Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

If I had a dollar for every "who's going to be the next Razorback coach?" question, I'd have enough money to at least buy dinner for four at Sonny Williams Steak Room.

My answer: How about Frank Broyles?

OK, not the 86-year-old athletic director emeritus. Sure, his heart would get to racing just with the thought of returning to the sideline one more time, but then that pounding beat would remind him he usually can't stay to watch a game through halftime, much less its entirety, anymore.

No, task at hand for Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long is to channel his predecessor from more than a half-century ago, John Barnhill, and find that next Frank Broyles.

* Young, or at least possessing the exuberance of youth, but someone with head coaching experience.

*Energetic.

*Innovative, with an offensive bent but with the knowledge also that in the South, defense wins championships.

*A gentleman, classy and charismatic, in a way that makes high school stars swoon and makes supporters ask where they need to deposit their latest contribution and if they could give more.

* Knowledgable by being tutored through an oustanding coaching lineage.

* Tapped in to the top assistants in the country to build the best staff anywhere with talented aides who can't wait to be big-time head coaches themselves.

* Understanding of what the Arkansas job entails, that the entire state will back the program, but that much of the talent will have to come from outside the borders.

I believe Long and the people he leans on for advice have identified such a head coach from a BCS-level school, though I can't say they have contacted him and he may be difficult to woo from his curent job.