OT: Arkansas to hire John L. Smith
http://twitter.com/PeteThamelNYT/statuses/194501539845517312
Oh boy. This will be fun. RT @AP_Top25: Breaking: AP source: Arkansas hiring former assistant John L. Smith as interim coach
...if his contract includes a rider.
there must be another John L. Smith in the coaching profession. Good luck to him, though. I rather liked him at MSU.
he was the new head coach of Weber State? He also contacted Arkansas on his own.
it just might work.
Either way, it'll be entertaining. Good to have you back, John L.
I see the punchline, but where's the joke? Seriously, I thought he was going to be stuck in FCS forever.
Herp Derp. Quick look at his wikipedia page. LINK
This makes no sense whatsoever on so many different levels. You can't tell me that there aren't at least 20 better candidates who would drop everything to coach at Arkansas. Somewhere there's a young coach at some minor school who's just waiting for his opportunity to kick serious ass at a BCS-level program with a recruiting base to kill for and facilities that would make whatever he's had to work with pale in comparison. A 39-year old guy with a funny German name got his chance a bunch of years ago, and he showed that Don Canham was a genius when it came to hiring coaches. It boggles my mind when a program like Arkansas goes with an over-the-hill retread like John L.
Not in late April. And not as an interim coach. You get a guy who would leave his team at this point of the season, and you basically get a guy like the one you just had to fire.
Why make a bad situation worse? Is there anything that John L. Smith could do that the Offensive Coordinator couldn't do for one lousy season at presumably half the price?
The fan meltdown and all of the LSU/'Bama rofling over at ESPN right now is another distraction the Razorbacks team could do without. Speaking of distract.....Hey, look, Dabo Swinney is still the HC at Clemson!
I'm going to guess that naming anyone named Petrino head coach was a non-starter. So to keep him and the rest of the staff, they're bringing back Smith.
This isn't the best thing they could have done, but I don't think it necessarily makes things worse. Those LSU and Tide fans may not be altogether pleased with the end result if the Arkansas staff stays together and Smith doesn't mess with the status quo.
Stick a fork in them brothers. They're done.
There is a rumor that there have been offers extended to Teddy Ruxpin and H.R. Pufnstuf for positions as offensive and defensive coordinators.
Arkansas fans think hell be okay and let the staff do everythng...... HAHAHAH. Better find the link to Fayettevilles police scanner for September.
screw this up so badly? Since they couldn't get a big name (or any good HC) to take the job now, they were committed to a search next year. Bringing back JLS sends the message to the current staff that none of them will get the permanent job. How is that for a motivator? They should have elevated an existing assistant to interim HC-that might at least create some motivation for the existing team and assistants. Then Long tops off his mistake by bringing Smith in-a has been short-timer. The only winner is Smith, who gets to fatten his retirement fund.
Wow, if John L. Smith can get hired as a head coach again, then there is redemption for all of us.
but not from JLS's.
While he was Petrino's special teams coach for three years and Petrino had been his assistant at Lville, JLS had just taken a long-term HC gig at Weber State...his ALMA MATER. So he's leaving his alma mater to get a one-year interim gig at Arkansas, one he's likely going to caretake for a year until they get a real coach.
Why would JLS do this...?
Oh, he's JLS.
they were better off keeping Evel Knievel
he's one hell of a talent evaluator.
Arkansas special teams coach John L. Smith has no doubts about Ryan Mallett's ability to be a college punter. "If he were not a quarterback and could spend more time working at it, he could probably be a heck of a punter, maybe even punt at the next level," Smith said.
Oh, Arkansas. Everyone needs to learn a lesson sometime.
Oh boy
Would it be wrong to hope for a major Saban scandal to develop over the next few months? I like the sound of Interim head coach Bobby Williams and his Crimson Tide in Dallas...
The guy actually recruited some decent offensive talent. And when the offense was working, it was fun as hell to watch.
It was his defense, and particularly his secondary, and general asshattery that made him such a disgrace.
Likeable though, if you get past the whole "ran your program into the ground" part.
Some jokes just write themselves...
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:55 PM ^
but I hope JLS has a decent season at Arkie.
Would have been a better hire. If you are going to hire States garbage, at least get it while it is still fresh.
April 24th, 2012 at 11:15 PM ^
Dantonio's a better coach than John L? You're a genius.