The large crowd attending the Little Rock Touchdown Club earlier this week saw a different side of Jeff Long.
With the real threat of games being removed from War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock and the addition of corporate suites to the end zone at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, some fans have Long pegged as a cold, calculated, slick Yankee businessman.
No doubt there were some of those people in attendance that were ready to pounce as soon as Long addressed the decision that will come when the Little Rock stadium contract is up in 2018.
However, before all of that heavy lifting, Touchdown Club president/founder David Bazzel played a video on the large screen of Long greeting players in the tunnel following Arkansas’ big road win against TCU. Several seconds of the footage rolled with cordial greetings between Long and different Hogs players, and then senior receiver Keon Hatcher approaches.
Long, who is unaware of the cameras, hugs Hatcher the way a father would a son. Both men are smiling and jubilant.
“I get excited for the young men in the program,” Long said in an interview after the meeting. “You get to see how hard they work and how they overcome injuries. Keon Hatcher, who I hugged in that video, broke his foot last year and fought through all of that. Then, to come back and have a big game [against TCU] means a lot to all of those associated with the team. I love what our kids do and the young men in our program, and I get excited when they achieve.”
Later, senior receiver Drew Morgan arrives, and he, too, enjoys an enthusiastic hug. I’m sure Long isn’t the only athletic director who celebrates with his student-athletes, but the passion and conviction in which he did showed he has a caring side, that student-athletes do mean something to him. He knows them and knows some of them very well.
Long before he managed athletic departments, Long coached football. He was on the football staffs of Miami (Ohio), Rice, Duke, North Carolina State and Michigan before moving into athletic administration under legendary Wolverines coach and AD, Bo Schembechler.
It is that background that makes Long feel more of an educator than a CEO. It is important to point out that Arkansas has received several department-wide academic accolades under Long’s watch. He takes the student-athlete development portion of his job very seriously. Long wants Arkansas student-athletes to leave Fayetteville with a diploma ready to be a productive citizen.
And while it is an emphasis, today the chief part of an AD’s job is generate money so the programs can compete and pay coaches. Long admitted to the crowd that he and the coaches make more money than they should, but that is the way market is.
That is true. College athletics is a big business. If a department doesn’t have a leader who is focused on corporate sponsorships, donors and facilities, the programs won’t succeed. That fact is even magnified in the ultra-competitive SEC.
There isn’t much question that Long seems to be more business-minded than his predecessor Frank Broyles, who enjoys legendary status as the Hogs former longtime football coach and AD. Some of that may be the difference in personalities of the two men, but a good part of it is the change in times.
Long has been good for the program, as he ushered in a new era. He credited Broyles for being gracious in welcoming in what could have been a nightmarish scenario.
You can tell while he may have different opinions than Broyles, he respects him as a person and what he means to the university.
Long also respects the history and tradition of the Razorbacks, but those in attendance probably got the feel that sentimentality may not factor into renewing the contract with War Memorial Stadium. On one hand, Long respects the fans who value the games in central Arkansas; on the other hand there potentially could be more money to be made by playing a game in Fayetteville or a neutral-site nonconference game.
That’s why Long calls the dilemma “a difficult decision.”
If Long didn’t care, it would be an easy decision. He showed some of his detractors a sensitive side that is more than dollars and cents.