Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Jokes. Lots and lots of jokes. Some funny, others awkward.

These are the things we’ve come to expect from John L. Smith anytime he gets a captive audience and a microphone. Smith's appearances up to this point at large press conferences and booster club meetings have been a mix of entertaining and odd.

So it was fair to wonder how he’d come across during his first Arkansas Football Kickoff Luncheon.  Would the comedy detract from the points he was trying to make?

Not this time.

There were flashes of the humor, but plenty of substance during Smith’s nearly seven-minute Q&A with emcee Jimmy Dykes. Smith showed a side missing from many of the other times we’ve seen him in a similar setting.

Smith came off as sincere, caring and deeply invested in the season. We got a glimpse of what it is that the players love about him so much. They don’t just like having him around because he makes them laugh.

This was the Smith that Alfred Davis told us about at media day two weeks ago. Davis said his favorite moment with Smith as head coach wasn’t an off the wall story, but the fact Razorbacks would often spot the 63-year-old running bleachers in Razorback Stadium while the players were going through conditioning runs.

Smith, as fans saw on Friday, is much more invested in this than it might appear on a quick glance.

Asked by Dykes what first popped into his mind when Athletic Director Jeff Long called to offer him the job, Smith needed a minute to gather his thoughts. Then he had to take time to regain his composure.

“Gosh, I get to go back to my family I just left,” Smith said before lowering the mic and fighting back tears.

Whatever the end result of Smith’s 10-month contract might be — Liberty Bowl, BCS title or something in between — it became even more clear that he genuinely cares about his players and assistant coaches. Whatever compelled him to leave the program as an assistant coach in December wasn’t nearly as big as the pull he felt to come back.

Cynical folks will point to Smith’s financial troubles and the hefty bump in salary as the motivation behind him leaving Weber State for Arkansas in April. Surely the opportunity to make more money contributed to the decision, but there was more to Smith’s move than just a financial one. He offered a real sense of that on Friday.