BenHOGan1

Wayne Madkin
Tony Mandarich
Bumper Pool
D'Brickishaw Ferguson
Madre Hill
Lam and Jam Jones
Peter Gardere
Bucky Richardson

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The lack of recruiting in state talent and comments did not endear him to the state.

What sealed the deal, however, was campaigning for Jesse Helms. It wasn't just Helms leading the fight against MLK Jr. day, though I am hard pressed to think of something back then that would have driven away young Black athletes faster than that. Rather it was that Holtz doing such an action heavily implied that the University of Arkansas was endorsing Helms.

People have a hard time remembering just how much raw political power Broyles effectively wielded in Arkansas back then. Bill Clinton called Broyles the most powerful man in the state for a reason. Broyles, and before him Barnhill, had built a system based one state, one football team.

You didn't comment on political issues because it might offend a group in state, you took your smiling pictures with the Governor, and that was that. To make matters worse, Helms was a devoted Republican. As hard as it is to believe now back then the Republican party in Arkansas was so small it was joked they had their state convention at a corner booth in Denny's. Democrats controlled everything, and I do mean everything.

Holtz didn't just touch the third rail of Arkansas politics, he took a giant whiz on it.


Nailed it

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All of that is entirely true and a very good contextual account.

But to simplify it a bit, Holtz went on the Johnny Carson show and made the statement, "Fayetteville Arkansas is not the end of the world, but you can sure see it from there." My late father had 2 degrees from Arkansas and was a loyal Hog fan and Lou Holtz fan. When that comment came out of his mouth, my dad had no use for that lisping midget ever again. He insulted my father's home state and his alma mater. Dad was glad to see him go.

The deal is $5.4 Million per year over 13 years. CA is looking to expand their footprint beyond the KC area. They've already got 6 locations in NWA. Clearly they saw value in aligning their Marketing with the U of A. Incidentally, that alignment and brand awareness is already enjoyed by all the Fortune 500 companies in NWA, so such an annual expenditure made no business sense.

Living in the KC area, I see their ads with Bobby Witt JR and the chiefs qb running regularly on local stations. They also sponsor the Diamond Club at the K. They seem to be a really good corporate sponsor/partner.

We're not familiar with them yet in NWA, but from the size of this investment, we are likely to become very familiar with them. I'm good with this partnership. Let's see how it activates...

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A&M gonna have to pony up to keep her?

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My sources say "neigh"

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RPI puts too much meaning on meaningless midweek games. The midweek games are for getting lower end bullpen arms some reps. Unless the NCAA comes up with a different metric, teams are going to start scheduling fewer midweek games to combat this.

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Clearly there's a way to "game" the RPI formula, and Arkansas has not taken advantage of it. I'd definitely look at scheduling differently in the future with the intent of manipulating RPI.

Stating the obvious here but obvious money grab that does nothing to make the sport and tournament any better or more interesting or more competitive.

The fact of the matter is that every D1 team is already in the Tournament by virtue of playing in their conference tournaments. A team that goes 0-30 in the regular season can get on a highly improbable heater and run the table through the conference tourney, secure the automatic bid, and then win 6 more for the national title.

In the current setup, teams are playing the regular season to give themselves that luxury of not having to win their conference tournament in order to secure a place in the NCAA tournament, along with preferred seeding.

There is no compelling reason for expanding. It doesn't help the mid-majors. It doesn't provide competitive balance. What it DOES do is increase games as opportunities for us to see Limu Emu and Doug. It gives more chances for pay services like Peacock and Prime Video to grab their bags of cash by televising games I'd never watch on a Wednesday night in January. They're just trying to add "inventory."

The jagoffs in suits will get a bit richer on something the rest of us don't really want.

Spent a rainy Fall weekend at a cabin in Snowball, on the banks of the Buffalo River back in 1995. Absolutely gorgeous part of the country.

No. Go Michigan. Go whatever team is playing against tennessee too. Hope any remaining sec teams lose by a million.

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ADs Jeff Long and Hunter Yuracheck pissed off too many hog fans rich and poor.

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Don't forget John White who, as Chancellor stated it was his intent to de-emphasize athletics and direct as much funding as possible to academics. He actively sabotaged Nolan, while also withholding resources from the football program. We've not recovered almost two decades later.

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Florida next, if we don't get a lot better, that will be ugly.

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FU is a matchup nightmare for us. While I think we have an advantage in the backcourt, theirs is really good. Not much of a gap there. And their front line should feast on ours.