State of the Razorback Nation

I normally don't read Wally Smalls, but he hit the nail on the head this morning. Consider the following:

Nutt expects his assistants to tell him when they're being considered for another job. He expects honesty and a forthright demeanor from those under his employ. He didn't afford Gus the same luxury.

It has been confirmed by others beside Wally that Nutt began the search for another OC prior to Gus leaving. It has been confirmed that Nutt didn't tell Gus he was making this move. This is dishonest and does not promote a team atmosphere.

In my job, if I learned that my boss was looking for someone who would take part of my duties away and didn't tell me/explain to me he was doing this, I'd pack my bags too. Nutt screwed up.

This whole thing is more than just Gus leaving. It's more than just Mustain leaving. It's more than losing Kodi. It's more than (soon to happen) losing Ziemba, which by the way is going to send another shockwave through the Razorback Nation. This is about an athletic program that has run amok in its efforts to sell tickets.

Make no mistake: Gus wasn't hired b/c anyone thought he would help win games in the short term. I don't even believe that JFB and Lindsey thought that. Gus was hired to get the Springdale kids. This hire was forced on Nutt and that was a mistake. In hindsight, you could see this disaster coming for a year now. You don't force a coach to hire an OC with a different offensive philosophy than his own. JFB screwed up.

The Springdale parents are at fault here too, but that probably goes without saying. Their failure to not hover over their kids every move, and their unrealistic expectations of the coaching staff's offensive gameplan, is almost sick and twisted. However, they were made promises about the program their kids were signing with. These promises didn't come true and I doubt effort was expended on the part of the head coach to explain to them why these promises didn't come to fruition. This led to the parents meeting with JFB. Not a good move, but the deeper I get into this the more I understand it. They didn't trust Nutt. I'm sure these parents spoke with Gus. Gus probably didn't have much motivation to alleive their fears as he was lied to, chastized, and ostracized during his time at UA. Would you have much motivation to defend those who had
done this to you? I wouldn't.

This isn't about national perception either. In light of the Springdale parents, the national media isn't going to skewer the UA program. That doesn't mean the national media shouldn't dig deeper and let the skewer-ing commence.

JFB and Lindsey promised Gus he would have control of the offense. That control was essentially taken away a few games into the season. JFB and Lindsey never should have made this promise.

Nutt et al. promised the Springdale kids they were going to run the Springdale offense. They knew this wasn't true. They knew they didn't have the talent at QB to run it and they knew a Frosh QB wasn't going to survive in the SEC. They made this promise to get those kids. Telling kids what they want to hear in the recruiting process is one thing. Outright lying about completely making over your offense is another.

Now, I don't fault Nutt et al. for not allowing Gus to run his offense as much as I fault them for lying about allowing Gus to run his offense. What fool would run a heavily QB dependent offense when you have little experience at QB and two AA's at TB? I would have run the same offense they did. I fault Nutt et al. for lying to Gus and the Springdale kids/parents about it.

However, Nutt was in a no win situation here. He could NOT hire Gus. He could be COMPLETELY honest with Gus and the Springdale kids. He also could have lost all of those kids and this meltdown would have occurred last year. However, Nutt understandably wanted to keep his job so he bent to his boss(es) wishes, hired Malzahn under false pretenses, recruited the Springdale kids under false pretenses, and hoped everything would work out in the end.

It didn't.

In summary:

1. JFB and Lyndsey never should have forced Nutt to hire Gus, but they wanted to sell tickets. They also never should have lied to Gus about the direction he would be allowed to take with the offense. Afterall, JFB himself told the Springdale parents that the Head Coach has the right to set the direction of the football program. Does this not run counter to them promising parents what the direction of the football program would be?

2. Nutt was in a no win situation, but he should have stuck to his guns. He never should have allowed JFB and Lyndsey to force him to hire Gus. He never should have lied to the Springdale kids and parents. He probably would have lost his job for doing so, but at least he would have done the right thing. Again, he knew they were going to be a run oriented offense this year and he didn't have the experience at QB to run a complicated passing offense. He lied to save his job in the short term.

3. The Springdale parents are insane but I think I can sympathize with them. However, they didn't do their kids any favors by speaking with the media and scheduling meetings with the AD. To a degree I understand. They didn't trust Nutt. However, PR experts they are not. Their PR failures did nothing to help their kids or the program.

4. I don't know if Hog fans perception of their program will ever truly recover under the current leadership. I have lost faith in JFB and Nutt's ethics and management style and I don't think I'm part of only 5%.

We can look to the future. We can say, "Well, hire a good offensive coordinator and everything is fine." We can say that. However, we're treating the symptoms and not the sickness.