Gus Malzahn has been hired away from Arkansas as the CO-OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR at TULSA.
Let's stop and take a minute to digest the above:
CO-OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR: He didn't take a step down in terms of schools to become the sole offensive coordinator. He took a step down in schools so he could remain the co-offensive coordinator (few would argue he wasn't getting a lot of help calling plays at AR).
TULSA: He's going from AR to TULSA. Really? Ok...uhh whatever.
As controversial as this may be, I don't think Gus left AR under his own free will. I think he was asked to leave. Why else would he make the move? It's not logical.
Now, this brings up another issue. Houston Nutt has some BIG cajones for running Gus out of town. BIG. HUGE. MASSIVE. Gus was immenently popular in AR. So much so that all the good plays that were run this year were perceived to be Gus' and all the bad ones were perceived to be Houston's.
Let's put another piece of the puzzle together. A couple of years ago when the Hogs needed a defensive coordinator, they FINALLY went out and spent some $$$ to get a top notch guy in Reggie Herring.
Further, it was announced last week that the Hogs had fired their director of football operations in a cost cutting move. Now, Frank has always run a pretty lean department but I've never heard of someone being fired up there to cut costs. I'm sure I'm not privy to all that has gone on, but I've never heard of it.
Could it be, maybe, that the Hogs have made a lucrative offer to a top notch offensive coordinator, fired their director of football operations in order to help pay this guy, and told Gus that he was being demoted or he could leave? Gus, understandably, left.
The other option is that the Hog football program is in such a state of complete disarray under Houston that Gus, a stand up guy by all accounts, pulled a Eddie Sutton and said, "I would have crawled from Fayetteville to Tulsa."
Why does it seem like every football season under HDN there is some kind of drama? Why can't we just be happy with our 10 win season, build off of it in recruiting, start next season as a top 15 team, and make a run at the National Championship? Why?
There have been rumors all season about staff discord, unhappy players, yadda yadda yadda. I've been reluctant to believe it b/c the people spreading these rumors (on the internet primarily) are known malcontents. However, maybe I should reassess who I listen to.
One can only hope that the first schenario I proposed above is true: we finally spent some $$$ and hired a top notch OC. Otherwise, if we go back to the completely unimaginative running game prior to Malzahn with HDN as OC, and we continue to show no improvement in the passing game, I think I'm permanantly off the HDN bandwagon. Enough is enough....unless he wins 10 games again next year. :-)
Disgruntled Pappa signing off.....
UPDATE: Unless something changes, the Hogs are going to hire someone away from an NFL team to serve as the OC. The name is familiar to those of you that follow the Hogs closely. Send me an e-mail for further information but it will be out soon.
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