Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long visited with media following his Little Rock Touchdown Club appearance Monday. Here is a brief video and transcript of that chat:

Did you expect such a difficult transition with John L. Smith?
Well, no. Obviously I had no idea, no expectation of the way things have unfolded. Certainly I don’t think anybody in this room did. But you know what? Every season is a challenge. Every season is different. Behind the scenes there were a lot of adjustments that had to be made. Not only the head football coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, changes in defensive coaches — defensive line, linebackers, the corners, the safeties. So there was a lot of things going on behind the scenes. Again, that’s not to make excuses, but there were lots of adjustments that had to be made, certainly in philosophy and delivery of messages and certainly from the head coach, but also from assistant coaches working with new positions.

Was there any thought to going a different direction after the Texas A&M game?
Absolutely not. I made a commitment in April to our student-athletes, to our coaches, to John L. Smith. That would not be sending the right messages to our student-athletes. Certainly it would not have been sending the right message to our student body, our young people at the University of Arkansas and I think it certainly wouldn't be sending the right messages to coaches and people across the country as we set out to hire a new coach in December. So, absolutely none. I know there was lots of speculation, which is unfounded, but no, there was no consideration.

Are you concerned with the attention John L. Smith’s bankruptcy has generated? Are you concerned how much time he’s spending on it?
I’m actually not because I think he’s dealt with much of this many years ago as he’s been dealing with this situation for a number of years. I think when he shared that, I think it was close to July, when he shared that bankruptcy was becoming more of an option. I think when we spoke back in April when we hired him it was still a hope of his that he would avoid bankruptcy and he would work through the season and thought maybe it would be a couple years down the road before he’d have to make a difficult decision on bankruptcy. I know it’s not something he wanted to do, but I think as it’s played out he had to make a decision. His financial advisors helped him make that decision. Again, anybody’s personal finances are their own business and he had to make a decision that was in his family’s best interest.

Is it a distraction to the program?
I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s a student athlete that ever went to practice, ever went to class, that ever went to a meeting that had any thoughts of Coach Smith’s financial situation in their minds.

Did you know the extent of the financial trouble? $25-50 million?
No. No. Certainly, because I don’t think Coach Smith knew the depth of it. Again, it might seem odd to us, to think how do you not know how much debt you’re in? Certainly that’s not a world I play in, but when you’re in that investment world we’ve all seen people have gotten in over their head with financial decisions and the number ends up being the number. No. I’m not shirking responsibility, but I didn’t know the depth. And I don’t think Coach Smith did either until it got very close to the team when he made the decision and his financial advisors made the decision to declare bankruptcy.

I do want to clear up one thing because I did hear this: There was absolutely zero efforts by the University of Arkansas, Razorback athletics, the Razorback Foundation to assist Coach Smith with hiding assets from bankruptcy court. I’ve learned through this process that’s not something we could do, even if we wanted to do. Certainly we were not doing that. Certainly you have to recall we were dealing with a 63-year old coach that was getting a 10-month contract. That coach was interested in his retirement. So working with his financial advisors, not unlike we’ve done with Coach Petrino’s advisors, I’m sure Coach Nutt’s even though I wasn’t here. In any of those situations you work with those financial advisors to decide to structure a package that’s to their benefit and the University’s benefit. So, I just want to be very clear about it. That does bother me that they said we were trying to assist … that is absolutely not true. I think the facts have borne that out.

What phase are you in, in the coaching search?
Just research at this point. We’ve still got six to seven weeks of the season left. In our world, unlike the business world, you don’t just pick out a candidate and go get him. We have some unwritten protocols that you try to follow. They’re getting, to be honest with you, blurrier in our profession — what is appropriate and what isn’t. But I’m going to try to walk that line and not try to invade or intrude upon a coach coaching a season. That is important to me to do it the right way. Certainly there are a number of third parties out there trying to get information to us about those who might be interested and might not be. But we’ve got to walk a fine line there. It’s really just research at this point.

Do other schools having difficult seasons complicate your search?
That’s certainly one of those complicating factors. No question. There’s going to be openings at the end of the season. Those are certainly [something] you try to prepare yourself for. That does add to the difficulty. It’s a very difficult process.

Is John L. still a candidate?
We’ve said from the very beginning about Coach Smith that I wasn’t going to analyze his performance each week of the season. We’ve both said very clearly at the end of the season we will know very clearly if he is a candidate or not. We’re not at the end of the season. I think it will become very clear. It will be very clear to both of us if he’s a candidate at the end of the season.

How different is the hiring situation you're in than the one you inherited in 2007?
It’s different just because you have a lot of time to do a lot of research. The trust as we look forward, there is still going to be a window there that a lot of things will have to take place very quickly to secure that coach. Certainly you’ll go in with a lot more background knowledge, but, as I shared at the podium, you don’t’ know which people are truly interested and which are interested based on helping their current situation.

What do you have to sell? How much different is the Arkansas job now than 2007?
Oh. Oh. No question. No question I think from five years ago we have a tremendous amount to sell. First thing people think of is facilities. Yes, we’ve improved our facilities. The football center will be one of the best, if not the best, in the country. Certainly the centralized location of all of our operations, there will be very few that have that. So we’re going to be, obviously have that. But I think what we’ve done too, more important, we’ve built the infrastructure behind the coach. What he needs to be successful. Academic support. Certainly with the changes in NCAA rules, continuing eligibility, the graduation APR. You have to have that infrastructure. Coaches are looking for that. We have that now. We’ll eventually have a facility as we move forward on building our student-athlete success center. But we’ve dealt with personnel, people first. We’ve got people interested in helping student athletes progress and get their degree and that is very important. Also I mentioned too, athletic training, sports medicine, team physicians, strength and conditioning, facilities and people. We’ve invested in those things. And I think when coaches have a chance to look at us and what we have to offer, they’re going to see, if they’re interested in a challenge, if they’re a competitor, if they want to play and beat the very best, we’ve got a lot to offer. We’ve got the resources and the facilities around them and the team around them to be successful.