Bazzel: Hogs Lack Enough Talent for Much Success

David Bazzel played for Arkansas from 1981-85, he was a regular guest on KATV's popular "Sports Week" and he is a co-host of "The Show With No Name" on KABZ-FM, 103.7 "The Buzz." We fired off a few hot-button preseason football topics for the Baz to tackle:

AS360.com: What is your feeling about the changeover from the Houston Nutt regime to Bobby Petrino? How have the players taken to it?
Just in talking to people around the program or a parent who has a son playing ... or talking with high school coaches, the consensus is that it's all business and no play time now. It's just a different personality with the head coach. The players like it, from what I gather. Sometimes you need a change. I went through that with Lou Holtz being replaced by Ken Hatfield [in December 1983]. Sometimes it's not bad to get a different perspective into the head coaching position.

With Bobby Petrino, it's a different atmosphere. He seems more demanding, more serious, not the relaxed style the previous staff had. It was somewhat the opposite way when we went from Holtz to Hatfield. We went from a guy who was extremely intense and knowing you could invoke the wrath of Lou if you stepped wrong to a guy who was not as intense and more of a player's coach. Not saying that Ken and Houston are the same, but I'm saying this guy now is not a rah-rah, hug-your-neck guy. But the guy knows what he's doing.

It's even apparent in their strength and conditioning. I don't know if I've ever heard of a coach who brings up the importance of strength and weight training more than he does. He doesn't even play around when it comes to the weight training; there is no lollygagging around the weight room. That's something that's really changed among the players. And sometimes you expect to get a break with an intense coach when he moves from the field to off the field, but this guy is as demanding in the weight room as he is on the field, more than anyone I've heard of. It's almost professional in an NFL sense - this is the way it is, there is no time to fool around. Those were comments I heard across the board.

What do you see from the upcoming Razorback season?
I'm not the most optimistic on this, just because of the talent level across the board and the schedule they have. If Petrino wins six games he ought to be SEC Coach of the Year.