With eight sports in season and two teams playing in the NCAA Tournament, Jeff Long is staying busy in his role as Arkansas' athletics director.
Between trips to Waco, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida, for NCAA Tournament basketball games, he stopped by Fayetteville on Friday night. He agreed to answer some questions about his programs and here is the transcript.
Matt Jones: You've had a busy last few days trying to catch games in Florida, Texas and Arkansas. Take me through that schedule.
Jeff Long: Yeah, I went to Jacksonville on Thursday and caught the game. Then I tried to go to sleep after the game, but it was tough. I got up early Friday at 6 eastern time and was planning to fly out at 7, but the plane had developed a problem overnight and had a fuel leak in the auxiliary tank; never any danger but they had to figure out where it was coming from. So we were delayed. They said, 'Jeff we don't know if we're going to make it to Waco. We don't know if we can find a mechanic.' So I said I'll just catch a commercial flight to Fayetteville, watch the baseball game and come back on the chancellor's plane Saturday. I went to the airport, checked my bag, got my ticket, got to the gate and got a call from the pilot and they said, 'Well, we found the leak, there's no problem. We'll just need to drain the tank and stop for fuel along the way to Waco.' I was able to uncheck my bag, got over there and we stopped in Alexandria, Louisiana, got some fuel and got to Waco at halftime. I was able to watch the second half of the women's game.
Jones: So you got there when the fun started?
Long: I did. You know the beginning of that second half didn't look too good for the Hogs. But we kept fighting and fighting, and clawed back in, persevered and won that thing.
Jones: You had a similar week last week with SEC Tournament in Nashville and the NCAA track championships here, correct?
Long: Yeah, both our teams had a shot to win it. I knew Lance Harter had a chance to win his very first and I knew that was special. I couldn't bear the thought of not being here for our first national championship. We're very fortunate that the Razorback Foundation has a plane and I was able to use that to get back from Nashville to watch the end of the national championship. That was terrific.
Jones: So these last couple of weeks have been pretty big for you?
Long: This is the busiest time of year for an AD because we're finishing off the winter sports and really heating up the spring sports. We haven't mentioned tennis and softball and golf, and all of those are going as well. This is the hectic time. It's a fun time and we've had success in the postseason, which makes it exciting.
Jones: What has that been like the last couple of days, seeing your two basketball teams win on the biggest stage?
Long: I hate to admit it, but it's been a while since we've had both teams in the tournament at the same time. Mike has broken through and Jimmy really broke through in his very first year. I love being around the student-athletes and being around them; that's what energizes me. So I knew it was important for me to be there and be part of that. That makes this job special being able to be do that.
Jones: You caught some criticism when you hired Jimmy Dykes last season. Does this year's result validate your decision to hire him?
Long: I think so. I think Jimmy puts a lot of pressure on himself. He suffered more of the criticism than me. As an AD, you're used to it. Jimmy wasn't quite used to it. I don't think he expected the little backlash he got from the women's basketball community, but i think it was important to Jimmy to have success, so I'm happy for him. I knew he could communicate, i knew he knew basketball and I knew he had a burning desire to coach our team and coach our young women. I'm not surprised by his success and I'm really happy for the young women in the program because last year was a disappointing year and this year we weren't necessarily expected to make it to the NCAA Tournament. We had a short bench, but again they fought, they scrapped, they did not yield and they won.
Jones: He has nine players. If there was ever a time for a pass, this would probably be it?
Long: Absolutely. Any time you have transition it's difficult. A different coaching style, Jimmy doesn't know all his players because he didn't recruit them, they don't know him, and that transition in any sport is tough. It says a lot about Jimmy and his coaching staff that they were able to overcome that and be able to have success, and win a big game against a better seeded team in the tournament.
Jones: If your basketball teams don't win another game this weekend, has this season been a success?
Long: Absolutely, it's a successful season because of where we've come and in particular the way we've come like with Mike Anderson in men's basketball. What he has had to overcome behind the scenes with the APR issues we've had and all those things, that takes effort. I've said this a number of times and I think maybe we've talked about it, Matt, in the old days, a new coach comes in, he clears out what he doesn't want and starts over. Now you can't do that. You lose scholarships. Mike Anderson and coaches like Mike have to mold the kids who are there. They have to take kids that are maybe a different system, recruited by a different coaching staff and they have to work with them to make them understand how they can fit in. I've bragged many times about Mike's academic record and what they're doing. I think we'll have a 1,000 in the APR and I think we'll have a GPA that is the highest in our records for men's basketball. When you put all those things together and now we're playing our style of basketball, he's getting more of his kind of players in and they're high-character kids who play hard, and I think Razorback fans love that. They love how hard our young people play and how much they care. I think that's important to our fans.
Jones: You were named a finalist for athletics director of the year by Sports Business Journal on Friday. What are your thoughts on that?
Long: I'm honored. Sports Business Journal for me is a special one. I respect that publication and respect those people. It means something to me to be a finalist for that award. It talks more about our program. It's the success of our coaches, what we're doing on the field, what we're doing off the field and what we're doing financially. Hog fans should be very proud of what they've helped us do in a small state without a huge alumni population. We've just grown to 26,000, so schools that have 50,000 are putting out a lot more graduates. They support us and that allows us to be one of 20 or so schools that are self-sufficient. Not one dime of student fees, not one dime of direct support and we're proud to be sending some money to campus for some of the capital projects and needs that our campus has. That's what makes this a special place.
Jones: Do you think your work with the football playoff committee played a role?
Long: I think that is a piece of it. I really do. I think that exposure was significant to it, I'm sure. I think the majority of people across the country respect the job the committee did and the results we had. I think, like anything, whether you're the head coach or the quarterback or the chairman, you get too much credit and probably too much blame if it doesn't go right. It just goes with the position.
Jones: Do you watch these NCAA Tournament selection shows with a new appreciation?
Long: Yeah, I do. I watched Scott Barnes of the men's basketball tournament. That's similar but different. They have so many more teams to evaluate and place. I do empathize with him when he has to get out there cold and answer questions about a 68-team bracket. That's a challenge."
Jones: I'd like to go over a couple of issues talked about nationally the last month. One is court storming. You were adamant against the fans rushing the football field after the LSU game last November. Does the court storm fallout reinforce your belief that it's wrong?
Long: It's safety. That's the biggest thing. We all want our fans to have fun, we want our students to have fun, but you know we're all a product of our experiences. I was at a game in my career where two people were hit in the head with goalposts that were torn down and they're paralyzed. Thank gosh it wasn't on my campus, it was on the team where we were playing and that has an impact on you. Those are peoples lives. We have a responsibility to protect the fans, we have a responsibility to protect the student-athletes on the fields of play and we have a responsibility to protect the coaches. We saw a basketball coach during a court storm this year where the coach got pushed around. That's important. I think we're going to take some very strong action. I'm one that believes in very strong sanctions for court storms.
Jones: When you look at the TV contracts and millions of dollars athletic departments are pulling in, a $25,000 fine is a drop in the bucket. So do you think there has to be an incentive greater than money?
Long: Yes.
Jones: What might those be?
Long: We've had talks at the conference level and I've made recommendations myself, but we're working on that at this point, so I'd rather not share that. But some very strong action because I think the health and safety, and well-being of our patrons, student-athletes, coaches, fans, all of that should be our primary goal when we host a big event like that. I think we have to take a very strong stand.
Jones: And you'll talk about that in Destin at the spring meeting?
Long: Yes.
Jones: There has been a lot of discussion lately about FBS teams power conferences are being OK'd to play, but still not a lot of discussion about games against FCS teams. You've mentioned you'd like to phase those games out at Arkansas. Where are you in that regard?
Long: It's very difficult. If you do the math for football games, all Division-I schools can't have enough games without playing FCS. It's a challenge. I'm trying to fill a spot now and trying to do everything I can not to utilize an FCS, but so far I've found no takers at the FBS level. That is my goal to work to that, but I can't tell you right now that they're not going to appear on our schedule.