LITTLE ROCK — “He’s an ambassador. He’s a figurehead. His job is to come in for one year and not mess things up.”
Joe Schad, ESPN college football writer
“Long can still hit the home run [hire] next winter that some fans were unrealistically hoping for this spring. For now, the Razorbacks get everything they need out of this: the schematic continuity and head-coaching experience to make 2012 as smooth as possible.” Pat Forde, Yahoo! sportswriter
“The more puzzling element and the biggest source of fascination is why Smith would give up job security and burn bridges at his alma mater to accept a job that comes with a 10-month expiration date.”
Stewart Mandel, Sports Illustrated college football writer
“Arkansas hired John L.Smith. Arkansas replaced one selfish, loathsome coach with another. This is who Arkansas picked to replace the indecent Petrino: It picked a guy who didn’t have the decency to coach a single game after being hired by his alma mater. Jeff Long, the Arkansas athletics director, might be the single worst judge of character I’ve ever seen.”
Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com writer
“There are many reasons why Smith would take the Arkansas job, but none of them makes it the right thing to do. His departure from Weber State is an insult to his alma mater.”
Kevin Kragthorpe, The Salt Lake Tribune columnist
“[Smith] was not even on the radar, in my opinion. He wasn’t in the top 150. But he likes the kids, he knows the coaches and I hope he does a wonderful job.”
Pine Bluff Razorback Club President Mark Maxwell
“Disbelief. Confusion. Shock. .... This definitely hit me from the left.”
Weber State cornerback David James
“Now I have to go get my snake skin cowboy boots like Coach Smith...his boots always clean lol.”
Chris Gragg, Arkansas tight end, on Twitter
“Couldn’t be happier right now...”
Ronnie Wingo, Arkansas running back, on Twitter
Sports, Pages 18 on 04/24/2012