As we enter Day 13 of the University of Arkansas’ search for a head football coach, it appears the process is now on go.

Yes, it is at square one of the Hognopoly game, but it seems John White and Jeff Long are ready to really roll the dice now.

If the search has been strange, at best, it might be about to get on the fast track to success.

That is, if it is true White and Long have used a little more misdirection, something both seem to love.

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It would seem logical that White would hire Parker Executive Search out of Atlanta, the athletic headhunting outfit that brought him John Pelphrey and Long.

White likes to be clever and said he doubted Parker would be hired this time, and it probably hasn’t been.

It appears that super headhunter Chuck Neinas is being brought in to help sort out the confusion that seems to be surrounding the Razorbacks football program right now.

White declined comment about Neinas.

Neinas has placed approximately 60 head coaches and athletic directors since starting Neinas Sports Services a decade ago.

Prior to going on his own, Neinas was with the NCAA, served as commissioner of the old Big Eight Conference and then executive director of the College Football Association, where he negotiated major contracts with all of the network television stations until 1997, when he saw the need for a middle man for colleges, coaches and administrators.

Neinas, whose office is in beautiful Boulder, Colo., is known to be extremely detailed and confidential.

The application he requires clients to fill out includes the basics like budget, etc., but might also include questions about whether a school would pay for a prospective coach’s wife to visit to house hunt or how many hours of private jet service could be in the contract.

Neinas’ reputation is rocksolid.

When the University of Florida turned to him, he negotiated Urban Meyer out of his Utah contract, away from Notre Dame and to Gainesville, Fla., where he has returned the football program to one of national respect.

Neinas, if he has been hired, is just what the UA search needs.

So far at least six guys are believed to have been in the picture, starting with Tommy Tuberville, the Auburn coach. Tuberville has won a ton of games at Auburn and turned Ole Miss around despite the school being on probation when he arrived.

He was not offered the job. His $ 6 million buyout was too tall a mountain to climb.

Butch Davis, the favorite of many, was not interviewed, yet guys like Tommy Bowden (69-40 at Clemson ), Skip Holtz (19-17 at East Carolina ) and Jim Grobe (45-39 at Wake Forest ) became key players.

Long and White wanted to hire Bowden, but the board of trustees apparently flexed some muscle and stopped that.

Despite Long and White claiming no offer has been made to anyone, the board agreed on Grobe, as did the Razorback Foundation, and Jim Lindsey — a member of the board and the foundation — said he went to bed thinking the deal was done.

It doesn’t appear anyone sabotaged Grobe. He just changed his mind, and part of that might have been that the Razorbacks might return only eight starters from a team that went 4-4 in SEC play.

By Friday, names were being floated like Holtz and Bobby Petrino, who is making $ 5 million a year coaching the Atlanta Falcons. He was supposed to be LSU’s top choice after Nick Saban left, but after the interview, the Tigers folks hired Les Miles.

It has been mentioned several times in this space that there is nothing wrong with considering a coordinator.

Bob Stoops and Mark Richt were coordinators when Oklahoma and Georgia took a chance, and neither school has regretted its decision.

It is OK that Long and White have struck out a couple of times. Hank Aaron didn’t hit a home run every time he got in the batter’s box.

The thing is, they need to get on base pretty soon.

If indeed they have hired Chuck Neinas, their chances for a home run have improved tremendously.