 million.  Like A&M with Jimbos buyout.  These guys are bankrolling big big and SMU got into the playoff.

It's why I laugh when people bring up Lashlee coming here.  There's no way in hell he's leaving that money train to penny pinch for players at the UofA.

I know it sucks.  Yes, we can and will get another coach.  And we might get lucky.  But if you think losing players to other schools because of money sucks, just wait until the day (probably not in my lifetime I fear) we do strike gold and these money guys who are serious about football poach him from us.

It's a new world, the state of Texas can finally pay players, and boy are they going to pony up.  (Pun intended.)

[red death]

Meaning, hire a new coach and keep BP? Like I've said before, count me in.

That, I don't believe, has ever happened.  New coach will,most certainly, bring his own crew if he's worth a shit. 

But yes, as fantasies go, count me in too.

[TC]

So you don't think it's debatable to ask a new coach to come in with less resources to win than 75% of the teams within the conference. What coach takes that job?

That's not what I said, and you're defending him again.

And you've been told by more than me on here that Sam Pittman and his record is the reason for the lack of interest and money support from fans. Make an exciting hire and the support will come, or at least would have had they made it already. As it is now he's going to drag us even deeper into the abyss next year, so who knows.

[red death]

That's not what I said, and you're defending him again.

And you've been told by more than me on here that Sam Pittman and his record is the reason for the lack of interest and money support from fans. Make an exciting hire and the support will come, or at least would have had they made it already. As it is now he's going to drag us even deeper into the abyss next year, so who knows.

In my opinion it's the other way around.  Like Tyson with Cal.

One of our rich boosters finds his guy and tells our meathead impotent AD and administration what to do, and then said booster ponies up the package and the fans cheer and line up. 

If anyone of them had their guy, or cared at all, we wouldn't be in this mess.

For God's sake we've had committee head coaching searches here and have taken recommendations from former players lol.  Can you imagine an elite coach like Cal interviewing in front of a meatball like Yurachek to get a job?  Yurachek was told by Tyson to get in front of Cal and don't fuck it up or else.

Not going to happen.  That's Busch league.

[TC]

In my opinion it's the other way around.  Like Tyson with Cal.

One of our rich boosters finds his guy and tells our meathead impotent AD and administration what to do, and then said booster ponies up the package and the fans cheer and line up. 

If anyone of them had their guy, or cared at all, we wouldn't be in this mess.

For God's sake we've had committee head coaching searches here and have taken recommendations from former players lol.  Can you imagine an elite coach like Cal interviewing in front of a meatball like Yurachek?

Not going to happen.  That's Busch league.

Those positions arent mutually exclusive; either could be a successful strategy. Hiring Petrino or any number of coaches last year or at the end of this season would've excited the fanbase and brought in more money. That's an opinion I cant prove, but I DO KNOW that keeping Pittman was never going to help. He's lost the program and it's only going to get worse.

Keeping a 2-3 conference win/yr coach, and crowing about "going bowling in Memphis" is Busch league.

[Barton Fink]

I'm not sure you know what defending someone means.

[Barton Fink]

Those positions arent mutually exclusive; either could be a successful strategy. Hiring Petrino or any number of coaches last year or at the end of this season would've excited the fanbase and brought in more money. That's an opinion I cant prove, but I DO KNOW that keeping Pittman was never going to help. He's lost the program and it's only going to get worse.

Keeping a 2-3 conference win/yr coach, and crowing about "going bowling in Memphis" is Busch league.

You do know that what you call Busch League is the Arkansas program over the last 32 years. right. Outside of 1 coach over a couple years. Reality is we're a Busch League program and every other coach and fanbase sees it except our fans. We are who we are.

You're hoping a new coach would bring excitement and money but no one on this board knows anything. We just hired a HOF hoops coach and I can barely give tickets away. NIL wouldn't have changed if Cal wasn't friends with Tyson. Wishful thinking.

[TC]

I'm not sure you know what defending someone means.

I gave you several examples. 1 is that you dont think he's a game day factor when he's the HNiC of an SEC program, and you dont think the culture and work ethic he's created has any bearing on his win loss record.

If that doesnt give the guy an out I don't know what does.

[The Whyte Boar]

I gave you several examples. 1 is that you dont think he's a game day factor when he's the HNiC of an SEC program, and you dont think the culture and work ethic he's created has any bearing on his win loss record.

If that doesnt give the guy an out I don't know what does.

He says he isn't responsible for recruiting either.  That's why I asked him just what Sam is supposed to be doing that makes him worth $7 million a year.

[red death]

Those positions arent mutually exclusive; either could be a successful strategy. Hiring Petrino or any number of coaches last year or at the end of this season would've excited the fanbase and brought in more money. That's an opinion I cant prove, but I DO KNOW that keeping Pittman was never going to help. He's lost the program and it's only going to get worse.

Keeping a 2-3 conference win/yr coach, and crowing about "going bowling in Memphis" is Busch league.

I don't think any of us in this conversation actually disagree. 

I'm with you.  Pittman has done all he's ever going to do here.  He might as well crow about the Liberty Bowl because that's all he's got. 

It pisses me off too because I go to the stadium.  It's beautiful.  I see the fan support. It's Top 20.  We are a very good program with very poor leadership for the last 40 years!

And it pisses me off that charlatans like Nutt and Pittman can squat here for years with shit results because our leaders and boosters are A. Incompetent or B. Don't give a fuck.

All the while pissing on us with "at least I beat SMU" or "Liberty Bowls are a big deal" like we're stupid.

[TC]

I don't think any of us in this conversation actually disagree. 

I'm with you.  Pittman has done all he's ever going to do here.  He might as well crow about the Liberty Bowl because that's all he's got. 

It pisses me off too because I go to the stadium.  It's beautiful.  I see the fan support. It's Top 20.  We are a very good program with very poor leadership for the last 40 years!

And it pisses me off that charlatans like Nutt and Pittman can squat here for years with shit results because our leaders and boosters are A. Incompetent or B. Don't give a fuck.

All the while pissing on us with "at least I beat SMU" or "Liberty Bowls are a big deal" like we're stupid.

Agreed.

[DirkPiggler]

Look at SMU.  They have billionaire boosters who literally passed on 200 million in tv revenue to get them into the ACC.  Literally they said it didn't matter and was chump change.

Chump change.  200 million.  Like A&M with Jimbos buyout.  These guys are bankrolling big big and SMU got into the playoff.

It's why I laugh when people bring up Lashlee coming here.  There's no way in hell he's leaving that money train to penny pinch for players at the UofA.

I know it sucks.  Yes, we can and will get another coach.  And we might get lucky.  But if you think losing players to other schools because of money sucks, just wait until the day (probably not in my lifetime I fear) we do strike gold and these money guys who are serious about football poach him from us.

It's a new world, the state of Texas can finally pay players, and boy are they going to pony up.  (Pun intended.)

Lashlee's agent has told people in LR within the last month that Rhett would be interested if our job was offered, and that the degree of NIL support at SMU is way overblown.   

Not disagreeing with most of the rest of what you've said.  I do take exception with Barton's assumption (as I understand it) that it's all about the money and if we bid $1 more than Georgia we will get a player they want. 

Players aren't cars or art pieces to be bought at a dealership or auction.  If Elon Musk offers $100k for a car and I offer $100,001 for the same vehicle, the dealer is going to sell it to me.  But if Elon and I are offering the same salary to an IT professional there is zero point zero chance that he's going to pass up the chance to work at SpaceX or Tesla over my piddly ass operation.   Money is a major factor, even the most important one.  But we aren't bidding from the same place as other schools even if the money is the same or marginally better.  Our coach and program stature are a big part of that, and a reason why we would have to overpay on the open market for top talent.

[animal]

That, I don't believe, has ever happened.  New coach will,most certainly, bring his own crew if he's worth a shit. 

But yes, as fantasies go, count me in too.

It's not common for sure but I'd imagine it's happened before and probably wasn't at all uncommon years and years ago. Position coaches for sure can last multiple head coaches. I think there was dudes at Oregon and FSU that were there 20+ years spanning numerous head coaches. The FSU cat I believe ended up being the interim prior to Cornrows.

All in all I don't think we'll see Arkansas hire a new head coach that will take BP as their OC. At that point I'd think it'll mean that ship has sailed and it's time for something new. The only exception to that would be IF there was a hire that just really loved having BP on the staff or the other more realistic possibility would be they hired a "YES" man and saddled him with BP like they did Pittman. Petrino was hired last year to appease the fans knowing full well they wanted to kick the can down the road a couple two or three years probably because of the horrendous contract HY put in front of Pittman.

[Barton Fink]

He says he isn't responsible for recruiting either.  That's why I asked him just what Sam is supposed to be doing that makes him worth $7 million a year.

Holy shit dude. I never said he's not responsible for recruiting. I said when a kid chooses a school now, who the HC is is only a small reason for the decision. Money wins receuits mire than anything.

Am I in a twilight zone episode??

[The Whyte Boar]

Holy shit dude. I never said he's not responsible for recruiting. I said when a kid chooses a school now, who the HC is is only a small reason for the decision. Money wins receuits mire than anything.

Am I in a twilight zone episode??

So is it money or the coach and does the coach have any influence on the money?