When Hunter Yurachek, the athletic director at the University of Arkansas, decided to fire his head football coach with two weeks remaining in the regular season, a group of central Arkansas civic leaders let out a giant sigh of relief. Athletic directors across the country will tell you that the only thing worse than mad fans is apathy, which had clearly set in with Chad Morris as head coach.
There have been more empty seats than seats with people in them at times this season at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. Arkansans whose fall weekends once revolved around Razorback football have found that they enjoy other pursuits--taking long drives in the country, eating out with friends, maybe watching games at the state's smaller colleges and universities. The discovery that there's more to life than Razorback football should scare Yurachek. The apathy forced his hand.
Prior to Morris' firing, concerned civic leaders in Little Rock began discussing how they might attract more people to the Hogs' final game of the season against Missouri at War Memorial Stadium on the day after Thanksgiving. They don't want a CBS national telecast to show thousands of empty seats. In May 2018, it was announced that the UA had reached an agreement with the state to continue playing games at War Memorial Stadium. That decision surprised many people who were confident that the Razorbacks' October 2018 game against Ole Miss would close the book on the tradition of UA football in the capital city.
Had Jeff Long remained as athletic director, there's no doubt the tradition would have ended. Long systematically dismantled the statewide support that had taken Frank Broyles decades to build. Long had the misguided notion that the program could thrive with support only from northwest Arkansas. He later came to the realization that the thousands of people moving into the region wouldn't automatically become Razorback fans. They instead continued to support their alma maters or teams in the states from which they had moved.
It was too late. Long already had alienated the power structure elsewhere in Arkansas. Long, who's now the athletic director at the University of Kansas, was fired in late 2017.
Yurachek was hired from the University of Houston. Gov. Asa Hutchinson and members of the UA Board of Trustees made clear to school officials that playing in Little Rock is important. Those officials got the message. A contract was signed that calls for Arkansas to play Southeastern Conference games against Missouri this year, in 2021, and in 2023 at War Memorial Stadium.
Razorback teams have played at the stadium each season since it opened in 1948. That streak will end next year. Having learned from Long's mistakes, Yurachek might return annual games to Little Rock in the years ahead.
I expect Arkansans to rally around interim head coach Barry Lunney Jr. because he's Arkansas through and through. A large crowd for the game against Missouri also would be a nice tribute to the legacy of his father, Barry Lunney Sr., who was a high school coaching legend. If the weather is decent a week from Friday, I believe there will be an additional 10,000 to 15,000 people there who wouldn't have attended had Morris still been the coach.
Lunney Sr. went 248-90-1 during 28 seasons as a high school head coach. He led Fort Smith Southside to state titles in 1991, 1992, 1997 and 2002 and then won state championships at Bentonville in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. He retired from coaching following the 2014 season.
Lunney Jr. has fond memories of attending Razorback games with a grandfather who lettered at the school from 1946-49. Lunney Jr. lettered as a Razorback from 1992-95, starting 40 games at quarterback. He was a captain on the 1995 squad that played in the SEC championship game for the first time in school history.
Lunney Jr. also played baseball at Arkansas. He spent one season playing minor league baseball in the Minnesota Twins' organization. He then decided to follow in his father's footsteps, coaching for two seasons as a graduate assistant at Arkansas, and then going to Tulsa. That was followed by two seasons at San Jose State before a return home to serve as offensive coordinator for his father at Bentonville from 2005-13. He became a Razorback coach in 2014.
Playing off the fact that the day of the game against Missouri is the traditional first day of the Christmas shopping season known as Black Friday, central Arkansas civic leaders have proclaimed it Red Friday. They say the tailgating scene will be better than ever with food trucks, games and live music. Complimentary shuttles will operate between the River Market District and the stadium. They're promoting events that evening in the River Market District, where those ages 21 and over can now carry alcoholic beverages on the street from 5 p.m. until midnight.
In an attempt to convince fans from across the state to spend a couple of nights in Little Rock, there's also a coordinated effort to promote Christmas shopping on Saturday, dining options throughout the city that night, and brunch options on Sunday.
The heated Great Stadium Debate of 2000, when Broyles announced that the school would start playing more of its home games in Fayetteville, seems a long time ago. With the football program at its lowest point, those associated with the Razorbacks are happy to play wherever fans show up. Hopefully we'll see renewed energy from both players and fans on Red Friday in Little Rock.
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 11/20/2019