quote:
Would be the most short sighted, terrible hire since Larry Coker, Mike Dubose, and Bill Stewart. You hire a coach who you think can compete with Saban, Miles, Chizik, etc 5 years from now, not a UAB level coach just because the current seniors like him. Arkansas is not Ohio State or USC where you can plug in anyone and the recruits flock to you. Arkansas needs a national name; a charismatic leader who gives a kid from Dallas, Cincinnati, etc a reason to come check out the campus.

Hindsight is fantastic isn't it? Knowing what you know now would you have hired Saban when he was the DB Coach with the Oilers or the Defensive Coordinator with Cleveland? If not, why not? Not everybody has the ability to see beyond the obvious and that is why a lot of decision makers take the “safe” hire and hire a “name” coach. There’s very little risk in taking that approach.

However, don’t be fooled. There is risk in any big decision because if it were easy everybody would be able to make great decisions. It takes great interview skills, insight, vision and intuition to make great hires not only in football but business in general and I believe Long has those skills.

I’ve seen enough of how McGee handles himself to feel very comfortable with him but I really don't know. And as I stated earlier, I won’t have the opportunity to talk with him personally so I’ll leave the hiring to the person we pay to do that, Jeff Long and I’m confident he will hire the right person.

This post was edited on 4/15/12 at 10:47 am