Posts Tagged ‘arkansas’

Les Miles got a contract extension and raise from LSU on Wednesday. In the wake of an SEC championship in 2011 and a 10-2 regular-season in 2012, that LSU decided to reward Miles for a job well done is no surprise. But one can not ignore the timing, just one day after reports surfaced that Arkansas was prepared to offer Miles a five-year, $27 million contract to move one state to the north. It just wouldn't be Les Miles if there wasn't an oddball factor complicanting things.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva stated that the Arkansas report had nothing to do with Miles' extension although, to his credit, he also said that he knows the media won't believe him. 

"It has been my plan all along to give (Miles) a raise, and that's what we're doing," Alleva said. 

LSU won't win the SEC this season, but Alleva is most pleased with Miles' ability to keep the Tigers in contention year after year. 

"It's not always about winning championships," he said. "It's about being in the hunt to win championships."

Miles, whose 85-20 record makes him the fifth-winningest coach in SEC history, said that he has spoken with Araknsas AD Jeff Long, but not to the extent that was reported. According to Miles, there conversations were preliminary and "fell short of major interests." Miles denied he was offered the five-year, $27 million deal. Miles said he talked with Long to recommend other candidates for the Razorbacks' vacant head coaching position. The two worked together at Michigan where Miles was an assistant coach and Long was an assistant athletics director.

Speaking of recommending other candidates, Miles was asked about LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis' candidacy for the Tennessee head coaching job. 

"John Chavis is a tremendous coach who has a good overview of what a successful program looks like," said Miles. "If Tennessee was looking for a quality candidate, John Chavis should be one."

Miles' extension, which will last seven years, has not disclosed financial terms as, per the press release, they are still being negotiated. The USA Today coaching salary database lists Miles' salary at over $3.85 million.

Miles said that he gets embarrassed discussing money but offered, "I'm fortunate to have an occupation that pays a tremendous market value."

More than anything, he's glad that his family will be in Baton Rouge for the long haul, saying, "I think home is what we call this place."

Arkansas officially dismissed interim head coach John L. Smith on Saturday morning, following a 20-13 loss to LSU on Friday. Smith stepped into an awkward situation on a 10-month contract and, after inheriting a preseason top 10 team, led the Razorbacks to a 4-8 season.

Here is what Arkansas AD Jeff Long's statement: 

"With our 2012 football season concluded, I met earlier today with Coach John L. Smith to inform him we would be making a change in leadership within our football program.  I have great respect for Coach Smith and I thank him for the sincere commitment he has shown our program. He made a difficult decision in uncertain times to return from his alma mater to guide the young men in our football program, and I will always be grateful for his efforts.

"I would also like to express my gratitude to our assistant football coaching staff, and our support staff. They have shown remarkable professionalism and a true commitment to the student-athletes in our program.  They demonstrated great character in maintaining their commitment to our program."

Here is what Long said about finding the Hogs' new head coach.

"Last April, when I appointed Coach Smith for the 2012 season, I indicated I thought this would provide us the opportunity to take the time necessary to identify the right coach for the future and to do so in a time that would allow us to attract quality candidates. Our new coach will be an individual who shares the passion for success our fans do and who is willing to work relentlessly to achieve our goals.  It will be someone who embraces the expectations of winning a national championship and succeeding in the classroom with discipline, honesty and integrity. The leader of our student-athletes will continuously stress academic accountability and the value of earning a degree from the University of Arkansas. Our new coach will embrace what this program means not just to the university, but to the entire state of Arkansas and will share the vision for the future success of Razorback Football."

Smith provided this statement on Saturday's news.

"I am very grateful to Chancellor (David) Gearhart and Jeff Long for the opportunity they gave me to return to the University of Arkansas and coach this football team. I have enjoyed guiding this group and I am extremely proud of how everyone in our program stuck together and showed tremendous character by competing throughout the season. Everyone on our staff has my appreciation as they all believed in our goals and stayed committed to the development of these young men. 

"I would like to thank the Razorback fans for demonstrating their support for these student-athletes and this coaching staff during a challenging time. I enjoyed every day of this experience and this profession has been and will continue to be rewarding to me. During my time here, it has been incredible to be a part of helping this program grow and I wish everyone involved nothing but success in the future."

I spoke with several people today regarding the search at Arkansas. 

When asked yesterday about rumors that he was considered a candidate at Arkansas, Gary Patterson offered a somewhat vague, "I don't think there's anything to that." Today I spoke with two sources close to Gary and both said there is nothing to the rumor, "Gary will be the coach at TCU next year and for a long time."

There seems to be a lot of positioning going on still in this search and I continue to believe that Arkansas AD Jeff Long won't decide until he sits down and discusses the opportunity with his preferred candidate after they finish their regular season. However, a source with knowledge of the search tells me that Long is very interested in speaking with Bo Pelini about his interest in the job. 

I don't have a dog in this hunt and am simply relaying information but for a lot of reasons I could see Pelini to Arkansas happening, and truthfully I think he would be successful there. He has learned a lot about how to handle the pressure of a large "engaged" fan base over the past few years in Lincoln and he knows his way around the SEC. 

As always, we'll keep you posted as this one plays out. 

A young man from Arkansas called last night to ask me a few questions about the search at Arkansas. He asked a number of logical questions (would they really be interested in Charlie Strong, would Gary Patterson take the call, could Tuberville win here, etc...) and we had a very good talk for the first few minutes...

And then the whole conversation changed when he asked me if David Shaw would take the job! 

I was in stunned disbelief when he asked me that.  "David Shaw, Stanford's coach?" Yes, that's who he asked about.  I literally didn't know how to answer that in a polite manner. Why in the world would he ask if David Shaw would take the job.?.? 

Well he tells me that someone who he thought was credible said Shaw might be the guy.  The conversation got real, real weird at this point.  

Readers of FootballScoop generally are a pretty smart group when it comes to coaches and coaching. We're not trying to insult your knowledge, nor were we trying to insult that of the young man who called and asked; but allow us to recap who David Shaw is...

First, Shaw's father is Willie Shaw (longtime NFL coach who also coached in two different stints at Stanford). David himself played at Stanford for four years. He then went into coaching...with the goal of getting back to Stanford, his favorite place in the world. After a couple of stops in the NFL (Eagles, Raiders and Ravens), Shaw spent one year at University of San Diego before coming to Stanford with Jim Harbaugh for the '07 season as the offensive coordinator. Harbaugh, Shaw and their entire staff completely rebuilt Stanford's program in four seasons and when Harbaugh accepted the job with the 49ers, Stanford's administration offered the head coaching position to David. Unless he has aspirations to become President one day, we're pretty sure David Shaw has the job he has worked towards his entire life. 

This past Spring I had the pleasure of visiting with Shaw and his staff in their offices in Palo Alto and I routinely stay in touch with them. Great staff. These guys enjoy working together, they are on the same page and they have a great plan. To a man, every guy in the building looks up to Shaw. He has a presence and is a tremendous leader and a great representative of Stanford University.

Anyone who has ever been to Stanford's campus, much less worked there should no that there is no chance in the world that David Shaw would be looking for another job. 

OK, sorry for that. Back to last night. In less words than above I tried my best to be polite about this one and simply said that I'm highly, highly confident that David Shaw would not even consider listening to talk about the Arkansas job. 

Next...he says, "What about Mike Gundy?"   ---   What? Why would you think Mike Gundy is looking to leave Oklahoma State? Again, he said this is a guy that people are talking about.  

I just don't know who people are listening to. Mike Gundy is not leaving Oklahoma State. Not now, not anytime soon.  Seriously people. Talk to these coaches (or someone who knows them...or someone who knows anything about them) before offering this speculation that "Mike Gundy is a candidate at Arkansas". This stuff is ridiculous.

And just when I thought the call couldn't get any crazier, he says "Would Chip Kelly take the job if offered?" My head exploded. 

Why on earth would you think Chip Kelly would leave Oregon to come to Arkansas? 

Same response, "Well this guy says the Chip could be interested." 

I had to end the call. Simply couldn't take it. Didn't mean to be abrupt; but c'mon man. Chip Kelly? Have you guys ever been to Eugene and seen what Chip has to work with? The assets available to him are the best I've seen at the college level. Anything he needs for his program is there. If Nike's working on something new, guess who they are testing it with? Sure, the NFL is intriguing to Chip; but Arkansas? What in the world would make someone think that Chip Kelly would ask for that job?

I apologize for a bit of a rant here; but if anyone says (or said) that David Shaw, Mike Gundy or Chip Kelly has a shot to be the next head coach at Arkansas the person, or people, saying that needs to be questioned. 

So who will be the next head coach at Arkansas... in all honesty the indications that I have from sources in the profession are that Jeff Long doesn't know yet who he will hire. He has a list of coaches he plans to speak with and those conversations will take place at the appropriate time. One of those conversations will spark the "I've found my man" moment in Long's head and then he will know who he is moving forward with.  Sure, we've heard the whispers of "this coach is interested" and "Long's interested in speaking with ____". We'll keep you posted as more concrete information becomes available to us. 

It's hard to believe we're sitting at the halfway point of the 2012 college football season. We could have sworn Labor Day was just a week or two ago. Regardless, 50 percent of the season is already in the books. Here's what we found noteworthy from Week 7 of the college football slate.

1. Move over Ohio, is New Hampshire the new Cradle of Coaches? Probably not, but this stat (courtesy of Bruce Feldman) is astounding: Coaches from the state of New Hampshire, Chip Kelly and Dan Mullen, currently sit at 12-0 so far this season. Not bad for a state with zero FBS programs and just one FBS signee in 2012. 

2. Speaking of the Buckeye State, Ohio stands as the top state in college football right now. Urban Meyer is 7-0 and ranked No. 7 in the AP poll in his first season at Ohio State. Butch Jones is 5-0 and ranked No. 21 at Cincinnati. Frank Solich has Ohio at 7-0 and No. 25 in the AP. In fact, the MAC East standings read Ohio, Kent State (5-1, 3-0), Bowling Green (4-3, 2-1) and Miami of Ohio (3-4, 2-1) while Toledo also sits atop the MAC West at 6-1 and 4-0 in the league. Ohio's seven FBS teams are a combined 38-14. Oh yeah, and Mount Union is also 5-0 and has allowed only seven points all season. 

3. Arkansas seems to have put the wheels back on the wagon. One week after handling Auburn 24-7, the Razorbacks again looked like the top 10 team many expected to see in a 49-7 dismantling of Kentucky. No coach in the country could use a two-game winning streak more than the embattled John L. Smith. Yes, the wins came against teams that are a combined 0-8 in the SEC. But when you are 1-4, a two-game winning streak is a two-game winning streak.

4. Duke missed its first chance at bowl eligibility. David Cutcliffe's team jumped out in front of Virginia Tech 20-0 only to see the Hokies reel off the game's final 41 points. Duke's next three opponents (North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State) are a combined 16-4 until a date with 2-4 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Nov. 17.

#Duke's David Cutcliffe reiterates Tuesday statement that #Hokies' Frank Beamer is the top coach in the country

— Laura Keeley (@laurakeeley) October 10, 2012

5. Congrats to James Franklin and Vanderbilt for finally cracking the code to Florida's fourth quarter defense. After not allowing a point in any fourth quarter this season, Vanderbilt managed to register 10 points in the final frame on Saturday night. It wasn't enough to pull the upset as Will Muschamp's team improved to 6-0 with a 31-17 win. After being outscored 72-22 in fourth quarters last season, the Gators hold a 54-10 fourth quarter edge this season. Florida also claims come-from-behind wins over Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU and Vanderbilt. Conditioning was clearly an emphasis of Muschamp in the off-season, and strength coach Jeff Dillman has definitely succeeded in transforming his team.

6. We're glad to see that Jerry Kill plans to coach again this Saturday. Kill suffered a seizure in his private locker room less than an hour after Minnesota's 21-13 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. Coach Kill was released from a Minneapolis hospital on Sunday morning.

7. Wisconsin has returned to form after a shaky start to the season. New offensive coordinator Matt Canada and interim offensive line coach Bart Miller have found their footing, and the Badgers' offense is back to its old ways. In a 38-14 win over Purdue, the Wisconsin offense rushed 57 times for 467 yards and four touchdowns. Starting tailback Montee Ball contributed 247 yards and three touchdowns on 29 rushes. After rushing for just 3.3 yards per carry over their first five games, Wisconsin is churning out 7.1 yards per attempt over its last two games. The Badgers are 5-2 and 2-1 in the Big Ten, a full two wins ahead of the pack of bowl-eligible teams in the Leaders Division.

8. Oregon will face an interesting challenge at Arizona State on Thursday night. In his first season in Tempe, Todd Graham has the Sun Devils sitting at 5-1 and ranked No. 24 in the Coaches Poll. Paul Randolph's defense is far and away the best unit in the Pac-12 on paper. Arizona State leads the league in total defense by nearly 60 yards per game over second place USC. The Sun Devils is giving up just 3.92 yards per play, nearly a full yard better than the rest of the conference. Randolph's unit also leads the conference in pass efficiency defense (4.86 yards per attempt), and its 3.23 yards per carry allowed is over a full yard better than Oregon's Pac-12 opposition to date. And then there's this: the last time Oregon traveled to the Grand Canyon State on a Thursday night was in 2007 when the No. 2 ranked Ducks lost to Arizona, 34-24. Chip Kelly and co. will hope history doesn't repeat itself this week. Scott and Zach from our staff will be at this game. More on this to come later in the week.

9. Notre Dame trailed for the first time this season on Saturday. The Fighting Irish actually trailed for a full quarter against Stanford after falling behind 10-3 at halftime; they didn't tie the game until a 24-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Brian Kelly's team trailed again 13-10 before scoring the game's final 10 points in a 20-13 overtime win. Bob Diaco's defense still has not (officially) surrendered an offensive touchdown in four full games. 

10. Midweek action begins this week in college football. Starting with Louisiana - Lafayette at North Texas tomorrow night, we will have Tuesday or Wednesday night football all but one week through Thanksgiving.