FAYETTEVILLE — From the day he was hired, any time would have been a good time for Arkansas to part company with Jeff Long.
The former Razorbacks athletic director’s 10 years diminishing Arkansas in general, and the Frank Broyles legacy in particular, from the Razorbacks and his jading longstanding relationships-inflicted program damage not yet repaired.
That said, the timing axing Long and soon afterward Razorback football coach Bret Bielema without an athletic director in place has proven unfair to those replacing them.
Chad Morris, the SMU coach, jumped at the chance to be a candidate for the Arkansas job after Bielema was officially was terminated in 2017 minutes after closing a 4-8 overall, 1-7 in the SEC season.
Hunter Yurachek was still the University of Houston athletic director when Arkansas senior associate athletic director Julie Cromer informed Bielema of his dismissal.
Cromer, now the Ohio University athletic director, hired Morris with Yurachek’s what-else-could-he-do approval upon Yurachek’s immediate Arkansas arrival in December.
It has not gone well. The Arkansas tradition that Morris so eagerly sought to embrace wasn’t and isn’t in its traditional state.
Last year the Razorbacks Morris inherited went 2-10 overall, including an embarrassing nonconference home loss to North Texas, and 0-8 in the SEC. This season they are 2-4, with an embarrassing home loss to San Jose State, and 0-3 in the SEC.
The SEC losses, 31-17 at Ole Miss and especially the 31-27 and 24-20 losses to Texas A&M at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, and last Saturday at Kentucky, actually marked improvement over Arkansas’ 20-13 season-opener victory over lower division Portland State and three quarters of its 55-34 victory over Colorado State.
This fan base seems in no mood to acknowledge improvement. Losing at Kentucky to a then 0-3 in the SEC team with its regular quarterbacks injured and a wide receiver as a running quarterback rushing 196 yards, doesn’t paint a rosy picture.
Especially with Arkansas still back and forth on its two graduate-transfer quarterbacks.
Oddsmakers project by 16 to 19 points it won’t matter the quarterback order Arkansas uses against nationally-ranked No. 11 Auburn in Saturday’s SEC West game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Nationally-ranked No. 1 Alabama awaits Arkansas the next Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
Not winning the winnable looms large because of who looms next.
That’s the short term reality.
Long term, it seems only recruiting and development can extricate this plight. Morris immediately has shown he can recruit quality receivers. Likely with time he can recruit and develop the offensive and defensive linemen the Hogs need so badly. If his Clemson offensive coordinator tenure is a true indicator, in time he can establish the quarterback Arkansas hasn’t had since 2017 graduate Austin Allen was 2016 healthy.
But the clock ticks fast. Too bad its 2017 hands couldn’t have timed an athletic director arrival adequately preceding a coaching hire so both would have known their situations’ severity.