Like It Is

Rhoads will be smooth, given right material

Arkansas secondary coach Paul Rhoads, left, talks with head coach Bret Bielema prior to a game against Ole Miss on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016, in Fayetteville.

By all accounts, Paul Rhoads is a hard-working, good guy who loves coaching and has the support system at home to be successful.

By all accounts, the exact same thing could be said about Robb Smith, Arkansas' recently departed defensive coordinator who now has the same job at Minnesota. That's not a promotion.

Smith was the guy who suggested Rhoads be hired to coach the defensive backs after his firing as the head coach at Iowa State.

Rhoads started out great, at least apparently by Iowa State standards, before hitting a wall in his seven-year run.

How he got to Iowa State is a bit of a winding road, but he had been an assistant there for five years in the 1990s and was really well-liked. The way he got the job endeared him to the fans.

He was an assistant at Pacific when he got the call to send in some paperwork to ISU. Only problem was his wife Vickie was in labor and they were on the way to the hospital. But when he asked if they could make a quick stop, she said yes, and three months later they were moving to Ames.

From there, he went to Pittsburgh and was heralded as one of the Big East's best defensive coordinators. But he needed something else to build his resume,so he went to work for Tommy Tuberville at Auburn. Working in the SEC is a resume builder.

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Tuberville was bought out, Gene Chizik was brought in and opted not to keep Rhoads. But that worked out OK: Rhoads took Chizik's old job at Iowa State, where Chizik posted a 5-19 record in two seasons.

Rhoads went 7-5 his first season in 2004. It was Iowa State's eighth winning record since 1980. It may not be the toughest job in college football, but you can see it from there.

His first four years produced an 18-20 record, but he had made three bowl appearances. Then the Cyclones were 8-28 in the next three seasons and Rhoads, an Iowa native, was fired. That's when he got a call from Smith and then Bret Bielema.

They were looking to replace Clay Jennings, who had been hired to recruit Texas, but took a job at Texas after one season at Arkansas.

Then came the recently completed 7-6 Arkansas season when the defense ranked 76th nationally, giving up 426.6 yards per game, and 85th in scoring defense, allowing 31.1 points per game. Smith quickly got on the phone and found another job.

Bielema apparently interviewed a couple of other guys, but there was a huge stat from last season that could have tilted the scales heavily toward Rhoads. Arkansas ranked 58th in passing yards allowed, but yielded only 12 touchdown passes, which placed Arkansas in a tie for seventh nationally.

Granted, the Hogs gave up 39 rushing touchdowns, including 17 by quarterbacks. So maybe opposing teams didn't feel the need to pass too much, but still, giving up less than one touchdown pass per game is impressive.

Rhoads obviously has his work cut out for him, and not just on the field, where the Hogs return six defensive starters. The Razorbacks need to find some fast players, and with national signing day just two weeks from today, the Hogs have work to do.

In the past two weeks, they have slipped from having the nation's No. 18 recruiting class to No. 26, which ranks 11th of 14 in the SEC. There is a reason the SEC is so good year in and year out -- players.

Arkansas has four scholarship slots remaining, so there is a chance to move up in the rankings.

Rhoads obviously has a ton of recruiting experience, and apparently is willing to learn new tricks. One of the first things he did when he got to Arkansas was set up a Twitter account.

Good guys can't finish last if they recruit.

Sports on 01/18/2017