Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

For all the uncertainty surrounding the Arkansas football program the last three weeks, linebackers coach Taver Johnson knew exactly what to expect when he got up Monday morning.

With or without a head coach, Johnson was hitting the road recruiting. College coaches are allowed to evaluate talent at high schools during a period this spring and the Arkansas staff is headed out to do just that.

“I have a 6 a.m. flight and I’ll be on it,” Johnson said Saturday.

Back in Fayetteville, Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long will be evaluating his options for head coach. Long fired Bobby Petrino on April 10 for violations of his contract and is expected to have a replacement in “days, not weeks.”

Knowing who they’ll be working for would be ideal for the current coaches. All eight staff members are still around and they’d like to know what direction Long is headed. As of early Sunday night, the coaches and their families were still awaiting word from Long on his plans.

Arkansas could go with an in-house interim candidate, bring in an outside interim in or hire a full-time replacement. Long seems to be leaning toward the interim route in order to keep the current staff in place.

Beyond that, there isn’t much the existing head coaches knew about their status entering the fourth week since Petrino’s April 1 motorcycle accident with a female employee that ultimately led to his firing. Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said the staff members know enough to keep handling their responsibilities.

Recruiting is a priority now that spring football is over. And the 50-plus recruits on hand at Saturday's Red-White game suggest that players still have an interest in the Razorbacks, who won 21 games with two Top 10 rankings the last two seasons.

“You just approach it like I approached the last two weeks,” Petrino said. “You do your best, you know? Work as hard as you can, get as many guys as you can fired up about the program. … There’s a lot of recruits interested. You just go out and do your job, do it the best you can.”

Arkansas players are scheduled to have a 4 p.m. meeting at the football complex. Perhaps they'll learn who the new head coach is then, but it has been on their schedule for days. Monday's meeting is a spring wrap-up in which the players talk academics and summer strength and conditioning among other topics.

Those are areas where the players will focus while Long deliberates. They have voiced their opinions on who should get the job and can’t control much beyond that at this point.

“The decision and indecision we have here, we’ll take care of that as far as coaching, the guys upstairs will,” Wilson said. “The football team, we’ve got to take care of what’s in the classroom and continue to get stronger in the weight room. We’ve got two more weeks of lifting. And then it’ll be summer from there.”