From the Arkansas coaching search ...

by Achilles on Dec 13, 2007 2:36 PM PST in Football Comment 21 comments

The Bobby Petrino/Atlanta Falcons/Arkansas coaching search has left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Here is just a sample:

Falcons rookie defensive end Jamaal Anderson, the team's first-round draft pick from the University of Arkansas, has gotten non-stop calls from players, friends and associates with the Razorbacks football program. They all want to know what type of guy their new coach, Bobby Petrino, is.

"Disloyal," said Anderson, Petrino's first pick as an NFL coach. "If he can leave players here, what makes you think he won't leave the players he's going to coach? I'm just afraid to see what happens if he does bad at Arkansas. Is he going to leave those kids?"

Fine. Do a google-news search on Petrino and you'll find a lot more players and writers weighing in on what kind of person they think he is. I'm not here to say UCLA should have hired Petrino or that UCLA should conduct its business exactly like the University of Arkansas.

But something in this article, also from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution jumped out at me:

It was in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that Petrino said he decided to resign, Campbell said.

"Fortunately for him, Arkansas had not already gone in another direction," Campbell said.

(Arkansas incoming athletics director Jeff) Long said he got a call from Campbell between 8 and 9 a.m. Tuesday. The message: Petrino intended to resign as coach of the Falcons.

Long decided he would not wait for the resignation and would fly to Atlanta to meet with Petrino.

At 11 a.m., Long spoke with John H. White, the Arkansas chancellor, and told him Petrino might be available. After getting the parameters of the contract terms he would be able to offer Petrino, he boarded a private plane with Scott Varady, the school's associate general counsel.

They landed at Fulton County Airport at 1:30 p.m. and went to an undisclosed downtown location to meet with Petrino and his agent. The meeting started at 2 p.m. and did not last long. After a short discussion, Long and Petrino agreed on the basic outline of a deal. The details of the contract were turned over to Campbell and Varady.

The details are not exactly the point. The point is that the Arkansas AD identified his man, called the chancellor, got the parameters of what he could offer, hopped a plane to Atlanta, presented the outline of a deal and got it done.

Is there any member of this community who thinks that UCLA could get things done this quickly. I'm not even saying that to knock Dan Guerrero. I'm not calling out any individual.

I am saying that this institution -- for whatever reason -- can not or will not act that fast. At least I don't think so. I mean, if Bill Cowher expressed interest and Dan Guerrero's feeling was mutual, does anyone think DG could call the chancellor, get the parameters of an offer, hop a plane to North Carolina and sign up a new coach in what amounts to a matter of hours?

No way.

We'd need to call 10 lawyers, the UC Regents, run Cowher's name past a bunch of donors, a bunch more alumni, the players on the current team, all of the recruits and half the remaining coaching staff. In the time it would take UCLA to make a deal, Cowher would be Pete Carroll's successor across town.

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I hope that DG would actually act ethically,

unlike the folks at Arkansas; who had been expressly denied permission to talk to Petrino by both the owner and GM of the Falcons on multiple occasions in the days preceding the hiring, and also did not actually wait for Petrino to resign from the Falcons before meeting and negotiating a contract.

by bruinhoo on Dec 13, 2007 2:45 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe ...

you missed where I wrote that "I'm not here to say UCLA should have hired Petrino or that UCLA should conduct its business exactly like the University of Arkansas" or "The details are not exactly the point."

I'm not saying that DG should act unethically.

I was saying that I wished that the mechanism was in place for DG to act quickly and efficiently. IMO, it isn't.

Go Bruins

by Achilles on Dec 13, 2007 2:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

didn't mean to direct it toward you

Agreed that DG needs the ability to move on a preferred candidate quickly (just not 'too quickly').

by bruinhoo on Dec 13, 2007 3:19 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

No worries ...

you made a good point.

I probably should have been more clear for emphasis.

Go Bruins

by Achilles on Dec 13, 2007 3:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I probably needed to read a little more closely...

My focus really hasn't been all there the past couple days - final exam in 11 hours that counts as likely my least anticipated yet in law school. Fun!

by bruinhoo on Dec 13, 2007 7:12 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Wow! Civility Run Rampant

Good Job Guys.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Dec 13, 2007 7:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hoo

Some tips:

Don't forget IRAC.

Cite cases, even if you can't remember the name - give the coach something ("the case involving the scale that tipped over on the train platform") that shows you know the case and the law it represents.

Don't overlook the writing style. Simple declaratory sentences. Avoid inverted sentences (if your sentence starts with the word "because", change it around.)

And above all, relax. Remember, this exam is no where near as important as who UCLA hires as its coach.

by Fox 71 on Dec 13, 2007 7:43 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Wow - am I preoccupied

Give the PROF something, not coach. Sheesh!

Which leads to another tip - proofread your stuff before you turn it in.

by Fox 71 on Dec 13, 2007 7:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

True, getting a Leach or Mendenhall does put this

to shame. It is really only a somewhat-law school like class (Corporate Finance (for law students)), the problem for me being getting into figuring out the formulas and equations, not having taken an actual math class since Spring of 2000. Also not a typical law school exam in form, of which I only had one this semester out of 4 classes. I did get to discover that my (Bruin) T&E prof has a love for syndicated TV shows, from the questions on his exam.

by bruinhoo on Dec 13, 2007 8:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Your one key point

Is that Arkansas had knew who they wanted. We don't. Just look at this board and see how many different opinions you get.

But if we had someone in mind, yes I would hope we would act quickly, provided that it is ethical.

by bruinbabe2000 on Dec 13, 2007 2:51 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yeap. That's the gleaming halls for you..

That's the gleaming halls for you: Cold & Impersonal state service at it's very finest.

Petrino still did it wrong though. Atlanta was down and he kicked. That SEC stuff should have nothing to do with us. They play their games, we should play ours.

I would give almost ANYTHING to know WTF those starched up zipper heads at Morgan have against playing this thing like the bigtime program we really are... They're going OUT OF THEIR WAY to be be left field.

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Dec 13, 2007 2:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Another delaying roadblock is that

DG has to check with DW if the candidate meets his approval.

by bluegold on Dec 13, 2007 3:22 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Word ...

and that's part of my point.

Go Bruins

by Achilles on Dec 13, 2007 3:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

What's The Rush?

While some schools may be moving fast and furious to get their coaching vacancies filled, I think a methodical search that includes in-depth vetting before a decision is made is more likely to yield a better long term result. If you want a quick hire, you will get Walker or some other wanna be. I am not saying to wait until January, but three weeks to month should give DG and the UCLA administration sufficient time to do a good search. If we get to the end of December and no decision has been made, then it is time to worry. Besides Paul Johnson, who on the BN list of favorite coaching prospects have we lost out on?

Also, many of the coaching prospects that have been mentioned are preparing for bowl games. While these may be using third party intermediaries to let the UCLA search team know they are interested, I doubt they want their interest made public at this time unless they are only using UCLA as leverage to get a better contract with their current school. Let me put this thought a little more succinctly, even if Bronco Mendenhall is coveting the UCLA job, it would be very unprofessional for him or his representatives to enter into serious negotiations with UCLA until after the Las Vegas Bowl.

by Bruin77 on Dec 13, 2007 3:47 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

That's my hope

I'm hoping that the reason why everyone else has already found their man and we're still sitting on our hands is because we're doing the proper and ethical thing in waiting for the bowl season to conclude. The cynical side of me thinks that we're stuck in the red tape slog and we're going to end up with our 5th choice. I know the downtown school got lucky with their 8th choice, but that's the exception, not the rule.

by ishXdavid on Dec 13, 2007 4:31 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Patience is a virtue (this time around)

I wouldn't worry too much at this point. There are only four vacant HC jobs right now -- SMU, Michigan, Duke and UCLA. We're obviously not competing with Duke and SMU for candidates, and none of Michigan's likely preferred candidates line up with our own.

Of all the coaching jobs that were filled, I don't think that any of the coaches who got jobs were candidates we're particularly in, save perhaps Paul Johnson, and I think Johnson would have preferred going to Georgia Tech than coming out here. (I know some people would have been happy to get Petrino, but how long would he have stuck around?)

I think Guerrero's patience is justified here, unless/until we start losing recruits because of it. Even then, it took Downtown U. a while to hire Pom Pom, and OSU a while to hire Tressel. I think we're doing fine.

"We play some ball on the West Coast."

by haoledave on Dec 13, 2007 8:48 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Do you suspect that Petrino's agent

Had been in discussions with the Falcons days/weeks before, so that both parties knew that they were a good fit and thus a deal could be done very quickly once Petrino decided to bolt from Atlanta? Seems like both sides would have needed more than a few hours to do some diligence.

by SinnerBoy 99 on Dec 13, 2007 4:26 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Petrino as a good fit

Petrino is a good fit for himself. If you haven't, you should read the article (I think it's SI or maybe Sporting News) about him. It really describes a cold, calculating reptilian guy. And you look at those eyes and you see a snake about ready to eat his prey whole.

The guy is spooky. Remember the old sci-fi series "V"? The bad guys looked like humans, but when they took off their sun glasses they had little snakey eyes, and their skins could get peeled off and they were really snakes. Petrino looks like one of those guys. He's spooky.

by Fox 71 on Dec 13, 2007 6:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

different organization

In Arkansas, football reigns supreme so the AD has the authority to conduct actions like that.

It is just the way the bureaucracy is structured. At UCLA (and most other schools not in the Southeast), it is not. Its not really a good or bad thing.

by njbruin on Dec 13, 2007 7:43 PM PST reply actions 0 recs