Originally Posted by NewChief
When you listen on talk radio today to people justifying the recruiting class, people were recalling the days when were were competing against schools like UTEP, SMU, and Tulsa for recruits. This recruiting class, despite being a "bust," is the 3rd best in the last decade, and the two in front of it both came under Petrino. You've got to understand that Arkansans have a chip on their shoulder because they have little man syndrome. The entire state is constantly dismissed (not just in athletics) as being backwards, inbred, poor, etc... While among ourselves we think it's pretty funny, and we are thankful in some ways (especially up here in Fayetteville) that the joys of the state are undiscovered, we also get defensive after a while. We make jokes to outsiders about it (at church camp in Texas, we'd tell other kids that we had to buy shoes to leave the state because we all go barefoot back home), but we still have a chip on our shoulder and want credit. That's why so many Arkansans are so ****ing earnest and wacky online, imo. They take sports seriously because it's about more than sports to them.
As for him getting lured to Texas, I suppose that could happen. I could be totally misreading him, but I think he has everything he wants here: total control, huge bankroll for facilities, and a place to really put his stamp on as "his" school. Anywhere else he goes, he's going to be a footnote or just another "great" coach. At Arkansas, he can be THE GREAT coach. Of course, that's all assuming we continue to ascend and compete year after year. Like I said, a few bad years could certainly sour the milk.
|