FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long knows the focus of college football fans is sharpening to a fixed point.
And he's part of that point.
In the past a mostly faceless system known as the Bowl Championship Series drew the wrath of fan bases denied a spot in college football's brightest light, the BCS Championship Game.
Now a 13-member selection committee for the inaugural College Football Playoff, on which Long sits as chairman, will be subjected to the complaints of fans from coast to coast. Committee members understand their choices in a weekly Top 25 poll, which will debut Oct. 28, and their season-ending matchups in the top tier of bowls, including the four-team playoff, will be criticized.
"It will be the most highly scrutinized ranking in the history of college football," Long told the crowd Wednesday at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club. "Certainly when we put out our first rankings there will be people in the media, public, whatever that will disagree with it.
"Certainly we expect that. I expect that."
The higher degree of scrutiny has begun already. Southern Cal Athletic Director Pat Haden, one of three standing athletic directors on the committee, has come under fire for rushing to the sideline last week at the behest of Coach Steve Sarkisian to confront game officials during the Trojans' 13-10 victory over Stanford. Haden was fined $25,000 by the Pacific-12 Conference for the move and banished himself from the sideline for two games.
"We can all get passionate about our teams and, you know, I'm passionate about the Arkansas Razorbacks," Long said. "Matter of fact, I was at the volleyball game last night and I was excited about some calls. But, you know, the Pac-12 handled it as they should.
"I think that it doesn't affect the way that Pat Haden's going to evaluate teams, make tough decisions when we come down to making tough decisions in the selection process. So I don't think his actions affect his ability to serve extremely well on the playoff committee."
Long addressed a variety of topics during his speech, such as the academic progress of all UA sports -- citing a rise in grade-point average in athletics from 2.8 to 3.18 in the past seven years -- and reiterated his belief that Coach Bret Bielema has the football program pointed in the right direction during a 15-minute question-and-answer session with reporters afterward.
"I love the way Bret Bielema is a players coach but has discipline, accountability, high expectations for their student-athletes," Long said. "They're buying in and you can see that throughout their conduct, through their academic performance, and you're going to see it in their athletic performance as we build the program."
The Razorbacks ended a program-worst 10-game losing streak last week with a 73-7 victory over Football Championship Subdivision member Nicholls State in Fayetteville.
Long said he expects low attendance figures, like the 63,108 listed as attending last week's game in 72,000-seat Reynolds Razorback Stadium, will soon be a thing of the past.
"Certainly success has direct impact on fans in the stands," Long said. "We know that. We had a great student turnout at the game on Saturday. I think fan support will grow with success."
Long was asked about the recent portrayal of Louisville Coach Bobby Petrino in a Sports Illustrated article as a domineering and abrasive leader. Petrino guided Arkansas to a 34-17 record from 2008-11, including its only BCS berth after the 2010 season, and was fired by Long on April 10, 2012, after a motorcycle accident led to the discovery of his affair with 25-year-old Jessica Dorrell, whom he hired to work on his staff.
"I will say that we, as an athletic director and department, were aware of our coaches' conduct," Long said. "We were aware at the time and we handled those situations appropriately."
Long said he did not want to discuss personnel matters involving Petrino but noted that it is a different atmosphere under Bielema. Long said Bielema engages Arkansas' student-athletes in a different way, which shows in the athletes' off-the-field conduct, academic performance and involvement in community service.
"Coach Petrino had a way that he conducted the program, and Bret has the way that he conducts the program and the way he interacts with people and staff and student-athletes," Long said. "They're different, and I knew that when I hired Bret it would be different."
Long also admitted that the hiring of John L. Smith as interim coach in 2012 didn't work out the way he thought it would. Smith led the Razorbacks to a 4-8 record in his lone season as interim coach.
Long said based on the information at his disposal at the time and the options open to him, he thinks bringing Smith aboard was still the best move he could have made.
"I thought that I had strong offensive and defensive coordinators that could lead their sides of the ball," he said. "It didn't turn out that way.
"You know, I'm comfortable enough with who I am and the job I do to understand that that was not a good decision in hindsight."
Sports on 09/11/2014