Long Willing to Pay Big-Time Coach

The last two weeks have been a nightmare for Arkansas football. First they suffered the worst non-conference loss since the 70’s to Louisiana-Monroe, and then followed it up with a 52-0 beat down from top ranked Alabama. Most, including me (despite my prediction), knew it would likely get out of hand. I’m not sure anyone expected us to lose by 17 points more than Western Kentucky last week. The loss was the first time the Hogs had been shutout at home since 1966. All these negative milestones cannot be affecting the football team in a positive way.

Most fans are upset, and want change sooner than later. I do not expect Jeff Long to make a change before the season is up, but relief could be in site. According to sources, Long is willing to make the right candidate the highest paid coach in college football. That is a huge commitment, when coaches like Nick Saban make north of four million annually.

If Long is able to find someone of that caliber, he would likely have to pay them that much. Arkansas, while being a marquee job, is not an elite position by any means. It is a little tougher to recruit here than in other SEC states, therefore player development becomes more important than ever. Bobby Petrino was a great developing coach, which is one of the reasons for his recent success despite pedestrian recruiting marks the last several seasons.

A candidate like Jon Gruden or Pete Carroll would demand a large paycheck, if Long could convince them to come to Arkansas. It would likely take a horrible season in Seattle for Carroll to even consider returning to college football.

Other candidates that Arkansas fans have been vocal about are Chris Peterson of Boise State and Gary Patterson of TCU. Both have expressed lack of interest in the position, and neither has experience leading a team through a “BCS” conference.

After you look at Arkansas’ success with fund-raising the last two seasons, it becomes clear that Long has to make a hire that not only has a name that will give fans the confidence they can get the job done, but can actually get the job done.

Long’s hire will affect the future of Arkansas’ football program for years to come.