Let the Razorback Fans Apology Tour Begin
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A little over a year and a half ago, a story went out at allHogs calling for the Eric Musselman apology tour to begin after he made the program look bad by trying to start a fight with San Diego State fans and holding an "L" up to his forehead while cursing them following a tournament win over the Aztecs.
It was a bad look for Arkansas basketball and ultimately, San Diego State got its revenge by reaching he national championship game. Now, in much the same vein, it's time for a different apology tour to start up at Arkansas.
However, this one has nothing to do with coaches. It's all the Hogs fans who couldn't let the process play out before freaking out and ripping into their athletics director because they thought he was going to come to a press conference after a few weeks of failure with something slightly above a dead carcass.
There were even people sarcastically claiming, at least that's how it was taken in the allHogs offices, that the coach of Fayetteville High School was going to be named the next coach. It looked like half the fan base intended to march on the Razorbacks athletics complex and remove Yurachek with pitchforks and bull whips themselves.
While the fans and half the state's media rode the emotional wave of every rumor, no matter how far fetched, Yurachek calmly handled business behind the scenes. That video he had his communications team put out of Musselman reads much different now.
The former Arkansas coach admitted during his introductory press conference at USC that he was sitting back in Fayetteville dealing with a ton of anxiety because of how long Trojans athletics director Jennifer Cohen was taking making her decision. That sounds like a man who had a lot of pressure on him behind the scenes to get wherever he's going to go soon because Yurachek was ready to get cracking on landing a big fish.
"You're still here?" he said in the video.
Yurachek is warranted to put out a video today of him sitting in Bud Walton watching the No. 10 national seed gymnastics team move on to the national finals, at Bogle Park while the softball team follows up a series win over No. 3 Georgia with a series win over No. 11 Missouri, at Baum-Walker as the No. 1 baseball team sweeps Ole Miss, then high fives Bobby Petrino before stepping onto a plane where John Calipari adjusts a red tie before Yuracheck sits down, buckles up and stares into the camera at Razorbacks fans.
"Oh, you're still here?"
Former Arkansas linebacker Hayden Henry summed up how silly Arkansas fans made themselves look by jumping the gun and overreacting to things they didn't know for sure was true in response to a meme depicting how Yurachek seemingly flipped the script on them.
"But we're still firing him, right?" Henry asked. "I thought everyone was in agreement 24 hours ago."
But we’re still firing him, right? I thought everyone was in agreement 24hrs ago?
— Hayden Henry (@haydenthenry) April 8, 2024
Of course, the section of Arkansas fans that constantly barks on the internet can be so delusional at times they will believe they are why Calipari is coming. Had a bunch of keyboard warriors not thrown a hissy fit and said horrible things about Yurachek, it never would have occurred to him to raid Kentucky.
Yurachek clearly was flipping through the mid-majors section of his Roladex looking for someone who can put up a .500 record against Samford when he checked his phone, saw the hate, and then decided it was time to talk to boosters and begin aiming at high level targets. There are tweets out there that indicate that's almost exactly how a lot of fans think it happened.
Arkansas athletics is in as good of shape as it has ever been. Last summer, no one had Bobby Petrino and John Calipari on campus less than a year later while the spring sports were absolutely dominating the college ranks.
That's because no one else thinks like Yurachek when it comes to the future of this athletics program. He continues to believe things can be done Arkansas the fan can't envision. He isn't hampered by the negative self image Razorbacks fans can't seem to shake.
So, at least for now, Yurachek is owed an apology by much of the fan base. They grumbled and threatened because they couldn't see, and he delivered despite the fact the ones he was doing it for wouldn't believe.
Let the Arkansas fans apology tour begin immediately.
HOGS FEED:
• Calipari comes to Arkansas with one scholarship player left
• New Arkansas coach will need to reinvent himself a little from his old Kentucky habits
• Calipari hire catches all off guard, even most seasoned veteran reporters
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KENT SMITH
Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments.