What would Frank do?
That’s Frank Broyles, for most of my life the man pulling the trigger on searches for an Arkansas football coach. Well, you could come up with other searches in other sports, like when he named Nolan Richardson basketball coach or Dave Van Horn the baseball coach or John McDonnell the track coach.
Not only did he find the right man, but he was successful in getting them to take the job.
Case in point, I’ll take you back to when Broyles named Brad McMakin the golf coach. That was one of his final hires and one of his best. McMakin has a second-place finish in the NCAA Championships and won the SEC title earlier this year in one of the nation’s best golf conferences.
This may not be the perfect time to reflect on that hire, but it was remarkable in its own way when he was announced in the fall of 2006.
McMakin was in his 10th year as Lamar coach when Broyles asked him to interview for the vacancy after Mike Ketcham resigned in the middle of a season. McMakin told him there was no need. The Oklahoma job was about to come open and he was waiting on a chance to go back to his alma mater.
“Coach Broyles convinced me that it would be good practice for the interview,” McMakin said. “I came with my wife and told him again I wasn’t going to take the job, but we went through the process anyway.
“The next day – and my wife was waiting in the car – I came to the Broyles Center to tell him no again. I was brought into a conference room with all the assistant athletic directors.”
Lo and behold, Broyles introduced McMakin “as our new golf coach.” He began to point to different administrators with specific assignments.
“You get him and his wife a car. You get him an apartment for temporary quarters. You get him keys. You get him the employment papers,” McMakin said. “When he’d made the last of the assignments, he turned and went out the door on the other end of the conference room. I was left standing there.”
There was nothing left to do but go out to the car and tell his wife he had a new job.
“It was really incredible,” he said. “He was an incredible man with great vision and ability to do almost anything. I had no intention of becoming golf coach at Arkansas, yet here I was, his new golf coach. It was clear to me how much he loved Arkansas and golf.”
Yes, Broyles loved golf.
“Oh, he did,” McMakin said. “He came to hit balls at our facility almost every day and he would hit two big buckets. I told my players if they practiced as hard and as well as Coach Broyles, we’d be just fine.”
One of McMakin’s great thrills was going to Augusta National Golf Club with Broyles, who was a member. McMakin holed a double eagle two at the 15th.
“Coach Broyles was more excited than I was,” McMakin said. “He got out his phone in the fairway and started calling people to tell them I made a double eagle.”
Interestingly, McMakin did get that call to take the Oklahoma job a few months later, but was too happy at Arkansas to return to his alma mater where he was captain and a part of a national title team.
OK, this has nothing to do with the Arkansas-Missouri football game, but I’ve been saving the McMakin story for the appropriate time. Now seems as good as any other.
And, it has nothing to do with the keys to victory for the Missouri game, what generally fills this space. It’s just a lesson that the AD, in this case Hunter Yurachek, must be persuasive when he finds his man.
Like last week, I don’t think the keys are that elaborate as the Hogs play out the string under interim coach Barry Lunney Jr.
Interestingly, I consider Lunney part of the Broyles coaching tree in a small way. He was a quarterback under Jack Crowe and Danny Ford, who were Broyles hires.
I have wondered all week why Lunney couldn’t be the guy Yurachek picks as head coach. He’s got good training and knows the team, the state and is heavily involved in recruiting. Of course, he could be a big part of the next staff, under someone else, and still be valuable.
Either way, I thought it perfect timing to point to other outside-the-box hires. All were deemed risky at the time.
I just finished reading a fascinating book written by former UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field, “Life Is Short, Don’t Wait to Dance.”
As a side note, she has an Arkansas connection. Actually, two. She is married to Arkansas alum Bobby Field, a retired UCLA football coach and administrator. Both are in the UCLA Hall of Fame.
Kondos Field, more affectionately known as Miss Val by her gymnasts, won seven NCAA team titles at UCLA before retiring last season. She mentored new UA gymnastics head coach Jordyn Wieber.
It’s hard to pick between Miss Val and Wieber as the most unique hires. UCLA chose Miss Val as head coach in 1990 despite no gymnastic background. She had worked as an assistant coach at UCLA, after being hired as a choreographer and pianist. Her real background was in ballet.
Yurachek hired Wieber, never a head coach, partly on Miss Val’s recommendation. Wieber was part of the gold medal Fierce Five team in the 2012 Olympics.
She turned pro to accept endorsements, then enrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2012, becoming a team manager. By the time she was a senior, Kondos Field made her a volunteer coach and allowed her to handle all aspects of the team’s floor exercise training on the way to 2017 national title.
All of this makes me wonder if Yurachek is working on another out-of-the-box hire. That could mean Lunney, or perhaps Sam Pittman, the offensive line coach at Georgia.
Could you do that with Arkansas football? I went to one of my trusted sources with great knowledge of Broyles.
“I guess that’s what I always ask, what would Frank do?” he said. “I have a few in mind that might be outside of normal.”
Lunney wasn’t mentioned, but Pittman was discussed.
“I know Sam and he might can do it,” he said. “But you never know about someone with just O-line background. That’s the coach that is most in his own world.
“You never know exactly what they are doing in that O-line room and then you don’t really watch them in practice. Those O-line guys go down in the corner and butt heads. I couldn’t tell you what they do down there.
“So how would an O-line coach handle it all. I do remember Larry Beightol going to Louisiana Tech as head coach and it was over before the first season was done. But Pittman is an interesting thought.
“What you’d have to figure out with Sam is how he is with big-picture things. Offensive line coaches aren’t usually into big picture things. You would have to figure out how he would handle a staff and could he hire top coaches.”
So the question was asked again: What would Frank do?
“First thing, he wouldn’t give a flip about if his guy could win the press conference,” he said. “And, that should not be a concern. It doesn’t matter.”
You hear all the time it does, but you look at Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee and he didn’t win the press conference when he was hired. Phil Fulmer, the UT athletics director, probably knew that, too.
“And, he still doesn’t,” my guy said. “When you interview a guy, the first two things you ask: How do you handle internal discipline and how do you handle recruiting. Then, you get into other things.”
Again, can that be an assistant coach?
“The easiest way for an assistant coach to move up is if he’s on staff,” he said. “If it’s just a promotion, he can keep coaches, if that’s what you want to do. It’s a logical progression.
“Every now and the there is that guy who is a coordinator that everyone believes is a can’t miss, like Bob Stoops from Florida to Oklahoma. Or, you promote Barry Switzer.”
Whether or not the hire should be an offensive or defensive coach was discussed.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You can have either. And, style of play is not important. What’s important is if he can coach, if he can hire quality coaches and if he can lead in recruiting.”
Who are some likely candidates? My guy was ready with a couple of names.
“There are at least two guys out there who are head coaches that I think Frank might would have liked,” he said. “Luke Fickell at Cincinnati and Seth Littrell at North Texas.
“I doubt Hunter is going to be interested in Littrell. He’s (4-7) this season. That probably knocks him out, but Frank wouldn’t care. He’d hire him.
“Then, there’s Fickell, an Ohio guy through and through. He has a great resume with Ohio State. I’ve been around him and he’s an impressive guy. Of course, Lou (Holtz) came from Ohio, too. Frank would hire him in a second.”
I am fascinated with both Littrell and Fickell. And, there were interesting aspects of what Kondos Field centered her philosophy of coaching. It wasn’t on winning, it was on the definition of success. It came right from John Wooden’s book she found in the UCLA student union.
Thumbing through Wooden’s book, Miss Val became fixated on the first page that popped open, his definition of success:
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”
She said she thought success was achieving a title, a top income, winning or medals. That’s something tangible.
Nope, that’s not the Wooden method, the new focus for Miss Val in the building of the gymnastics dynasty at UCLA.
This is what you need in coaches. Broyles found them. Can Yurachek? Wieber was 23 when Yurachek hired her, 24 now. Wow, that’s intriguing.
Again, there are no keys to victory here. It’s just about playing hard for this trip to Little Rock against Missouri. Lunney didn’t focus on winning when he said that was the goal after the LSU game as he eyed the short week of prep for the Tigers.
Lunney said it would be trying to maximize effort for three-plus hours, and playing the best game to date for the Razorbacks. Sound familiar?
Instead of keys, I’ll give you more words of advice for Yurachek, from Arkansas lettermen.
Keys to the Search
So far, Yurachek hasn’t asked for any advice from this end as he searched for a replacement for football coach Chad Morris.
I’m ready if he calls. Like with the lead to piece, I’ve sourced some good intelligence on how to go about his search.
I called some of my most trusted sources to see what they’d do if they were leading the search. All spoke with the understanding that I wouldn’t reveal their name, but be sure these are people who have been around the college game for a long time.
First, none felt they were as well equipped as Yurachek to find a coach. I’ll start with one of the most interesting answers from someone I’d let hire the coach.
“I’d find someone with the right kind of connections with high school coaches, someone who can recruit and does a good job with our former players,” said the former player.
“I’d want someone who could connect with our lettermen, include them in what is going on with our team and make you feel welcome at practice.”
That sounds remarkably like Morris. Would you want him back?
“No, that’s just to say that a lot of what Chad was doing was on target,” he said, “but I think he missed on some of the basic things that are needed to rebuild the program.”
And, would that be hiring a staff and coaching?
“Exactly, that’s where it wasn’t working,” he said. “You have to hire a proven staff. You can’t have an offensive staff of teenagers and a defensive staff of old goats. It has to be somewhere in the middle and on both sides of the ball.
“Plus, you must maintain discipline that includes a detail to fundamentals and technique. I guess that’s coaching, right?”
There were other interesting takes, including a plea for one of the fan favorites in the search.
“I’d start with Mike Leach,” another former player said. “If I was hiring the coach, the first thing I’d do is sit down with Leach. There are a lot of things I’d want to check on, like his defensive staff and how he would handle recruiting.”
Recruiting is where another ex-player started.
“This is the really tough part for fans, accepting that you don’t have to have the stars by the name to make it a worthwhile recruiting class,” he said. “I look at the teams that Ken Hatfield gave us and also Houston Nutt. Their good teams had Arkansas players in the offensive line.
“You have to accept that an Arkansas kid without four stars can develop, then give the coach time to get those players developed. What they are as a fourth-year junior is going to be good enough to win with at Arkansas.
“I go back to that line that Danny Ford recruited and was handed to Houston in his first year. You can win with Chad Abernathy, Grant Garrett and Brandon Burslworth. Garrett was recruited more than those others, but they are similar in that they were all three from Arkansas and took a little time to develop.
“Russ Brown wasn’t from Arkansas, but he was the same type of kid. He wasn’t real tall, but he was a tough kid and was a winner.”
There is a belief that there isn’t enough SEC talent in Arkansas to stay competitive in the SEC West.
“I don’t buy that, but I know our fans are not going to be real patient with a class that isn’t highly ranked,” said another source. “The key is to stick with the plan.”
What about a first-year head coach? Sam Pittman, the O-line coach at Georgia, wants the job. Is that the right direction?
“It could be,” said another person. “He can recruit and you’d end up with a tough team. I’d want to know his staff. He’s going to demand a physical sort of player and require more size than I see on this team.
“I don’t want a bunch of fat guys playing in the line, but we are missing some wide bodies right now. I see our team getting shoved around. That shouldn’t happen.”
Several mentioned interim coach Lunney as someone needing consideration.
“It wouldn’t be a bad result to a nationwide search,” said a younger former player. “I am pretty sure he’s had the right training. And, he’s been heavily involved in recruiting.
“His methods produced effort at Baton Rouge. Can he get that breakthrough win against Missouri? If he does, I’d sure put him in the mix.”
There were votes for Lane Kiffin, but two of those warned to be cautious.
“I’m not sure he’d be the long-term guy,” said a veteran former player. “I guess you don’t really ever know what someone is going to do.”
The good news is that almost every former player polled expressed confidence in Yurachek.
“What I’ve seen, he knows what he’s doing,” a former player said. “I don’t know that I’m an expert on basketball, but Eric Musselman looks like exactly what you need. He can coach, he understands the detail to top-level recruiting, he understands the transfer portal and has expansive background.
“If Hunter found Musselman, I’m fine with him finding our football coach. I had never heard of Musselman. But he’s a teacher, demands discipline and builds from the defensive end first. I want our football coach to be just like him.”
OK, just give me a call, Hunter, if you need help, because some of these guys would be worth taking along when you jump on the jet to begin the interview process. They seem confident you know what you are doing, but they’ll lend a hand.
“I know we can still win in football,” came the final word from the first man quoted. “It’s highly possible and probable that we get back to competing with the top teams in the SEC West.
“I fully expect it to happen, but no matter who Hunter finds, it’s going to take us being patient with the next coach. We’ve slipped a long way. First, we’ve got to stop the fall. Maybe Barry did that a little bit at Baton Rouge. I know that you have to stop the fall before you can begin the ascent.”