re: Tommy T at the NW AR TDC ....

quote:

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This is something that bugged me about Bielema.

I grew up in East Arkansas but am a supporter of moving all the games to NWA, as are most rationale people. However, I still deeply respect the history of playing games there and know what it means and/or meant to a large portion of our in-state fan base.

I didn't like how Bert was outspoken about disliking playing there his first few years here, not because it offended me or anything but because it sort of a needless middle finger to some of those people. What's more is that he doubled down on it after getting some blowback. As a head coach and the leader of a major college football program, you should have better public presence of mind than that.

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Preach reverend, preach.

Being in a military family I grew up all over the South, East Coast, and finally Midwest. But the family farm was in Eastern Arkansas and if we got the chance we'd try to make a game in Little Rock.

Flipping the bird to half the state, especially in a small state like Arkansas, is woefully ignorant. If Alabama, for whatever reason, decided to play a game in Birmingham next season I'm pretty damn certain that while he would bitch up a storm behind the scenes Saban, in public, would be talking about the rich history of Alabama football games at Birmingham, how important this game is to the program, and so on.

With your boss, the AD, trying to get those last couple of games finished in LR, you don't stroll in and casually start talking about how much you hate playing there. Along with publicly insulting TX high school football, a major source of recruits for our program, its one of the biggest PR blunders Bielema has made here.

We hired a coach, for all his credentials, who just doesn't get Arkansas football.