re: Looking back, we were close to something great with Bert

frick that fat alcoholic piece of shite.

You know we're up shite creek and in a bad spot in the coaching search when we're looking back at the Bert era fondly.

We need a damn coach already. People are losing their ever loving minds.

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He was an alcoholic and sleeping through team meetings. He had checked out and the product on the field was a glaring reminder.

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And yet, still better than the pickle we're in now

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And yet, still better than the pickle we're in now

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Initially. His last year was the first step into the current pickle we're in. 4-8 in a system that had been installed for 4 years with a roster full of kids specifically recruited for that system. Don't see us improving much on 2-10 had we still been under Bert the next year. Ty Storey/Kelley with no Enos and the same garbage O-line still sounds like a disaster no matter which coach you choose.

Here's what I think.

Bert almost did work out. His 3* OL dominated at Wisconsin, until they played Ohio State or any blueblood with better talent. The SEC is full of better talent, so he needed a 4-5* OL here. Pittman was getting them and we were on the cusp of competing for the SEC with a dominant OL, until Pittman got tired of Bert's antics and left.

The 2016 recruiting class finished ranked 22nd on 247, but Pittman leaving caused us to lose out on multiple 4* OL players that we would have signed, had he stayed. SEC defenses were getting weaker and our offense would have given our defense plenty of rest. If Bert hadn't run Pittman off, I think Arkansas would have assembled an offense that would have controlled game play and run roughshod over the rest of the SEC.

Although we had a good OL, it was never great like Bielema intended, because it lacked depth and competition, but we were close to getting there before Pittman left and then the progression with OL recruiting halted, abruptly. Had Pittman remained, I think Arkansas would have finished with a top-20 class in 2016, that probably would have been closer to 15 than 20. I think that success might have been sustainable, if it resulted in improvement on the field, which I think it would have.

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4-8

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Yes, we burned the program to the ground because we went 4-8. Should have just chalked it up as a bad year but no, we had to turn everything upside down because of the egos on the BoT. Change for the sake of change doesn’t always work out, obviously. Firing Long and Bielema was totally unnecessary and got us into the mess we’re in now.

You can’t honestly argue that we’re in a better situation now after cleaning house. It is so, so much worse than what we had.

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Should have just chalked it up as a bad year

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Why? We had zero O-line recruiting to speak of for an already incredibly bad O-line and zero talent to speak of at the QB position with no one capable of coaching them up after Enos' departure. The season after 4-8 was just as fricked no matter who the coach was.

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Change for the sake of change doesn’t always work out

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It wasn't change for the sake of change. The writing was on the wall. Bert checked out.

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You can’t honestly argue that we’re in a better situation now after cleaning house.

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It sure as hell isn't much different. Pittman and Enos carried Bert to the little success he did have here. Our O-line fell apart when Pittman left. Our offense and QB development fell apart when Enos left. Once we lost those two on staff, it was nothing but downhill. I think we MAYBE win 3 games if Bert had gotten a year 6.

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Firing Long and Bielema was totally unnecessary and got us into the mess we’re in now.

You can’t honestly argue that we’re in a better situation now after cleaning house. It is so, so much worse than what we had

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I wanted us to get our ducks in a row before firing Bielema, which we clearly did not do, but Drew is right that Bielema had already checked out. How else do you explain the numerous blown leads in 2016-17?

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You can’t be serious.

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Last in the west, fighting tooth and nail with a Coastal Carolina team in their first year playing DI football with an interim head coach for a one point win...yeah. Not much different.

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That was one year.

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You keep pretending Bert had some sort of answer for the roster situation or that there was anything even remotely positive for the future after that season in either recruiting or development. There wasn't. We were in a tailspin. The O-line play would have continued to be garbage under a failed NFL lineman coach and the offense still would have sucked. The team as a whole had no fight and routinely washed out late in games. It was time to make changes. Keeping or firing Bert didn't change the trajectory of the program. The hire made after him, however, did.