re: Arkansas' Never Ending New Facilities (2015)

quote:

---

I don't understand why they're not more aware of what they had with Petrino. The guy is like the world champion of play calling. He really is that good. They want to lambast him for not recruiting well, but neither is Bert. They're Arkansas. No home-grown talent in a small state surrounded by states with talent that are dominated by in-state recruiting powerhouses. Their strategy should be to find a coach who just coaches the daylights out of everyone else around... like Petrino

---

but somehow Arkansas owns (and it's not even close) the series record against the aggy's....hmmmmmmmm

quote:

---

I don't understand why they're not more aware of what they had with Petrino. The guy is like the world champion of play calling. He really is that good.

---

You won't find a single hog fan that would disagree with that. We know he was an offensive genius.

quote:

---

They want to lambast him for not recruiting well, but neither is Bert.

---

This couldn't be further from the truth. Bert's classes have been much better thus far, IMO. But what really sets him apart is player retention. Petrino's classes would have a handful of guys not make it to campus or they'd not make it over a year in the program. Look at our junior and senior classes and you'll see there aren't a ton of guys left and some of them are recent JUCO transfers.

Bert's star ratings have been pretty good and this year's class looks like it'll be really quite good for us. But the best part about it is the fact that he's getting better kids than Petrino did. Less grade risks, less character risks.

What he's doing is establishing a 5 yr program where almost everyone will redshirt. That doesn't sound like much to lots of people, because they're used to that. But Arkansas has always failed to keep deep classes together for 4-5 years. But he's redshirted more guys in 2 years (expected) than Petrino ever did. Having more 4th yr juniors and 5th yr seniors will make up for some of the talent discrepancies Arkansas will always face in this conference.

quote:

---

Their strategy should be to find a coach who just coaches the daylights out of everyone else around... like Petrino.

---

Petrino never emphasized defense. The best athletes were always placed on offense. I don't think that's bad, but you can't ALWAYS put the best talent on offense. Bert is way more balanced in terms of where he's situating the talent on both sides of the ball, IMO.

If Bert doesn't turn this ship around in another year or two, I'd be fine with going back to a more wide-open offense. But there's no telling what Bert will be able to do given enough time. The people writing him off after last season are showing their shortsightedness more than anything. It takes way, way longer to rebuild a program from the depths Petrino left it in.