Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Speakers have been announced for the 2011 Little Rock Touchdown Club. Included are Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino (Aug. 29), ASU Coach Hugh Freeze (Oct. 10) and UCA Coach Clint Conque (Oct. 31), plus a number of notable names in college football.

Also scheduled to speak are former head coaches Gene Stallings (Alabama/Texas A&M), Bobby Bowden (Florida State), Lloyd Carr (Michigan), Pat Dye (Auburn), Johnny Majors (Tennessee) and Larry Lacewell (Arkansas State).

Below are dates and bios courtesy the LRTDC.

August 29
Bobby Petrino
(Arkansas)
Coach Petrino wasted little time showing Razorback fans and the rest of the college football world why he ranks amongst the most successful coaches in the nation. In just his third season at the University of Arkansas, Petrino led the team to the Sugar Bowl, marking the first Bowl Championship Series game in school history. In doing so, he became the only head coach in history to lead two different schools to their first BCS bowl appearance. His 2011 Razorback squad is preseason ranked No. 10 by ESPN.

September 6
Gene Stallings
(Alabama, Texas A&M)
A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Stallings, in only his third season at Alabama (1990-1996) produced the Tide’s first perfect regular season since 1979 (going 12-0) and then defeating Miami in the Sugar Bowl to capture the 1992 national championship. For seven years (1965-71), Stallings was also head coach of his alma mater, Texas A&M, where he played under Paul “Bear” Bryant and was one of the “Junction Boys” that endured the now famous Junction training camp in 1954. He served as head coach of the St Louis/Phoenix Cardinals from 1986-89 and during his years as an assistant under Tom Landry (1972-85), the Dallas Cowboys won seven division titles, three conference championships and the 1978 Super Bowl. He currently serves on the Texas A&M Board of Regents, and he and his family have been honored on numerous occasions for their work on behalf of the developmentally disabled. Stalling’s son, John Mark, has Down syndrome and has played a significant role in raising both money and awareness.

September 12
Bobby Bowden
(Florida State)
A college football icon and coach for six decades, Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. He served as head coach of Florida State from 1976-2009. He won national titles in 1993 and 1999 and 12 ACC titles from the time FSU joined the ACC in 1991. Bowden had an amazing streak of his teams finishing in the top five in the country 14 straight years. He finished his coaching career with 389 wins - second all-time in major college football history.

September 19
Lloyd Carr
(Michigan)
An inductee into the class of 2011 College Football Hall of Fame, Carr led the University of Michigan to a national championship in 1997 and a bowl game in every season as head coach and won or shared the Big Ten title in five seasons (1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004). He became the first Wolverine coach to win four straight bowl games including a Tom Brady led victory against the Razorbacks in the 1999 Citrus Bowl. His record against Top 10 teams was 19-8.

September 26
Barry Lunney Jr. and Tony Cherico
(Arkansas – currently coordinators for Bentonville High School)
Barry Lunney was team captain and standout quarterback for the Razorbacks from 1992-1995, throwing for 5,782 yards and 33 TDs (both fifth all time) while also leading the Hogs to its first SEC Western Division title and championship game against Florida in 1995. That same season, he also led Hogs to a thrilling last-second win against Alabama in Tuscaloosa with a fourth-down completion to J.J. Meadors. It was Arkansas’ first-ever win against the Crimson Tide.

Tony Cherico was team captain and a selection to the 1987 American Football Coaches All-America team. He helped the '87 Hogs lead the SWC in rush defense, allowing only 99.8 yards per game on their way to a 9-4 season. He was chosen as the noseguard for 1980's All Decade Team and was one of the most gregarious Hogs under Ken Hatfield - even keeping a well-documented pet python in his dorm room.

October 3
Pat Dye
(Auburn)
Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005, Dye’s career record as a head coach was 153–62–5 over 19 seasons. At Auburn, he achieved a record of 99–39–4 (71.1% win rate) over 12 seasons, including four SEC titles and becoming only the fourth coach in SEC history to win three consecutive titles. His star player was Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson who led the Tigers to a win against the Razorbacks in the 1984 Liberty Bowl.

October 10
Hugh Freeze
(Arkansas State)
After enjoying successful stints as both a head and assistant coach at the NCAA, FBS, NAIA and high school levels over the last 18 years, Freeze was named Arkansas State's 27th head football coach on Dec. 2, 2010. He most recently completed his first season as Arkansas State's offensive coordinator, guiding the Red Wolves' offense to a record-breaking year in 2010. Freeze compiled a 99-23 record at Briarcrest High School and led the school to state championship titles in 2002 and 2004 while coaching future NFL star Michael Oher, the subject of the Hollywood movie “The Blind Side.”

October 17
Jeff Long
(Athletic Director—Arkansas)
Joining the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2007, Long became the director of Razorback athletics on Jan. 1, 2008, after serving as an advisor to University Chancellor Dr. John A. White. During his initial months at Arkansas, Long completed the search for the Razorbacks’ new football coach and blended the university’s separate men’s and women’s athletics department into one even stronger program. A veteran administrator with a track record of the highest commitment to the concept of “student-athlete,” Long also holds the title of vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas. Since Long has been the AD at Arkansas, all sports have combined to win eight conference championships and advance to 53 postseason competitions, including the school’s first football Bowl Championship Series appearance in the Sugar Bowl last year. And for the third consecutive year, Arkansas’ student athletes’ grade point average has exceeded 3.0.

October 24
Larry Lacewell
(Arkansas State, Oklahoma & Dallas Cowboys)
Lacewell is the only coach in football history to help lead a college team to back-to-back national championships and then be part of back-to-back NFL Super Bowl wins. As a former head football coach and athletic director at Arkansas State University, Lacewell took his teams to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for four straight years, to two Southland Conference championships and to the 1986 Division I-AA National Championship game. He also served as a graduate assistant under Bear Bryant at Alabama in 1959 and was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma winning two national titles, eight Big Eight Championships and had a 37-game winning streak. In 1992, he began work as a scout for the Dallas Cowboys and was a part of three Super Bowl Championships with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.

October 31
Clint Conque
(UCA)
As Conque enters the 2011 season, his 12th at the school, he is the winningest coach in the 102-year history of UCA football where no active head coach has been at his school more than half of Conque’s tenure in Conway. In addition, he is the dean of coaches in the Southland Conference. In his time at UCA, Conque has overseen the evolution of the program from mediocrity to a national contender in Division II, through the transition to Division I and into a nationally-recognized upper-tier competitor at the FCS level, fielding eight teams with winning records in the past decade, including two seasons of at least 10 wins and six of at eight or more. Since 2001, no collegiate program in the state of Arkansas has won more than the Bears, who are 77-39 (.664) during that span.

November 7
Johnny Majors
(Tennessee & Pittsburgh)
Inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1987, Majors was a standout halfback at the University of Tennessee, earning All-America honors in 1956 and a two-time winner of the Southeastern Conference Most Valuable Player award in 1955 and 1956. Majors served as the head football coach at Iowa State University (1968–72), the University of Pittsburgh (1973–76, 1993–96), and Tennessee (1977–92), compiling a career college football record of 185–137–10. His 1976 Pittsburgh squad won a national championship after capping a 12–0 season with a victory in the Sugar Bowl and his Volunteer teams won three SEC titles.

November 14
Mark Mangino
(Kansas)
In just eight years, from 2002-2009, Mangino took the Kansas football program to heights never reached before in school history. In 2007 alone, Mangino received nine different National Coach of the Year awards following a 12-1 season, the school’s first ever BCS appearance in the Orange Bowl and the highest ranking in school history, No. 2. His accomplishments also included 20 consecutive wins in a two year period, consecutive bowl games and 19 straight weeks ranked in the AP polls - all firsts in school history. His three bowl victories equaled the combined number won during the previous 102-year history of the school. As offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, he won the Broyles Award in 2000 helping lead the Sooners to a national title.

November 21
Mark Schlabach
(ESPN Reporter & Journalist)
Schlabach is a national college football columnist for ESPN.com and a regular guest on television programs across the ESPN platform. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Schlabach is a former staff writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Washington Post. He has covered college football for nearly two decades. Schlabach’s work has been honored multiple times by Associated Press Sports Editors and he is the author of six books about college football. Last year, along with Pat Forde and Chris Low, Schlabach broke the Cam Newton “play-for-pay” story and the firestorm that followed - even being heckled by Auburn fans while doing an ESPN live shot at Auburn stadium.

November 28
Jay and Chris Bequette
(Arkansas)
Former Razorback offensive linemen and brothers Jay and Chris Bequette help make up one third of three generations of Bequettes to play football at the University of Arkansas. Their late father, George Bequette, played for Bowden Wyatt’s Hog teams of the 1950s. Jay was a team captain and all-conference center for Coach Lou Holtz in 1982. Chris was a team captain in 1987 for Coach Ken Hatfield. Jay’s son Jake is currently a Razorback team captain and preseason All-SEC defensive end.