Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

There's a slew of bad comparisons you could make about the hiring of John L. Smith. B.J. Hunnicutt replacing Trapper John. Sammy Hagar joining Van Halen. Gerald Ford becoming the leader of the free world.

Compared to Bobby Petrino, John L. Smith's hiring as the 31st head football coach at Arkansas is an anti-climatic resolution to a very controversial period in the school's history. Arkansas has gone from stealing coaches from NFL teams to stealing coaches away from the FCS.

However.

Look at Arkansas' situation as if it had been more tragic. If Petrino had been fatally injured in that motorcycle crash instead of being fired, Jeff Long's decision to hold the team and coaches together with an old favorite from the Razorback glory days of last year would have had made perfect sense.

Hiring someone like Bill Cowher would have been akin to replacing a Harley-Davidson with a Titan II missile. It might have taken Arkansas further in the long run, but it would have also obliterated whatever foundation is still left in the program. (It may have also caused an evacuation in Damascus, but we're straying a bit here.)

The announcement of Smith's hire has been a slow burner for us too, but Long, a guy who's hired Bobby Petrino, Mike Anderson, and heck, throw in Chris Bucknam while you're at it, enjoys a benefit of the doubt from us in his decisions.