Are We Wobbling on Edge of Repeating Recent History?

Sitting at 2-4 headed to Alabama, it's going to be a big hill to make postseason this year

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Oct 12, 2023 1:00 PM EDT
Original:
Oct 11, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After an agonizing finish to September, it's hard to find an Arkansas fan with much hope for October now after figuring out a way to lose at Ole Miss last Saturday night. They didn't look particularly good doing it, either.

Now Razorback athletics director Hunter Yurachek is watching closely what happens at Alabama this week. All ADs keep a working list of coaches who might be legitimate hiring options no matter when the job may come open. Those who don't find themselves with a problem along the lines of having to take John L. Smith for a year.

It's way too early to start making predictions of who might be on Yurachek's list. It's highly doubtful anyone knows except Yurachek and, maybe, Jimmy Sexton. He represents all these guys and everybody criticizes him simply for doing his job.

There has to be some number at which Yurachek has for a cut-off or simply a feel for the direction of things. He pays attention to such things almost as much as the wins and losses. Forget the old way of "building" something because none of that matters now. Thank the transfer portal for that.

It doesn't take four years to build something where you can at least be in the discussion for something big in postseason. Half of the SEC is two wins away from locking down bowl eligibility at the halfway point of the season. The Hogs are two losses away from locking down not being able to qualify anywhere except back to work by December.

We've seen all this before. The Hogs gave Bret Bielema a ridiculous extension after a 6-6 season in the glow of a Texas Bowl win over Texas. A big deal was made about a couple 7-5 team the year before that would have been 6-6 again if a miracle play in Oxford against Ole Miss hadn't bailed them out. They turned a team that should have been at least 8-4 into 7-5 year and a bowl loss that set the ball rolling downhill.

All Razorback baggage flows forward to Sam Pittman. He will ultimately take the fall or the glory, but in fairness, his entire tenure has been figuring things out. That's not a negative. First there was a global pandemic, then the whole NIL stuff combined with a transfer portal. Nothing in his decades of coaching could prepare him for something nobody ever dreamed possible.

But Yurachek can't afford a steep learning curve. College sports has turned into an arms race and money is what will determine the final outcome. Football generates the biggest amount and is a major marketing tool of the entire university. That means coaches in the major sports have a short time to win at a level to keep excitement high.

With a win over Alabama this week on the road, probably not something a lot of people can count on, Yurachek has to raise the money for stadium naming rights and everything else just to keep pace with what has become mediocrity in football. It's probably a good bet Yurachek needs more than that.

If there's a magic number or something in terms of wins and losses to kick the program into another one of those coaching searches fans seem to enjoy, only Yurachek would know what it is. Still, it's probably safe to think he's already got a working list of those he can get, some he doesn't know about and others who are names not to waste time chasing. That's also part of the current state of things with the Razorbacks.