FAYETTEVILLE — Reggie Herring didn’t find his favorite present under the family’s Christmas tree this morning.

Herring, Arkansas’ interim head coach, celebrated the holidays with his wife, Lisa, and their two children, but he had already received the gift of a lifetime. That came Dec. 6, when members of the Arkansas football team met, voted and told incoming Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long they wanted Herring to be the Razorbacks’ next coach.

Herring didn’t get the job that he really wanted, as Long hired Bobby Petrino a week after the players’ meeting. Herring, a man known for hiding his passions from no one, said the players reaffirmed his life’s work.

“It was the greatest gift I have ever received as a football coach,” Herring said. “Knowing I had earned the respect and the belief of the players that they felt compelled to do such an act, it was overwhelming.

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“ It’s the greatest gift any football coach could receive.”

Herring, the team’s former defensive coordinator, doesn’t immediately strike observers as a players’ coach. He is demanding of his players, and he is loud, sometimes profanely so.

But the same players who have been on the receiving end of so many of Herring’s broadsides wasted no time rallying behind their coach.

“We all love Coach Herring,” said cornerback Jerrel Norton, after Petrino’s hiring. “We were looking towards Coach Herring coming back and being our coach of the future.”

Herring’s first act after being promoted from defensive coordinator may have been his most important to the Razorbacks. Herring met with the media to discuss Arkansas’ Cotton Bowl bid Dec. 2 and opened with an eloquent request for unity.

He wasn’t speaking to the media, of course, but to the droves of fans statewide caught up in the two-year string of controversies that led to Houston Nutt’s resignation. Herring didn’t take sides, didn’t pass blame, just asked that fans rally behind the players.

Herring called it his “Christmas wish.”

“I was serious about it, and it was from the heart,” Herring said. “There were a lot of innocent people hurt in this program over the past two years, a lot of innocent people: players, fans, alumni, the students. Everybody got caught up in it and consumed.”

Herring said he has heard from many people thanking him for finally saying something that needed to be said. Herring said the fractured fan base developed into a “pick-aside mentality,” but that enough was enough.

“This is the people’s program, this is the people’s football team, this team belongs to the state of Arkansas,” Herring said. “It was something that happened. It’s in the history of this school. Hopefully, people have had enough and are ready to enjoy the great things about Arkansas.

“ I just thought, wouldn’t it be nice for the players and the fans, after what everybody had been though, if for one day everyone came together and enjoyed each other.”

Even as Herring grimaced while coaching while the turmoil roiled the state, he wanted a chance to stay.

“I still felt this was a major overreaction, but a very sensitive issue to a lot of people in this state,” Herring said. “Given an opportunity to start fresh with a clear mind, I felt that this thing could be turned around. I just believe this program was worth it.”

His handling of the program the past month has been impressive, Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles said. It might not have landed him the permanent job with the Razorbacks, but it showed Herring is definite headcoaching material.

“He’s done a magnificent job and deserves to be a head coach some day, if not right away,” Broyles said. “If anybody called me, I would give him the highest recommendation I could give anybody to be a head coach.”

Herring said his interim job has confirmed what he already knew: He wants to be a head coach and he would be a very good one.

All he needs is a chance to show that he is not just a bellowing defensive coordinator but an organized, efficient leader of men.

“I’d love to be a head coach, even moreso now after being given the chair,” Herring said. “It’s something I personally could thrive in. At least now I can say I have been a head coach for a month.

“ I’ve been auditioning for this all my life. There are a lot of coaches like me out there. They’re just waiting for their opportunity.”