Trying (and Failing) to Fight That Sinking Feeling
Tommy, we hardly knew ye: just when I was about to write a blog post lamenting the apparently inevitability of the Tommy Bowden hire, my eye caught this report that he’s apparently signed a contract extension with Clemson.
My first thought was definitely relief: Tommy Bowden seems like a fair-to-decent coach, but definitely not what the Hogs need right now. More than anything, his potential hiring was troubling because he signified a disturbing willingness on Jeff Long’s part to go the retread route rather than trying for something more creative or inspiring.
After processing all that, my second thought was that this really has become the basketball coaching search all over again…it’d be kind of funny if it weren’t so frustrating. First we go after a big name and get rejected, then we go after successively less impressive names and get rejected by those guys too. The bball search wound up with a great hire almost by accident…I’m not optimistic that we’ll get that lucky again.
Perhaps worse than anything is the increasing obviousness of the fact that no one on the Hill really seems to know what they’re doing. Jeff Long seems to be locked into hiring (or trying to hire) his mediocre old buddies, and as for Chancellor John White, when Wally Hall is successfully calling you out on multiple occasions, you know you’re in trouble. Not good times for Razorback fans.
