LITTLE ROCK — John L. Smith and Bobby Petrino worked together too long not to have many of the same coaching attributes.
And in other ways, they are polar opposites.
Both are hard-nosed football coaches with a grasp of the game. Both have an eye for detail and have a Mississippi Riverboat gambler’s sense of knowing when to hold ’em or when to fold ’em.
Both are disciplinarians and both are generally very honest.
There are more similarities, but what people are seeing right now is the great difference.
John L. Smith has more of a sense of humor, a self-effacing or pointed wit. He’s more charming and more humble.
Someone who worked with Bobby Petrino years ago said even as a young assistant he was driven to success on a bullet train so fast it rarely noticed anything but football.
Smith has been on the Razorbacks Club circuit, and he’s embraced and been embraced.
At news conferences, he’s been funny at times. But if the questions were serious, he was, too.
A serious question to Petrino, say about an injured player, was more or less going to be ignored.
It has been told that in the home of a recruit, Petrino could put on a pretty good face. But before that door opened and after it closed, he was not a recruiter.
In time, Petrino’s driven focus was probably going to hinder, maybe even hurt, recruiting. Granted, he had the ability to squeeze every ounce of talent out of a player. He seemed able to make four stars out of three stars lots of time.
What perhaps was draining recruiting was when a recruit got on campus and was turned over to the other players. That’s when the real recruiting happens.
It is up to assistant coaches to get kids on campus and up to the head coach to close the door.
Sometime during those official visits, a recruit was likely to hear something along the lines of, ‘You’ll get better if you come here. You might be dog-cussed every day and at any time, but you’ll get better.”
Most kids who are D-I prospects already think they are pretty good and the idea of being cursed every day is not appealing. Plus, Petrino’s temper was caught on national television more than once.
That’s not to say the Razorbacks wouldn’t have won with Petrino. He may have continued to have quarterbacks from Arkansas fall in his lap, and he could make them good enough to put up points and go to the next level.
Under Petrino, if you were a receiver with speed, good hands and didn’t get your feelings hurt, or if you were a quarterback with a strong arm and a quick release, and were mentally tough, you were going to excel.
Problem is, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Georgia and others have top-shelf skill players, too.
To win a national championship, you have to have more, much more.
As sure as Petrino’s offense was more fun to watch than night baseball, defense still wins championships.
Defense is Smith’s specialty. Arkansas will be improved on defense, even though it lost several key players.
Offensively, they will be fine, too. Paul Petrino knows the offense like he helped create it, which he did.
As for recruiting, prospects will be told by Razorbacks that if they come to Fayetteville, they’ll get better.
And, at least for now, they’ll be told the head coach is a great guy who knows when to work hard and also knows when and how to laugh.
Sports, Pages 23 on 05/27/2012