FAYETTEVILLE — Early in what was my first visit to the Arkansas athletics director's office in 10 years, it was my turn to ask about Hunter Yurachek's family.
Specifically, I wanted to know how he and his wife, Jennifer, raised three boys to be Division I football players. That's a bit presumptive because youngest son, Brooks, will be an eighth grader at Woodland Junior High next fall. He still has to make the choice between football and basketball, but most guess he'll eventually settle on football like his big brothers.
The Yuracheks' oldest son, Ryan, just finished four great years at Marshall and has a chance to make an NFL roster this summer. Ryan caught 143 passes for 1,354 yards and 26 TDs in his Marshall days, and as a senior caught 10 touchdowns, second-best nationally among tight ends.
Jake, the middle son, will be a preferred walk-on at Colorado this fall after turning down offers to Air Force and Army. He's a 6-0, 220-pound middle linebacker who was Galveston area player of the year at Friendswood, Texas. He was first-team Greater Houston while making 184 tackles as a senior.
For a treat, Google Jake's highlights on Hudl. He slips through cracks and blows up ball carriers over and over.
Hunter Yurachek has a simple explanation for the way his boys have settled into football and other sports: they were raised around it during his days as athletics director at Coastal Carolina and Houston. They were always around practices and locker rooms. They learned the lingo and it created in them a passion for the game.
“Being able to take them to practices, take them to games and being able to travel with me to games and just be exposed to the young men and the coaches," Yurachek said. "The thing that was good was to be exposed to the excitement that is around it. That gave them some inspiration to work a little bit harder.
“God blessed each of them with talent. Ryan was a 6-2, undersized tight end who made a name for himself. There are not a lot of 6-2 tight ends in college football. He's got a chance to maybe catch on with somebody at the next level as an H-back or a fullback, or maybe as a utility/special teams type player.
“Jake is an undersized middle linebacker at 6-0 or 6-1. Brooks will play football and basketball at Woodland Junior High next fall as an eighth grader.
“They had great role models as student-athletes. It just helped them work a little bit harder because it was a dream they wanted.”
Ryan Yurachek was named first-team All-Conference USA as a senior at tight end when he 54 passes for 490 yards and 10 touchdowns, including this one in the New Mexico Bowl.
There was never an attempt to force the boys to specialize in one sport.
“Ryan played football, basketball and baseball,” Yurachek said. “Jake played football and baseball. Brooks is playing football and basketball. I wanted them to be well-rounded and get an opportunity to experience everything in this day of sports specialization. I thought (specialization) was one of the worst things for them.
“I think the fact that Ryan played basketball and baseball also helped him with football. The fact that Jake played basketball helped him with football. I think Brooks will get the same benefits.
“I can't take any credit for it. With this role for me exposed them to it and gave them the desire that they wanted to be able to compete and play in college. They put in the hard work and God gave them the talent.”
Interestingly, Hunter Yurachek gravitated away from other sports and toward basketball as an eighth grader, then was a four-year letter winner at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.
“I played football and baseball until the eighth grade,” he said. “It wasn't that I specialized in basketball, but it's where I thought I was going to be able to play in college – at Guilford College. God blessed me with Division III ability. I wouldn't change my experience at Guilford for anything."
Yurachek's style is obvious. He's a relationship guy.
Where did that come from?
“I've got so many mentors,” he said. “To start my career at Wake Forrest, Joel Nielsen was the marketing director at Wake Forrest and gave me my first opportunity as an unpaid intern.
“To show how things come full circle, his oldest daughter, Kelly, is going to come here and be my intern this year. She just got into grad school at the University of Arkansas sports management program.
“Joel gave me my first opportunity, but I was blessed along the way to work under really great athletics directors. It starts with Ron Wellman at Wake Forest, to this day their AD. Then, it goes to Todd Turner at Vanderbilt.
“I learned a little from each of them. Ron was a person very attentive to detail. He knew where every penny was being spent at Wake Forest. He was very task-oriented. Todd was the first one who introduced me to this was about the student-athletes and it's not about you as an employee.
“Then, you move on to Mack Rhoads at Houston (and now AD at Baylor), who hired me at Akron as well. Mack taught me the value of each and every employee in your department, from your custodian all the way up to your head football and basketball coach. He taught me how important each person was.
“You add in Jeff Compher at Western Carolina and Craig Littlepage at Virginia, and all of those ADs together have 70 or 80 years total (experience). I was able to take a little of each of those to help shape and mold me as an athletics director.”
I thought that was enough preliminary discussion to get into the burning question that awaited Yurachek when he took the job. Clearly, the time to make the call on whether to play football games in Little Rock or not is close at hand. That's really the only big fire that was inherited.
“We will have some resolution on how we are going to proceed sometime later this spring or early this summer,” he said of War Memorial Stadium.
What he can tell you is that the question was on the front burner in almost every conversation he's had as he traveled the state in his first three months.
“I've had an opportunity to meet with several of our key constituents and political figures across the state,” he said. “I've been able to ask a number of questions and get a historical perspective. One of the things I've said every time I've talked about this, I've understood quickly that this was not just a decision that was going to be made based on dollars and cents.
“If it was, it's an easy decision for myself and Chancellor (Joseph) Steinmetz to make because there is a significant difference between playing games in Fayetteville and in Little Rock.
“It means a great deal to people in our state. That's a 70-year history. I can't tell you the number of stories where I've heard, 'My wife and I had our first date in Little Rock. I still remember my father and grandfather driving across the state to go to see a game in Little Rock.'
“There is a great deal that goes into that is outside the dollars and cents that goes into the value of that game.
“What I learned as I got around the state, I learned that those games in Little Rock are part of the fabric of this state. There are people across the state who hold special memories of those games that have been played in Little Rock for 70 years."
Does Yurachek like neutral-site games? The Hogs play a big one every year against Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas. He knows Chad Morris, his football coach, likes it.
“We've got one and there is value in that game,” he said. “Because of the location of that game in Dallas, Chad Morris likes it because we recruit North Texas. He sees value in that game because of the exposure. It does lessen the opportunities you can get young men on our campus for recruiting weekends.
“It's good for our fans in the Dallas area where we have significant numbers of alumni in that area.
“There is value for those games; whether or not it's on an annual basis, I don't know. The contract is through 2024. Whether it goes beyond that has yet to be determined. There is value of neutral-site games on occasion. That's a good game right now with a conference rival.”
Yurachek inherits a master plan put in place by Jeff Long that addresses future buildings or renovations. Will there be tweaks?
“I've got an opportunity to have each coach take me through their facilities,” Yurachek said. “I've been through Bud Walton Arena. We are revising our master plan.
“Part of the plan will include feasibility studies for a renovation of Bud Walton Arena and a plan for Barnhill (Arena), whether or not that's a renovation of Barnhill or to find a place to build a new standalone facility that will accommodate volleyball and gymnastics.
“We'll have a professional architectural group come in and evaluate both of those facilities, Bud Walton and Barnhill.”
Like Long, Yurachek noted that Bud Walton Arena needs attention 25 years after it was built.
“The thing about Bud Walton, when there are 18,000 people like there were many times this season, it's a loud facility,” he said. “But, it's getting some age on it and does not have the premium amenities that fans across college athletics have come to expect when they walk in Razorback Stadium this fall and see the different levels of club seats and the tiered suites and loge boxes. We don't have those here in Bud Walton. We have to figure out how we create that in a feasibility study in this venue.
“You look out in our lobby and the Hall of Fame area is outdated. That needs to be refreshed as well.”
Yurachek thinks Baum Stadium needs immediate attention. Like the basketball arena, the baseball stadium was due to be renovated under Long's master plan.
“As you look at Baum Stadium, the first thing we have to really attack is our student-athlete amenities,” he said. “The stadium itself is gorgeous. We had 13,000 Razorback fans there for USC on a Saturday earlier this season. It's an unbelievable venue to watch a game.
“But we want to give Coach (Dave) Van Horn and his staff the tools they need to continue to recruit the best student-athletes to our baseball program from across the country, to compete in the SEC where there are a record 10 teams now in the top 25. You need some of the bells and whistles to attract the top young men in the country with locker rooms and training facilities that are competitive.
“We are behind in some areas and we don't want to get to the point where we are significantly behind. We are meeting with an architect who has done a general walkthrough with me 45 days ago. He'll give me as a vision of what they see, whether or not it's a complete renovation of our baseball clubhouse under the stands or if it's a standalone facility somewhere in the stadium complex itself.”
The process to improve Baum was launched early in Yurachek's time on campus. The architect was to follow me into the AD's office later in the day.
“I'm interested to see that and it's something we are going to attack immediately because we've got a top 5 baseball program with high expectations,” Yurachek said. “We've set those expectations and Coach Van Horn has set them. We want to give his staff all the tools they need in a very competitive league.
“I've said all along that most coaches undersell and over deliver as far as the expectations they have for each season. Ever since I met Dave, he was excited about this team and excited about who he had coming back. He thought they had a legitimate chance to win this season and get to Omaha (the College World Series). Most coaches will undersell to their athletics director and then over deliver. He's been very up front of what his expectations for the success of this program this year.
“Dave is going to tell you what is on his mind and be very honest.”
Hunter Yurachek, far left, and Chad Morris, far right, lead the Hog Call with their families during a December 2017 basketball game between Arkansas and Minnesota.
The last question was simple: What has been the single best thing about his new job?
“My last four stops I was at Akron, where there were 10 or 11 Division I programs; then I was at Coastal Carolina and we were in the shadow of South Carolina, Clemson and the Carolina Panthers, and the professional teams; and then Houston and you have the shadow that Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech and TCU cast, plus the professional teams like the Astros, Texans and Rockets.
“Then, you come here and you are the only Power 5 team in the state and there no pro teams. You get out and meet people all over the state and you realize that it's really something special. The Razorbacks tie the entire state together. You see that passion and it's pretty cool. Calling the Hogs is just great.
“I can't wait until football season when there are 75,000 people doing it. I will never forget when Coach Morris and his family and my family were at Bud Walton Arena for the Minnesota basketball game. It was a sold-out game and we went to center court during a timeout and called the Hogs.
“Sitting down at center court with our basketball team playing electric, then to call the Hogs and it does give you goose bumps to do that and hear that. I can't wait until the fall.”
Come fall, Yurachek will be in his new office in the expanded north end zone of the football stadium, the rebuilt Broyles Center. The $160 million construction project is on schedule and on budget to be ready for the opener against Eastern Illinois. He's had a chance to review everything and even put some personal touches on a few areas, including his office.
"I added a shower to the bathroom," he said of his new office. "I like to go out for an afternoon run and wanted the shower. I added an in-laid Razorback to the front of my desk."
I like it. And, to join what I've heard from everyone else, there's a lot to like about Hunter Yurachek.