The 4 Reasons Razorback Football Is At Its Lowest Point in Decades

Do not give me this jive about upcoming recruiting classes and players not “giving their all.” Here are the real four reasons Razorback football is at the lowest point in my lifetime.

1) Somewhere toward the end of Broyles’ tenure, the UA athletic department started to be more interested in making money than winning and the greed shifted into overdrive under Jeff Long. This is how you have an athletic department that initially thinks it can block off the entire lower bowl of Verizon Arena for donor-only tickets and turn away the fans who have been buying those for years. I mean do these people ever look in the stands at Bud Walton and Razorback Stadium? All they are really doing is putting up more barriers for fans to become customers, and fans in the seats are critical for a winning program. When the slobbering Hog left the court at Bud Walton Arena, so did the soul of Razorback athletics. It was symbolic of a new era of playing corporate branding marks for the internet marks.

2) Three incredibly misguided coaching hires by Jeff Long: A) Friggin’ Petrino — The whole world knew it was going to end badly (just not in a neck brace). But Arkansas was willing to sell our souls for a season and a half of winning football. I am so glad we caved to Petrino’s demands for artificial turf also. Looks awesome on TV. B) John L. Smith — Only Jeff Long and U.S. Soccer think you can have an interim coach for a full season/year in a highly competitive environment and have good things happen. An interim coach… in the SEC. Of all the things on this list, John L. Smithing it (phrase trademark of Scott Faldon) is maybe the biggest. C) Bielema — A stubborn Big Ten coach with a huge ego and drinking problem who thinks he can out-Alabama Alabama is a recipe for disaster in the SEC. I guess I can’t fault Long for giving it a try (really I can) but I can fault him for never faulting Bielema.

3) I’m sorry to say this but our fans are the worst. We can’t enjoy any degree of success. Hatfield puts out the best football program in campus history and “oh well he lost big to Miami got to go.” They get Nolan fired and then stop going to games for 20 years. They get a team in the SEC championship game and all they can do is bitch about Nutt and Mustain the whole night. When Reggie Fish dropped that punt and the internet came unhinged about the Springdale people, it was over for Razorback football. Every Razorback football game at Razorback Stadium should start with the Undertaker’s entrance theme because WE DUG THIS GRAVE.

4) The guy who is president would love the media covering Razorback football because all it does is operate as a public relations wing of the program. There is no watchdog, no checks and balances, and the recruiting class is golden every year. Imagine if reporters covering government operated this way. There is no fourth estate covering Razorback football. And no, Wally, turns out the truth was NOT that Arkansas was as good as Auburn in a 34-3 loss.

So is Chad Morris in over his head? Who wouldn’t be in this mess! It is a problem much larger than the head coach, and I have no idea where they will find the solution.