TOP ARKANSAS SPORTS STORIES OF 2017: News tumbles down the Hill

The state’s flagship university dominated the sports news cycle in 2017.

That tends to happen when the most famous Razorback of them all dies, a football coach and athletic director are fired, the baseball team has a bounce-back year, and the men’s basketball team pushes the eventual national champion to the brink.

But all the news coming out of Fayetteville didn’t mean the rest of the state took the year off.

Here’s a look at the top stories in the state, as voted on by members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports department:

1 — DEATH OF A LEGEND

The state of Arkansas lost its No. 1 sports personality when Frank Broyles died Aug. 14, 2017, at the age of 92.

Broyles was synonymous with Arkansas — and especially the Razorbacks — for 60 years.

After one season at Missouri, the native of Decatur, Ga., came to Fayetteville in December 1957 when he was hired as the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s head football coach. He never left.

Broyles was the Razorbacks’ coach from 1958-1976 and their athletic director from 1973-2007. After retiring as athletic director, he stayed involved as a fundraiser for the Razorback Foundation until 2014.

It’s a tenure in positions of power and influence at one place that’s hard to match in college athletics.

While Broyles led the Razorbacks to a 144-58-5 record in 19 seasons as their coach — including a share of the 1964 national championship — he may have been even better as an athletic director.

Broyles’ influence at Arkansas still can be seen in the all-around sports program he built so fans could cheer for sports other than football; the fundraising that resulted in first-rate facilities that allow the Razorbacks to compete nationally; and especially their place in the prosperous SEC, where he guided them in 1991 when it became obvious the Southwest Conference was fading away.

“Frank Broyles has accomplished more in his life as a coach and as an athletic director than any man who’s ever been in both positions,” said Barry Switzer, a former Arkansas player and assistant coach who as a head coach led Oklahoma to three national titles and won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys. “What he contributed to that university and that state is unparalleled.

“No one will ever cast the shadow that Frank Broyles has cast over Arkansas, the entire state.”

Broyles was a star quarterback at Georgia Tech before going into coaching. His career accomplishments also included being college football’s top color analyst when he teamed with play-by-play man Keith Jackson on ABC’s telecasts from 1977-1985. In his final years, Broyles was a tireless advocate for Alzheimer’s disease caregivers and education.

Broyles’ name will live on in the Broyles Award, which was created by former Arkansas linebacker David Bazzel in 1996. It is presented annually to the nation’s top assistant coach as a tribute to Broyles for the number of his assistants who became head coaches.

“I think in the big picture Coach Broyles lived an amazing life,” Bazzel said. “He was so good at so many things — player, coach, athletic director, broadcaster, fundraiser, family man. Everything he did he excelled at.”

2 — BIELEMA OUT; MORRIS IN

The end of Bret Bielema’s five-year run and the advent of Chad Morris’ tenure for the Arkansas Razorbacks shook up The Hill.

The Bielema era ended moments after a 48-45 loss to Missouri in a Black Friday outcome that was in keeping with the Illinois native’s run with the Hogs.

The three-point loss to Missouri dropped Arkansas to 7-14 in games decided by seven points or less under Bielema, whose dismissal had been a hot topic after the Razorbacks lost 50-43 to Texas A&M in overtime, then imploded in a 48-22 loss at South Carolina two weeks later.

Bielema finished 29-34, including an 11-29 mark in SEC games and a 2-1 bowl record.

Bielema’s Razorbacks were winless against Alabama and Texas A&M during his five seasons and 1-4 against Auburn and Mississippi State. The only SEC West rival against whom Bielema posted a winning record was Ole Miss, with a 4-1 record.

Bielema became the first Arkansas coach to win bowl games in back-to-back seasons, including a 31-7 victory over Texas in the Texas Bowl after the 2014 season. Another highlight under Bielema was back-to-back shutouts of No. 17 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss late in 2014.

There were also historic lows for the Hogs under Bielema. The 2016 team suffered the program’s worst SEC loss in a 56-3 setback at Auburn and gave up a school-record 39 rushing touchdowns, breaking the previous mark of 25 from the year before. The 2017 team suffered five losses by 20 or more points, also a school record.

Morris, 49, comes to The Hill with the reputation of being an offensive innovator and helping install the offensive system that led to back-to-back College Football Playoff championship game appearances by Clemson in 2015 and 2016.

3 — LONG DISMISSED

Jeff Long’s dismissal as athletic director at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville during a tumultuous year for the Razorbacks football was the first step of a major shakeup.

Long, 58, was dismissed Nov. 15, six days after he traveled with UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz to a board of trustees meeting in North Little Rock but was not asked to meet with the members in executive session.

Long, who took over from Frank Broyles on Jan. 1, 2008, came a month shy of completing a 10-year term.

His replacement, Hunter Yurachek, was hired Dec. 4 and is just the third Arkansas AD in the past 45 years.

Long’s tenure at Arkansas was highlighted by his master plan for facilities, unveiled in 2009, and a rise in fundraising.

The facilities plan led to the building of the Fred W. Smith Football Center, the Jerry and Gene Jones Family Student-Athlete Success Center, the Fowler Baseball and Track Training Center, the basketball practice facility, and the ongoing north end zone construction project at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, among others.

Long led the search that landed football coach Bobby Petrino in December 2007, before his official tenure began, and the hiring was a blessing and a curse.

Petrino led Arkansas to a 10-3 season in 2010 and the school’s only Bowl Championship Series appearance in the Sugar Bowl, followed by an 11-2 record, a No. 3 ranking and a Cotton Bowl victory the next season. However, it would be his final game.

Long fired Petrino after the coach wrecked his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on an April 1 ride with his mistress, whom he had hired to work on his staff and provided with money to buy a car.

Long also served as the first chairman of the College Football Playoff committee and a four-year term on the committee, which ended this month.

UA trustees, reportedly unhappy with some of the financial burdens placed upon the athletic department under Long’s watch, made it clear to Steinmetz they preferred new leadership in the Nov. 9 meeting. Steinmetz wrote that Long “has lost the support of many of our fans, alumni, key supporters, and members of the university leadership” through the course of 2017 in announcing Long’s dismissal.

4 — ASU BOWLS AGAIN

The football season began in Jonesboro with a lofty goal and it ended with a record-setting mark and a problematic regression.

Arkansas State University was coming off its second consecutive Sun Belt Conference championship, its fourth in the past five seasons, but fourth-year Coach Blake Anderson announced at the conference’s July media day in New Orleans his standard was higher.

“We love winning conference titles, and we want to continue to do that,” he said. “But we want to take that next step.”

That next step was making a New Year’s Six bowl appearance as the highest ranked Group of 5 team, which no Sun Belt team has done since the College Football Playoff system was implemented in 2014.

The Sun Belt preseason poll picked ASU to finish third in the conference behind Troy and Appalachian State, but Anderson and his players bristled. After losing to Troy 32-25 in the regular-season finale, the Red Wolves indeed finished third.

In a 7-5 season Anderson called “unacceptable,” ASU still accomplished what no Division I football program in Arkansas had ever done — play in seven consecutive bowl games.

The Arkansas Razorbacks had three separate streaks of six consecutive bowl games, most recently from 1998-2003 under former coach Houston Nutt.

“For us it’s just the standard,” Anderson said after becoming bowl eligible. “It’s what we got to do every year. We don’t really talk a lot about going to bowl games. We just assume that we’re going to find a way to get to one.”

Set for his fifth year, Anderson is the longest tenured Division I football coach in Arkansas at a school that is most remembered for having five coaches in five seasons from 2010-2014.

5 — (TIE) NLR BREAKS DROUGHT

North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell didn’t hide from the burden of a 12-year drought by central Arkansas schools in Class 7A heading into the Dec. 2 state title game against Bentonville.

The wait is over after Mitchell’s Charging Wildcats overcame a 14-0 deficit to defeat the Tigers 44-37 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

It was the first state championship for a team in the state’s largest classification since Little Rock Central won the Class AAAAA title in 2004.

“You want to get this thing not only for us, but for our community, our school and our conference,” Mitchell said after the game. “So many of those guys are super excited for us. We finally got that monkey off of our back.”

Northwest Arkansas high schools had won the classification’s title from 2005-2016 in Class AAAAA or Class 7A.

North Little Rock (13-0) was led by sophomore running back Brandon Thomas, who finished with 199 yards and 2 touchdowns (24 and 8 yards) on 23 carries.

Junior running back Oscar Adaway had 91 yards and 1 touchdown on 15 carries.

Senior quarterback David Chapple was 7-of-15 passing for 91 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Aaron Griffin in the fourth quarter.

North Little Rock was named the Democrat-Gazette’s No. 1 team overall at the end of the season.

Mitchell completed his third season at North Little Rock and is 32-6 with the Charging Wildcats after arriving in 2015 from Starkville, Miss.

(TIE) EARLY MORNING HOGS

On a night with as many twists as the Arkansas spring could deliver, the Razorbacks played one of their most memorable baseball games ever — a rain-wrapped marathon that ended at 3:10 a.m., exactly six hours after it began.

Arkansas’ 11-10 victory over Missouri State in an elimination game at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional on June 4-5 did not begin until after 9 p.m., the nightcap after the Razorbacks beat Oral Roberts 4-3 in another rain-delayed game to stay alive in the tournament.

With the Razorbacks ahead 6-3 in the fourth inning, Arkansas and Missouri State endured an 85-minute rain delay. The teams resumed at 12:35 a.m. with thousands of fans remaining in the seats. A Razorback ticket office worker reported selling tickets after the restart to fans who had been watching or listening around town.

“Welcome to breakfast at Baum Stadium,” declared Jon Williams, the public address voice of the stadium, as play resumed.

Missouri State was ahead 8-7 midway through the eighth as another heavy rainstorm hit Fayetteville. Home plate umpire Ramon Admendariz called for the tarp, but he was berated by Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn, who argued his team had to play defense in the heavy rain in the top of the inning, so Missouri State should, too.

In consultation with an NCAA official at the game, Admendariz kept the game going, drawing the ire of Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin, who said afterward: “I don’t think games should be decided in the rain at 3 a.m.”

The Razorbacks tied the game in the eighth on a fielder’s choice, then took the lead on consecutive wild pitches. Jared Gates’ two-run home run into the rain at 2:52 a.m. provided some insurance runs and one of the most memorable scenes in the stadium’s 22 seasons.

“It’ll be one that I never forget,” Van Horn said. “I told the players I haven’t been up this late in years.”

Missouri State beat Arkansas 3-2 later that day to win the regional, but it was the early morning rally in the rain that fans will remember for as long as they play baseball at Baum Stadium.

7 — HOGS PUSH HEELS

North Carolina’s run to its sixth NCAA basketball championship nearly was cut short by the Arkansas Razorbacks in the second round of the South Regional in Greenville, S.C.

The No. 1-seeded Tar Heels needed a big comeback to beat the No. 8-seeded Razorbacks 72-65 on March 19 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

Arkansas rallied from a 17-point deficit in the first half to take a 65-60 lead, but North Carolina held the Razorbacks scoreless over the final 3:28 to finish on a 12-0 run.

Arkansas ended the season 26-10 and just short of making its first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance since 1996.

“It was just tough,” Razorbacks guard Dusty Hannahs said. “We were so close.”

Daryl Macon led Arkansas with 19 points and Anton Beard scored 10. Kennedy Meeks led the Tar Heels with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“We came to dance, not to do the one step,” Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. “We wanted to bust up some brackets. But close don’t get it done. At the end of the day, I thought they made more plays than we did.

North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said the Tar Heels were fortunate.

“I even told Mike I thought that we were awfully lucky,” Williams said. “But the last seven possessions we scored six times, and their last seven possessions they didn’t score. So there’s some toughness there, too.”

It was the third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for Arkansas that ended with a second-round loss to North Carolina. The Tar Heels also beat the Razorbacks 108-77 in 2008 and 87-78 in 2015.

8 — 0-3 NOT A PROBLEM

When Harding University squandered a 13-point advantage in the final 49 seconds at home to lightly regarded Southern Nazarene in the third week of the season, the Bisons were not thinking playoffs.

At 0-3, the Bisons were just wanting to find a way to win. Eleven weeks later, Harding found itself in the NCAA Division II semifinals.

“It’s been crazy,” Harding Coach Paul Simmons said almost every week after the Bisons’ 28-27 loss Sept. 16.

Behind the nation’s best Division II rushing attack

(341.9 yards a game) and a defense that went 13 consecutive quarters midway through the season without allowing a touchdown, Harding earned the No. 7 and final seed into the Region 3 bracket and won three playoff games on the road before seeing its streak end in Commerce, Texas.

Harding (11-4) threw only 94 passes all season, averaging 6.3 attempts a game. Quarterback Terrence Dingle threw only four touchdown passes and none in his final five games. In eight games, Dingle threw no more than five passes.

The Bisons, however, found little reason to go to the air during their 11-game winning streak.

Opponents rarely found a solution to Harding’s Triple-Option attack. Four Bisons ran for at least 734 yards, including a team-high 1,347 yards by freshman Cole Chancey.

Harding’s defense allowed only 20.3 points and 108.7 yards rushing a game.

Harding also won the battle of the clock in all 15 of its games, averaging more than 35 minutes of possession time.

9 — FOUR FOR PULASKI ACADEMY

Pulaski Academy’s fourth consecutive Class 5A state championship may have been its hardest to achieve.

The Bruins trailed for most of the Dec. 2 game against 5A-Central Conference rival Little Rock McClellan, but senior quarterback Layne Hatcher’s 19-yard scoring run and extra point with 6:03 remaining gave the Bruins a 37-36 lead, which was the final score at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Pulaski Academy (14-0) became the first team since Barton from 1986-1989 to win four state titles in a row. Barton won its titles in Class A.

“As coaches, we know how hard it is, and we know what we’ve accomplished is something special. To do it against McClellan that plays us as well as anybody, I couldn’t be more pleased,” Pulaski Academy Coach Kevin Kelley said.

McClellan led 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, 20-16 at halftime and 36-23 at the end of the third quarter. But Pulaski Academy took over in the fourth quarter, forcing two turnovers and Hatcher scoring twice on the ground.

Hatcher, who went 41-1 in three seasons as the Bruins’ starting quarterback, completed 29 of 50 passes for 411 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Senior wide receiver Brett Lynch had 9 receptions for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Kelley won his seventh state championship since becoming head coach in 2003.

Pulaski Academy set a state record for most points in a season with 784. The previous record was 753 set by Junction City in 2003.

10 — (TIE) SHE’S A HUSKY

The state’s most celebrated girls basketball player is headed to the nation’s most decorated program.

Christyn Williams signed with Connecticut on Nov. 10. The 5-11 guard who has been a standout at Central Arkansas Christian became the first female from Arkansas to sign with the 11-time national champions.

“Basically, her reputation is [as] a scorer,” UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said in a story from the Hartford Courant. “She’s a bigger guard and she’s very physical, and she’s terrific with the ball. And she plays with a certain intensity level that’s rare among kids that age. So I’m anxious to see where she can go with this because she’s got a pretty high level and a pretty high ceiling.”

Rated as the nation’s No. 1 senior for the Class of 2018 by ESPNHoopgurlz, Williams averaged 26.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals a game as a junior while leading the Lady Mustangs to a 29-5 record and to the Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals.

Williams was the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sophomore of the Year for 2016 and the Player of the Year for 2017.

As a sophomore, Williams averaged 29.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals a game. She averaged 31.0 points a game in the state tournament, leading CAC to the state championship game.

Before the start of her senior season, Williams had played in 102 games with CAC. In 83 of those games, according to Coach Steve Quattlebaum, Williams had scored at least 20 points and in 33 of those games she had scored 30 or more.

(TIE) GOLF IS GOOD

Golfers with Arkansas ties had a good 2017 with victories on all three of the major U.S. tours — PGA, LPGA and PGA Champions. There also was the retirement of one of the top professional golfers ever from the state.

Playing in his first full season on the PGA Tour Champions, John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) broke a 13-year skid May 7 with a one-stroke victory at the Insperity Invitational in The Woodlands, Texas. Daly, who had three top-10 finishes on tour in 2017, won $322,500 with the victory and $807,000 for the year, good enough for 22nd on the money list.

He had last won at the PGA’s Buick Invitational in 2004.

Stacy Lewis (Razorbacks) hadn’t won on the LPGA Tour since the Northwest Arkansas Championship in June 2014. It was in late August that Hurricane Harvey hit just outside of Houston, a short distance from The Woodlands, where Lewis grew up. Playing in the Portland Classic in Oregon the first weekend of September, Lewis promised to donate her winnings to hurricane recovery efforts. She delivered in a big way.

Lewis closed with a 3-under 69 to win the tournament and fulfilled her promise by donating her $195,000 paycheck. Her first-place earnings were matched by one sponsor, KPMG, with another sponsor, Marathon Petroleum Corp., adding $1 million for a total donation of $1.39 million.

“I just wanted to do something that would make a difference and hopefully make others donate because they saw what I was doing,” Lewis told USA Today afterward. “I knew a win was possible. I knew what it meant.”

PGA Tour rookie Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Razorbacks) got in on the act before the end of the year when he won the RSM Classic at St. Simons Island, Ga., on Nov. 19. His four-stroke victory earned him $1.12 million and a trip to the Masters in April.

In late September, PGA Tour veteran Bryce Molder (Conway) announced his retirement. Molder had won nearly $12 million since turning professional in 2001.

— Frankie Frisco

Sports on 12/23/2017