FAYETTEVILLE - Because it sounded like typical coachspeak, few paid much attention to Arkansas defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s assertions that “We have a long, long way to go.”
Ash’s assertions began last spring after Bret Bielema had taken over as the Razorbacks coach. Alas, the “long, long way to go” assertions continue in this 3-5 season as Ash likely always knew they would.
Nobody denies Bobby Petrino’s offensive genius during his Razorbacks head coaching tenure that included 10-3 and 11-2 records for 2010 and 2011. But nobody can deny that under Petrino defense was never emphasized above a distant second fiddle, either.
Defensively, Petrino never recruited better than some of the players Houston Nutt bequeathed him in 2008, like defensive end Jake Bequette and linebacker Jerry Franklin.
A lack of defense finally sunk the Hogs when everything unraveled in the 4-8 2012 season under interim coach John L. Smith, and it continues unraveling in 2013 with the Razorbacks coming off successive 52-7 and 52-0 defeats and 0-4 in SEC play.
Of course, fans want the team to conjure up miracles during this open date week before next Saturday’s game against Auburn.
They aren’t apt to get them, although Ash would love to provide some.
“There is no magic formula,” Ash said. “If there was a quick fix on things like this, somebody would put it in a bottle and sell it. We know what we want to be long term, and we have a plan and we just have to keep that plan going every single day.
“Nobody said this was going to be easy. Nobody said this was going to be an overnight turnaround just because a new staff walked in the door.”
THE PROPHETIC TEACHER
Along with the late Jim Whitehead, and prominent assistance starting in 1970 from another nationally known poet, Miller Williams, University of Arkansas English professor, and author Bill Harrison formed the UA’s creative writing program in 1966.
They were to UA creative writing what Frank Broyles has been and symbolically remains to Razorbacks athletics, the defining force of success that is unfathomable nationally from a state of Arkansas’ comparative limits in population and resources.
Harrison, 79, died this week after a brave battle against kidney failure.He leaves the UA a lasting legacy as nationally renowned in its field as the Razorbacks have been in theirs.
An avid basketball fan and close friend with former Razorbacks basketball coach Eddie Sutton, Harrison incorporated the Razorbacks into one of his best-known works.
When his 1973 Esquire short story Roller Ball Murder was transformed into the 1975 movie Rollerball, for which he wrote the screenplay, Harrison used crowd noise from a Razorbacks game at Barnhill Arena as the Rollerball crowd noise for the movie that starred James Caan.
That movie, given the recent lawsuit controversy about the NFL and concussions, has proven chillingly prophetic regarding some unsavory and unduly influential alliances between corporations and athletics.
As a teacher and author, Arkansas benefited and continues benefiting from Harrison’s vision as a man timelessly ahead of his time.
Sports, Pages 20 on 10/26/2013