Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Whole Hog Sports podcast. And now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Today on the show, we've got Chris Lowe from On3. He'll talk about Bobby Petrino leading the Razorbacks again. We'll also talk to him about Tennessee as the Razorbacks get ready to head over to Knoxville this week. Christina Long will also be in studio. We'll talk about what Petrino had to say during his first weekly news conference today in Fayetteville. First, a word from Kendall King.
[00:00:23] Speaker C: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design.
We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King, Soapbox, Shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are design.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: And we're joined now by Chris Lowe of On3. Chris, I'm sure people probably keep making a mistake. You were with another company for so long that now you've moved to on three and you were so synonymous with that company. But college football, you've been such a great college football reporter for a long time. We actually requested you last week. We didn't know you were writing the Bobby Petrino feature today. It just so worked out that we get you on today.
Kind of tell us about talking to him last week and what your thoughts are now that he's taken over control of this Arkansas football program, at least for the next eight weeks.
[00:01:27] Speaker D: I guess my thoughts are a lot like fans and boosters and they're in Arkansas and football fans across the country. You still sort of, you just have a hard time believing this is. This is happening. You know, I mean, some. I've covered college football for a long time and covered Bobby when he was there the first time, kept in touch with him when he was at Louisville, went to see him when he was Missouri State a few years ago. And you know, and even Bobby will tell you he had no idea this would ever happen. I don't think anybody thought 10 years ago that Bobby would be back leading that football team, albeit right now just as an interim coach. So just see him on the sidelines on Saturday against Tennessee, leading that program, as you say, for the next however many games this year. That in itself is pretty surreal, and I think that's the word that everyone seems to be using, surreal. That Bobby Petrino, after the way it ended for him there and after the way he left. The embarrassment of all that and how much that was a.
I know that was something the whole state still had a hard time, you know, getting over. And then now he's back. So it's welcome to college football. Right?
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Kind of going back to that whole. How surreal it feels. I think you wrote the story, what was it, two years ago you talked to him whenever he was the head coach at Missouri State or three years ago, getting ready to come back to Fayetteville. I mean, even you mentioned the 10 year window. Even if you would have asked somebody three years ago if this might happen, I think they would have told you that you're out of your mind.
[00:03:03] Speaker D: Well, even for him to be back as oc, I think a lot of people couldn't believe it. I don't think Bobby ever had again in my conversations with him under. Some people say, well, this was always in the works. This was always in the planning stages. I don't know that I agree with that. I don't think he felt like that. Now when he got the OC job, as he has said, you know, Sam Pittman sort of stuck his neck out for him and went to higher administration and can we do this? I think this is, he's the best guy. And I know there was some, some back and forth and finally I think the brasser, Arkansas did whatever they needed to do to greenlight it and get Bobby back. I think at that point there are probably some people around the state, Bobby supporters who said, hey, he's here.
If Sam doesn't make it, Bobby's back. He's right here on, on campus. Maybe we could figure out a way to get him in his head. Coach, I don't have any information from people that I trust that Bobby somehow undermined Sam or tried to go behind his back and make this happen. I think they had a really good working relationship.
Bobby did his best to get that offense up to speed and now here we are. But no, I, no, not even when he came back as assistant coach, that I think that it was realistic that he could be the head coach. And let me point this out, he's not, you know, he's just the interim coach. And I don't know, people have asked me since this was announced, was it last week, what do I think the chances are that Bobby is the permanent head coach?
You know, I don't know that I would put odds on it because I think so much of that depends on how the team responds to Bobby, how they play, how do they improve, is he able to get this team to respond. Can they win some games? See, I think that, to me, is first and foremost, over and above what kind of Bobby support Bobby has in and outside the state. You know what? I think Bobby understands that. I think he. Look, he's looking at what's right in front of him. You know, can he get this football team to improve and. And just be more competitive, you know, more fundamental, more competitive and play with, you know, a lot more pride? I.
I don't want to sound like I'm beating up on Sam, because I'm not, because I thought this team played pretty well, and it was really pretty close in those first four games. They just can hold on to the football against Memphis and against.
Oh, gosh.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Ole Miss.
[00:05:31] Speaker D: Yeah, Ole Miss. Right. Ole Miss and Memphis. So they just hold on the ball. They're driving for potentially, you know, the winning touchdown, and they don't. And of course, it was embarrassing what happened to him against Notre Dame, but I don't. I don't know that they're that far off. Certainly they got to get better on defense and play with some more effort, but this is not like a team that has not been competitive at all this year. I guess what I'm trying to say.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Do you. I wonder how you feel about the Arkansas job and maybe what others have told you about this job, where it fits into whatever we're going to see at the end of the season. And I know we're far away away from that right now because there are going to be other jobs that come open.
And I wondered, though, you know, one of the things that I feel here, Chris, is there's almost like a.
I don't know if peace is the right word, but there is this feeling that, hey, if there's not somebody else out there for you, that there's always this fallback option in Bobby Petrino, and you at least kind of know what you're going to get with him.
[00:06:28] Speaker D: Yeah, well. And I think that's a lot of his players who I've kept in touch with over the years and talked to for the story have said similar things. Listen, he's one Coach Petrino, and this. This is not me talking. This is guys like Jerry's, right, Tyler Wilson and D.J. williams. You know, he has proven he can win at Arkansas, and he's. He's a proven commodity here, and I understand that's been more than a decade ago, you know, but he's done it. And you look back over the last, I don't know, 30 some years, you know, Houston Had a nice little run there. Coach Hatfield back in the, what, late 80s, won 10 games a few times, and then Bobby in 2010 and 2011. And I think when you look at what he did in the sec, I think that's. That's where you. You compare Arkansas. Everybody else is. He went 6 and 2. Know he had winning records in the SEC, and it hasn't happened in Arkansas. And I think that's why people say, well, if. If there's nobody else out there, that makes a lot of sense, and certainly a guy like Rhett Lashley will get attention, which I get. You know, he's from Arkansas. He's done a terrific job at smu. There'll be other guys that are hot, you know, Ryan Silverfield, Alex Golish, maybe even Gus Malazan. And I don't know.
But if Bobby again, and preface all this by saying that he's got to show that he can get this team respond, and people say, well, how many games you got to win? I don't know. I just know that this team's got to be a better football team in November than they are right now. I think for Bobby to get real consideration. They all have considerable support.
There are a lot of people in that state, as you know, that have always supported Bobby and never quit supporting him. And. And a lot of that support is. Are among some of the heavy hitters. Now. There's some people who absolutely don't want to see him back. They think he's more polarizing than his unifying, you know, and all that's fair. I mean, the way he left and the embarrassment that caused the school and every. Everything else, but he.
He's somebody that, you know, I know Bobby really loves Arkansas.
He's got a lot of roots that he put down there when he was there that he's never pulled back up. I don't think he ever wants to.
And so there's a lot of reasons to point to that says, hey, this guy would be as good a choice as anybody.
But I do think he's got to sort of prove it over these next few weeks that he can get, you know, this team to respond. And that's. He's got tough. It's tough sledding. They got a hard schedule.
I think the defensive players, and I get a lot of those guys like Travis, you know, Williams. Are they going to be able to. Is he going to be able to get those guys to respond and play better football?
We'll see. But it's. It's fascinating story to me. I Mean, just to me, it's the essence of college football that there's always forgiveness.
If, if they. If a group of fans, donors, boosters feel like someone can help them win football games at the highest level. And certainly Bobby's done that.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Arkansas, you know, it's interesting, when Sam got hired, obviously Ole Miss was open, Missouri was open, Mississippi State was open. Mississippi State has its own story, obviously, with what happened with Mike Leach. But you look at Ole Miss and you look at Missouri and those were programs that in a lot of ways were similar to Arkansas and that they would have pockets of success, but then they would have, you know, some down years, too. And it seems like it's. Something's clicked with. Obviously, it's clicked with Lane Kiffin and it's clicked with Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri, too. I wonder why you think maybe it didn't happen in Arkansas. And as they go and they look for a. A new coach, what are some characteristics that they might be looking for to get them to that level that a Missouri and an Ole Miss has found itself right now?
[00:10:16] Speaker D: I think a lot of fans are asking the question you just asked around that state, the ones I've talked to, and I would start with this, and Tyler Wilson, when I talked with Tyler this week, talked about this, that I think his direct quote is, I'm not so sure this is a Bobby Petrino situation. This is a. A Bobby Petrino conversation. It's more, whoever comes in as head coach, are they going to get the right kind of support that they need to win at the highest level in the sec? Resources, support, and will they be able to go around the state or have people around that person, that coach that goes around the state engages fans. You know, I think it's not fair to say, and I've seen this some places, it's not fair to say that Arkansas doesn't have any money, that there are not people there in that state who are willing to pony up the kind of money that it takes to win? Because I believe there are.
The key and better the question is, can you hire the right person? Can you set up the right way where that person is able to get those people to give and to sort of rally the troops to engage them? And there's a feeling that Bobby Petrino is that guy.
We're going to find out. But I think that's one thing. The second thing, and this goes back a little bit to resources and money.
You look at Missouri's team this year in the way they've worked the portal, the right Tackle and the right guard. First year transfers, their top running back, their quarterback, their top tackler, trotter at linebacker, their top sack guy are all first year transfers, you know, so they've invested, they've gone out and they've worked the transfer portal and they brought in not only good players but the right players for them. And I think that's, you know, that hitting it right in the transfer portals not always get guys the highest rated, but the guys at key spots that you need. Look at Ole Miss and what Lane did last year. That defense was if not the best defense, one of the best two or three defenses in the country.
And you look at that defense and how many guys on that defense were transfers? I'm talking about impact transfers like Walter Nolan, one of the top interior defensive line in the country. They paid a lot of money to get him Jackson dart. Now they didn't get him last year, but they got him out of the portal two years ago.
He goes in the first round this year at quarterback. So more than ever, if you're not Ohio State, if you're not Alabama, if you're not Georgia, if you're not, you know, one of those type teams, you've got to be able to hit it right in the field portal, you know, and you've got to be able to willing to spend and, and bring in guys certainly at those key positions, pass rusher, quarterback, cornerback that you need to have. And I think that's where you know, you look at Arkansas, not that they haven't brought in some guys, Taylor Green's certainly a transfer, but you got to be able to play that game and play it well. I think in, in this day and age certainly if you're.
I don't want to tear Arkansas because I think they're as you said, they've had some pockets of success.
But I wouldn't say, I would say most people, even the most ardent Arkansas supporter wouldn't put Arkansas in that same tier as Bama and Georgia and lsu.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: I want to ask you about Tennessee team, you know real well obviously why has this worked out so well for them? This not a, not a trade necessarily in quarterbacks, but Joey Aguilar coming in for, for Nico Iem Aliyava and it just seems like it is really clicking for them this season. They easily could be undefeated.
[00:13:43] Speaker D: Yeah. And you know what, to play devil's advocate, they could also easily be be a two loss football team right now because they beat Mississippi State not and what was a really good football game.
But I think man, I Think that's the league this year, man. I think it's. The margin for ERA is really, really thin. And I don't think there's a big separation between who supposedly are the two or three best teams and who's the 9th, 10th or 11th team.
And I think Arkansas is maybe a part of that equation. I mean, again, they lose at Ole Miss in a good football game, that they're driving the football late. Think about the complexion. Even if they were to not just get destroyed, but let's say they would have lost to Notre Dame at home had they beaten Ole Miss in a conference game and finished that drive out. I'd say the complexion, first of all, Sam would probably still be the coach and the complexion of the season will look different. I just think we're going to see that the rest of the year. You'll see the carnage in the league and teams beating up on each other.
Tennessee got fortunate, quite frankly. They got Aguilar.
Remember, in the spring portal, it's hard to get really good players sometimes in the spring portal. And it just so happened that he's sitting there at ucla. He knows UCLA is going to bring in Emaliaba, didn't want to sit behind him. Had one year left and you know, as fate would have it, Tennessee had a spot and they're able to get him. He's been a good fit for hypo system. He's got a nice sense of being able to feel pressure and run out and make plays and he throws the deep ball very well. He's been really good with explosive plays down the field and they were terrible two years ago via money off at making, you know, those chunk plays down the field. So I give the kid a cr. He's, he's a mature kid. He's played a lot of football.
He got to campus as early as he could. He had three months essentially to learn that playbook and acclimate himself to the team. And he really went out of his way to be a good teammate. He's a reminder of certainly now in this day and age where guys are coming and going, you know, you're plugging and playing guys, what it means to come in and really be a good teammate and, and try to be that guy with all your teammates, offense, defense, that you show them, hey, all I care about is winning football games and playing my role. And I think that's what Joey did really, really well once he got on campus and he's performed well. But yeah, it's been a pretty good trade. Now Nico played Pretty well this past week against Penn State in that shocking game. But no, I think Tennessee fans and Josh Hyple right now would take that trade in heartbeat.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: You know, in the old days, Chris, we'd talk a lot about revenge when a team beat another team the year before. But you know, in the current era you don't necessarily have a whole lot of players who were on either roster who experienced that last year. But I did think it was interesting when Alabama beat Vanderbilt the other day, you did hear from some of the Alabama players, you know, that it was a little bit of a payback game from the year before. How much do you think that factors in what Arkansas did did to Tennessee here in Fayetteville last year?
[00:16:50] Speaker D: I don't think a lot.
I've never been big on revenge anyway. I mean first maybe the build up to the game, first four, five, six minutes of a game. But you tell you, I was at Vandy Alabama and I don't think that had much to do with that game at all.
Vanderbilt fumbled a football, turned the ball over twice in the red zone, you know, going in for scores. And to me those are the things that matter in those type of games. If Vanderbilt doesn't turn the ball over, that's a much different game. So I think it's playing well and playing clean. You know, if you're on the road like Arkansas is going to be Saturday, it's trying not, you know, you don't want to get down, you don't want to have to play from behind against a team like Tennessee in a stadium that's hard. I mean, Hypo has been money there in Newland Stadium, you know, so I think playing well to start the game, hanging in there, making the second half game, not turning the ball over, those to be are the things that matter. Not so much revenge. And I also think Arkansas in this kind of game has to find ways to, to generate field position, maybe even points. You know, whether it's special teams, whether it's setting your offense up defensively with some forced turnovers, that type of thing.
I do think Tennessee's past defense has been suspect.
And if Taylor Greene can get into some kind of rhythm and they can make some plays down the field, that Arkansas has a chance to make this one of those games you get in the second half where teams are scoring back and forth. You know, Tennessee has now played two of those games really against Georgia, against Mississippi State.
And so I don't know that Tennessee is, they're just not as good defensive as they were last year. They're solid, but they're not as good. They haven't been able to lean as hard on their defense as they did last year. Much of that is because they're playing without their two best corners. And Jamal McCoy, I don't think will be back again this week at corner. So they've had to play some younger guys.
They're not as deep back there, and they've given up some big plays.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Let's get you here on this, Chris.
You talked about the hierarchy in the SEC right now. You look at the top three ranked teams in the poll this week. At least from the sec, it's Ole Miss, A and M and Oklahoma. I don't know. A lot of people would have expected that five, six weeks into the season.
Do we have a good feel, though, for what the hierarchy is this year? Like, do you think we've got a good feel of the teams that are going to be competing for that spot in Atlanta?
[00:19:21] Speaker D: No, I don't think we do. You know, we're right.
Right at the halfway point or close to it.
I'm not going to lie. It's hard for me. If you said, Chris, who are the. Who, you know, who are the best two or three teams right now in the sec? The teams that you think have the best chance to make the playoff? I don't know who I would pick. You know, I think Alabama would probably be one of my picks. Even though they look so bad against Florida State. I felt like before the year they were pretty balanced and would be good on defense.
You know, strangely enough, the one question I had was, well, where is Ty Simpson? Where will he be as far as being one of those quarterbacks who can lead his team? Well, guess what? Ty Simpson is probably the strength of that team right now.
And is there a quarterback in the league playing any better than him?
I don't think so. So I would go Alabama, but Alabama's got some hard games left. You know, they got to play at Missouri this week. They still got to play lsu. They got to play Tennessee.
You know, that's. We'll see. And then Georgia is another one that I still think is pretty good football team.
But they're not Georgia from 21 and they're not Georgia from 22. They're just not that talented and that deep, especially on defense. You know, Tennessee let them up for 41, and then the teams that maybe we haven't given as much respect to Miss Texas, A and M, Ole Miss, we'll see if they can sustain it. A and M probably to me is business physical a team as anybody in the league, the way they like to play. And certainly that's been Mike Elko's calling card throughout his coaching career. We'll see if they can sustain it. I think a lot of that, too is can Marcel Reed continue to improve and develop at quarterback? If he does and they're going to be a tough out and I would count out.
I certainly wouldn't count out. Ole Miss Elaine Kiffin, they've got Washington State this week and then they play at Georgia, which to me is the telltale game for Ole Miss. If they can go in and win in Athens, then there's a chance Ole Miss might run the table.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: The article, the headline, surreal or not, Bobby Petrino's back leading Arkansas, but for how long? Chris Lowe wrote it at on3.com you can read it now. Chris, you always do a great job. Great to talk to you. Hope to see you soon.
[00:21:39] Speaker D: Okay. Good to join you guys. Have a great week.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: All right. Thanks, Chris. When we come back, Christina Long will join me in studio. But first, a word from Kendall King.
[00:21:47] Speaker C: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design.
We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King, Soapbox and Shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals. Professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. Want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass who've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main and Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com Christina Long is in studio. She's been at Bobby Petrino's news conference today. What did we learn?
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it was kind of a continuation of some of the stuff he was saying last week when he spoke on the coaches teleconference, basically about, you know, we're moving past the hurt feelings. We're getting over the new and we're kind of turning the page. And you know, they've got another new staff member in, Jay Hayes who they added to coach the defensive line. He talked a little bit about kind of how he's, he's known him for A really long time. And he kind of immediately thought of him as somebody that they would want when he started, when he made those defensive staff moves last week.
So we talked a little bit about what that will look like. He talked a little bit about some of the operational stuff that will change, which doesn't sound like any dramatic differences there.
So it was. It was kind of a little bit of that kind of outstanding things of. How does this look now with you in charge on an interim basis? All of these interim coaches, all of this staff change. What are we actually. What is the operational kind of day to day, both in a game and then also in practice. And I asked him a little bit about how his practices, if he's changed anything about how they practice and if his. If the way he runs a practice is any different now than it was when he was head coach here before. And he talked about how it kind of has to be because your roster size is different and there's some things with that. But. And then he outlined a little bit of how he runs practices a little bit differently than what Coach Pittman was doing just as a head coach. He has a routine. He likes to get in with his teams and he's kind of shifting them to that. So. So talked a little bit about operational stuff, some personnel stuff with. There were some changes on the depth chart with wide receiver since Jaylen Brown is out after that injury a couple weeks ago.
Nothing crazy, just kind of highlighting some of the guys we haven't seen that much of who might step in.
So he kind of touched on. It was a variety. It was. It was nice. It's. It's funny when something like this happens and we were joking about this before Petrino came in the room about the. Yeah. And you were there, The. The press conference with him and Hunter. It was. The room was packed. It was so crowded, and there was like, nobody there today. And we were jok about like, yeah, nobody's. Nobody's here. We want to actually talk about football, but.
So it was a good mix of kind of. All right, we're talking about the. The narrative of this week and it's your first game as interim and blah, blah. But also. Okay, what do you see from Tennessee? Let's talk some actual football. Let's talk some actual operations.
So I thought it was, you know, a good mix. I didn't feel like there was anything strange or anything that I feel like I'm still wondering about.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: You talk about practice. From all indications, they really got after it in practice last week. Not maybe not your normal bye week routine that they went through.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's kind of why I wanted to ask him a little bit. And I had seen some stuff and I think it might have been in the story from Chris Lowe.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: He talked about it, he talked about.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: How, and he talked to some former players about how practices were or even just about how Bobby sort of behaves.
And it, that was kind of why I wanted to ask the question about, okay, have you, how much have you changed practices? And he, he said a little bit. He said, when I was a young guy in the profession, a guy told me once, you can only coach what you know. And he said, what I know is the schedule that I like and the way that that goes. And then he kind of detailed what his weeks look like of preparation. And so I, I think, you know, if assuming what, what Chris Lowe heard was correct about practices, which I assume that it is, you know, it does sound like not your typical bye week, but I think that's what they need. Especially when you have this much change happening and you want to see. When Hunter Yurich said that if Petrino is going to get this job, he needs to see more effort out of the team. Okay, well you're going to have to do some things to inspire that effort.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: I wonder if Arkansas gets inspired at all by what it saw from UCLA over the weekend. UCLA beaten Penn State the way it did. Now I would, there's, it's easy to, I'm trying to, it's easy to make a comparison in that UCLA fired its coach, Arkansas fired its coach. UCLA played a ranked team, Arkansas playing a ranked team. A lot of different things that are going into play here. Number one, Arkansas is going on the road. You don't have Penn State coming over from 3,000 miles away like happened over the weekend. There are some other things, you know, there too, one of which is that Penn State's, you know, like their, their problem is their offense. They don't have an explosive offense. This is a totally different kind of matchup this weekend for Arkansas and Tennessee. Like you'll get Tennessee by the way.
They've got a receiver who I think is totally flying under the radar right now, but to me could be a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in Chris Brazel. I mean, you look at him through five games, 531 receiving yards, he's averaging 17 yards of catch, he's got seven touchdowns. I believe he's already got two multi score games this season for them. He scored three, I think against Georgia, had two in another game.
He looks like a terrible matchup for a secondary that hadn't been able to cover anything this year. Now maybe things change and they're better prepared. I don't know how much things can change in the course of a couple of weeks. That might just be wishful thinking that they can. As Hunter Jureczyk said last week, you.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: Know, the pixie dust.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Put the pixie dust on.
But anyway, back to ucla. I do wonder if there is some inspiration that teams like Arkansas, maybe other teams that are going through this, Oklahoma State that they can take when they say, look, here's this team that nobody thought would win another game. And not only did they win, but they beat a team that rightfully or wrongly was thought to be a national championship contender this season.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that was, you know, the biggest result of the weekend, obviously. And just because of. Yeah. How bad UCLA had been and didn't. And I know this is. Obviously we mentioned these are different circumstances between UCLA and Arkansas and this is even more different. But didn't Virginia Tech win its first game after firing.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: They won an ACC game.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: I can't remember.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: I don't know if it was the first.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: We're not talking the same level, but I think it was. They won their. It was a game that nobody really expected them to be that competitive. It wasn't the same, you know, beating a ranked team, beating a top contending team or anything like that. But it's, you know, sometimes you see that happen and I think Arkansas, you know, I don't, I don't think that Arkansas is necessarily using that expressly as motivation or anything. But I do think it's interesting to note when you talk about kind of the, the bigger picture narrative and how, how do you get a team motivated when they fired all their coaches? And, and how do you show any improvement? And it, it does at least show you that it, hey, teams do it. It is possible by Petrino. He's auditioning for this job. He is going to fight to do as much as he possibly can with this team. The biggest thing is how much defense, you know, how much improvement can you actually show on defense in over the course of these next few weeks. And this is a really, really tough matchup for that to, to show that right out of the gate.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: Like you said, Virginia Tech beat Wofford.
Am I saying that right? Wofford, you're our South Carolina.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: I thought they beat. Yeah, it is Wofford.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: But then they beat NC State.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: Okay, that's what I'm thinking.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: They beat Wofford the first game.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:29:19] Speaker B: And then they beat NC State. Yeah, at NC State.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Yeah. So. And that was a big deal. You know, NC State is not Penn State and it's not Tennessee, but it's a huge deal.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Decent team in the accele for a.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: Team that was as bad as Virginia Tech was. And, you know, for the same thing with, with UCLA and Penn State and some of these other teams that we're seeing. So I think at the very least it gives you something to look at going into this week when you might say, you know, it's not possible or, or they don't have a shot and say, well, actually they do. And, and it's like we were saying last week, I don't know. I don't know what this team, this Arkansas team is going to look like.
And that's why I'm so excited about this weekend. I'm going to this game. I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be my first time in Knoxville too, but I think I'm looking forward to it so much because there's so much to see. There's so many questions and I think we're going to get some of them answered.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: You and I combined on a story this weekend. I want to talk about this for a minute. The headline on our website says the ties that bind Arkansas football has no shortage of past players and coaches in noteworthy jobs.
Basically, the premise for this story was jobs open, obviously, but I don't know that it's ever been open at a time when there have been so many people who have ties to the program, be it as former coaches or players, or in a lot of cases, both, and that they are in such notable jobs elsewhere. And by notable jobs, I think we didn't define this, but I think that it kind of boiled down to are they an existing FBS head coach or are they a coordinator at a Power 4 school? And so we listed 10 people here. We had Kendall Briles, obviously, and some are loose ties, some are stronger ties. G.J. kenney, who's the head coach at Texas State. Rhett Lashley, obviously. I'm mentioning these in alphabetical order, by the way. Dowell Loggins, head coach right now at Appalachian State, first year there. Barry Looney Jr. Is the offensive coordinator Illinois. Gus Malzon's an OC at Florida State right now. Barry Odom, first year head coach at Purdue. Of course you have Petrino in the role at Arkansas. Jeff Traylor has been a head coach at Texas San Antonio for a while. And Kane Womack is the Defensive coordinator at Alabama.
We heard Hunter Yurczyk say last week that ties to the program are not a prerequisite to get the job. He said, what do you say? It'd be the icing on the cake. I thought he said cherry on top, but icing on the cake, same idea.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd prefer icing to a cherry.
[00:31:45] Speaker B: I'd prefer both, actually. But basically, it's not a prerequisite to get the job.
But anytime that this job comes open, anytime any Razorback job comes open, always.
And I don't think this is exclusive to Arkansas, either. I think this probably happens at every school. Anytime a job comes open, people who have ties to that school are going to be considered for it, or at least they're going to be considered candidates until someone in a position of authority comes out and says, no, they aren't. But with a lot of these, or at least with some of these, like a Rhett Lashley, like, it would be malpractice on both sides. If you're Rhett Lashley and your alma mater comes calling for you in your hometown, basically, and says, we'd like you to come coach for us or at least discuss that opportunity with you. You don't just say no.
And the same thing goes for whoever's leading the Arkansas search.
You can't go out there and look at coaches and say, look, here's one of our guys, and he just took a team to the playoff last year. And so I think that.
Are all 10 of these candidates. No, but I think there's multiple in here who are right.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: And I think that was somebody. I was. Something I was talking to someone about this morning. They were saying, you know, your story about the candidates. And I was like, whoa, these are not necessarily candidates. I guess technically anyone is a candidate. You could call whoever.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: I could be a candidate.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: If you wanted to be, go for it.
But this is more. Hey, if they wanted, you know, maybe these are guys that you add to a staff in the future. Maybe, you know, maybe these are guys that you might see these names come up, whether it's fans doing wishful thinking or whether it's rumors about who's visiting or whatever. These are just names you might have come up, or if not now, maybe in the future, the next time this job opens, because it'll open again. And like you said, I think a lot of people really emphasize Arkansas connections, which, as you said, is not an Arkansas specific thing. This happens at a lot of schools, most schools, even. And. But I do think, you know, I've seen a little bit of sentiment from some of the people like on our message board or just kind of fans about how they feel like they need an Arkansas person. I think sometimes they talk about this more with an athletic director, but they feel like they need somebody who understands, like they need some. They don't want an outsider. And so I think that's where people look at people that have at least worked here if aren't. If not are from the area or something like that.
But there's a lot of guys on here that I think are names to circle for the future but not necessarily being candidates right now. You know, like, I don't think Kane Womack is going to be the next head coach of the Razorbacks. You know, I don't think he's high on their list. I don't think Kendall Briles is really a candidate because of the lack of coaching, head coaching experience. I mean and how much Hunter, your check emphasized that he wants somebody who is proven and tested and is a, is a winner.
And I think unless they get really down on their list, you're not going to start going to people that haven't been a head coach before. Especially because and somebody pointed this out on our board, you tend to go for somebody who is the opposite of what you just had. And you just had a first time head coach, never been a coordinator. And there was a lot of criticism for that. And so maybe, you know, that's part of why now I think there's an especial emphasis. Not that there wasn't in that search. It's not that they knew that's what they, you know, that's not that that they set out on that search wanting that. Yes, they did. But I think now when it is, you know, it's your stated goal that you want a head coach, you, you kind of. I think you need a proven coach.
You're probably not going to go there right away.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: Have they stated that they want to have a head coach like someone with head coaching experience?
[00:35:06] Speaker A: I think that's what your check said.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: I mean he talked about wanting somebody who was proven and who had done it. But I guess let me go back and find his actual quote while we, while we look at this because I don't want to be wrong about that, but I think he was mostly talking about experience and he said familiarity with the sec.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: See, I think that's important. I think that's as important as anything is getting someone who knows the conference and obviously all of these that would be in this.
In this list that we talked about, they know the conference because they. They played in it or they coached in it. Now, some of them, maybe not as much as others. To me, what's important, and I said this last week, is to get someone who.
Unless. Unless it's someone who is just totally proven.
Get someone who has obviously got head coaching experience, but who has been a coordinator in the SEC at minimum, in the past. If you can get somebody who's been a head coach, that's great, but somebody who at least has been a coordinator. Because I feel like in the sec, you know, the coordinators are given such.
They're given such large responsibilities that if they can succeed in their role as a coordinator and in an SEC program, I just feel like that sets them up a lot better for success. Doesn't mean every SEC coordinator is going to have success.
[00:36:29] Speaker D: Sure.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: But, gosh, you look around the SEC right now, and how many of the head coaches were former SEC coordinators? And even like Elaine Kiffin, how much better did he become as a head coach after he had those coordinator responsibilities in a program like Alabama?
[00:36:45] Speaker A: What Eurotech said, and I just wanted to say this, he. The words head coach did not come out of his mouth. What he said was, I think you have to have someone first and foremost, that's a proven winner and proven that they can build a program, someone that can come in and establish what your culture is going to be as a football program on both sides of the ball and special teams.
[00:37:02] Speaker B: So if you build a program that had to be a head coach.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It's. Which. I mean, it gives him the room if.
[00:37:06] Speaker C: For.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: If slash. When they don't get somebody with head coaching experience, they can go, well, we still got what we want. You know, they can. You can spin that into something that works. But.
Yeah. So he did not say head coach. He implied head coach. And then he said. He went on to say ties to. What it means to compete within the Southeastern Conference is really key. So that could be an SEC coordinator.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: I don't. I. I think you've got to have somebody who knows the sec.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: Like, you saw Chad Morris come in here, and Morris is his own special whatever. But, you know, he came in here, he didn't know the conference. I don't think he'd ever coached in the conference.
[00:37:41] Speaker A: I don't think so.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: I mean, he'd been at Clemson, been at Tulsa. He'd been at smu. I don't think he'd ever been in the sec.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: And I think that the level of athlete that you have to have, and in particular, the quality of offensive linemen that you have to have. I think that took a lot of them aback. Like, I think that they figured it out that first year and then they started trying to recruit to it. But then, you know, I mean, that's in. That's in a time frame where you can't go out and buy five new offensive linemen during the off season. And it just snowballed on them to an extent that they never could recover from it. I'm not going to say everybody on that staff was like that. I mean, you had Barry Lunny Jr. In there as a tight ends coach. Obviously he knew what a good SEC player looked like. But I do think that there were a lot of coaches there who, when they got out there on a Saturday in the sec, it was like, wow, this looks a lot different than what's lining up across from us.
[00:38:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Is there anybody else on our list? I'm putting you on the spot kind of, but is there anybody else on our list here who, you know, everybody's mentioned Rhett Lashley. A lot of people have mentioned Gus Malzon, you know, and I'm not asking you to say who you think the next coach is going to be, but is there anybody else?
[00:38:51] Speaker B: So you don't want to do that?
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Well, I mean, you can give me.
[00:38:53] Speaker B: That kind of pressure.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: You can if you want. But I mean, is there anybody on this list that you don't think is. Is in the obvious tier of like, all right, they're probably going to call this guy. Is there anybody you think is kind of on the fringe that you think could be worth a look?
So, like, not a Lashley, not Miles on, not maybe Odom, like, is there somebody that you think is maybe, like, I don't know, a sleeper or something like that, but just somebody that you think is maybe worth a look?
That is.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: What does Dow Loggins do this year?
That's the only one, because Appalachian State, you look at Eli Drinkowitz came from there.
[00:39:24] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: To a much lesser degree. Scott Satterfield has had some success after coming out of Appalachian State, just because that's a program that has put some successful coaches into Power4jobs. They're only 3 and 2 this year. I don't think they're going to have the type of season that, you know, obviously they're not going to have the type of season that Drink was out there because he only lost one game.
But if they were to win their conference and you get far enough down the list.
Maybe Loggins. But again, it would. It would surprise me. It would be. It would. It would fit the definition of what you just said as a fringe candidate.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Right. I feel like if you get. If you're getting down the list enough, I feel like at that point, I mean, depending on, obviously, what the team does for the rest of the year, you maybe are looking more at Petrino than at somebody like that.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Depending on what the team does if they don't win another game. Okay.
[00:40:14] Speaker B: Well, it. I don't know.
Petrino's the fallback guy.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:18] Speaker B: I mean, that's. That's what I think he is, the fallback guy. It's. If you can't go out on the market and find somebody better than him, hey, here's somebody you've already got in house.
You're not gonna have to pay out his contract to go hire him.
You know, I said this last week. His floor, I think, is higher than the ceiling has been for the last six years or even longer than that at Arkansas.
Does he crash out spectacularly everywhere he goes? Yeah, it seems like it. Or for the most part, Missouri State, a little bit different story. But they didn't have a winning record their last season when they were expected to be really good.
[00:40:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: But I do think that he's the type of coach that can come in and at least kind of get you stabilized and in the conversation for three or four years.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe so.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: I don't know if fallback may not be the right term there, but it's nice to have that. I think, for Arkansas that, hey, here's somebody who wants the job if you don't wait around too long and he finds another job. Like, he keeps talking about marketability in these last eight, nine weeks. He's talking about himself a little bit there because he's. There was this thought a couple of years ago, does he ever want to be a head coach again?
Because after Louisville, he took a year off and then he lands in the FCS and then he leaves there. And he's been a coordinator now for a few years.
To me, his demeanor in the last week or so in the public appearances that he's made makes it seem like he wants to have one more shot at being a head coach. And I really do. You know, I take him at his word in that I think he would love to be the head coach again at Arkansas and maybe try to right some of the past wrongs, because the condition that they're in, this long spiral into SEC irrelevancy Began with him getting fired.
[00:42:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: So, yeah.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: And there's been a lot of people talk about that, about, you know, this is why we're in this situation to begin with. Do we want to go back to, you know, do we want to do this again? And I, you know, I don't know. I don't have the answer.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: Well, and there's Split Zone duo. I know you like this podcast. They did some research a couple of years ago on coaches who had been rehired at jobs, you know, like Mack Brown at North Carolina or Bill Snyder at Kansas State. Petrino at Louisville was one of the ones that they looked at.
It hardly ever goes as well the second time around. And one of the things that they didn't get into, but you know that I look at them and I say, well, this is different. This is different. The leagues that they step back into are a lot of times way different than what they used to have success in. You like Petrino, when he was at Louisville the first time around, they were in the Conference USA for two years and then they went to the Big East.
They were a, you know, they were a power in there. He goes back and he's in the ACC now. They had some success in the acc, but they were never going to run the ACC quite like they did the Conference USA or the Big East. Same thing goes, he steps back in at Arkansas. When he coached at Arkansas, it was a 12 team league. Didn't have A and M, didn't have Missouri, didn't have Texas or ou. It's a much different league than, you know, what he could potentially, what he's definitely going to be stepping into as an interim coach this year. And so I just think that there's always that nostalgia. I like to say nostalgia is undefeated, but you have to look at it where the program a lot of times is in just a much different setting than it was the first time around.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: I think it would be very hard to expect that Bobby Petrino, Arkansas Part 2, would be the same as Bob Trino, Arkansas.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: What if it was? And that's what everybody. That's what everybody's.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: The thing is, it's like it won't be unless.
[00:43:58] Speaker B: I mean, if it is.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, but it's just. To me, it's like, I almost feel like you just can't go into it expecting that. No, you're going to get.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: I totally agree. Totally agree. All right, Christina, Good stuff. Christina's going to be back here in studio with me tomorrow where we'll start talking about our SEC efficiency ratings that always.
That's exciting to me at least.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: I used them to make my picks this week.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: Did you?
[00:44:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: Did you pick Missouri?
[00:44:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. We'll get into that tomorrow. Appreciate you being with us. Hope that we see you at our website, whole hogsports.com or on our show tomorrow. Have a great day, everybody.
