“Hi, my name is Frank (some call me ‘Frank of the Ozarks’). I’m mostly retired now, do a little consulting every now and then. Over the years, my hobbies have included raising jaw-dropping amounts of money to build world-class facilities for the University of Arkansas athletic teams, going to the Masters every year, meddlin’ with the Razorback football program, feuding with Nolan Richardson, and - oh yeah - getting inducted into Halls of Fame.”

If you haven’t heard, Frank Broyles will be inducted into his ninth Hall of Fame in early June, when he enters the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame. Love him or hate him, the honor is richly deserved. In addition to engineering the move from the SWC to the SEC and overseeing the construction of a number of top-notch facilities, Broyles’ resume includes the following items, courtesy of Bob Holt of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

“Broyles was Arkansas’ athletic director from 1973-2007 and oversaw a program that won 43 national titles (42 in cross country and track and field, one in basketball ), won 57 championships in the Southwest Conference and 48 SEC championships, and played in 22 bowl games.”

Congrats, Mr. Broyles. The first Jägerbomb is on us.

Frank Broyles told both the Atlanta Journal Constitution and an Atlanta sports talk radio station that Jerry Jones played a significant role in Bobby Petrino’s coming to Fayetteville.

Here’s a link to part of Frank’s interview with the radio station.

Update: Falcons owner Arthur Blank says he first learned of Arkansas’ interest through Jones.

Although Houston Nutt continues to show up at the office and collect a nice paycheck for coaching the Hogs, that hasn’t stopped rumors from swirling about his fate after the season. Certainly, the lackluster effort against Tennessee upped the volume of the chatter that had grown quieter after a string of wins.

The Slophouse blog reports today that the Butch Davis-to-Arkansas rumors are still floating around in North Carolina, at least to the point where he’s still being asked to comment about them. With his string of winning seasons at Miami (and, to be fair, notably less successful tenure with the Cleveland Browns), Davis is definitely a ‘big name’. However, a highly unscientific study of comments in the Razorback blogosphere indicates that the dream candidate for many Hog fans is another ex-Miami coach with Arkansas ties (and a significantly better NFL record): Jimmy Johnson.

To be honest, it’s not that clear why Johnson would want to return to coaching period, much less at Arkansas. Every article I’ve read about him in the last several years always makes a point of mentioning how content he is spending time on his boat in South Florida, etc. And it’s been an open secret that he’s had a major grudge against his alma mater after supposedly being snubbed by Frank Broyles during the coaching search that eventually produced Ken Hatfield.

Now that Broyles isn’t calling the shots, maybe that factor is less of a big deal, but I’m still skeptical that Johnson would want to give up the cushy retirement lifestyle. I mean, maybe he would enjoy fishing and boating on many of the fine lakes in Northwest Arkansas, but that’s still not quite the Caribbean. And even if he could be lured back with an enormous armored truck full of money, would he have the same fire that made him a success earlier in his career?

Having said all that, it’s still fun to speculate about Johnson (and does it ever seem that for such a small state, Arkansas produces more than its share of big-time football coaches?). In the end, though, if Nutt does move on I think Hog fans should set their expectations on getting a young up-and-comer…to put it in familiar terms, a John Pelphrey rather than a Billy Gillespie. In the end, though, it’s very possible that the always-tenacious Houston Dale Nutt might have a few tricks still left up his sleeve. The next couple of months should be interesting, to say the least.

Wally Watch: Where we read Wally Hall so you don’t have to.

Sept. 13, 2007: UA can expect some changes under new AD

Primary Theme: The daring assertion that, under new AD Jeff Long, “it is more than likely there will be some changes or very strong tweaking” to the athletic department. Hard to disagree with that, we guess.

Choice Analogy: “From the day of [Broyles’ retirement] announcement until last Friday, the lid on information was tighter than the doors on a new submarine.” Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Wally later writes, “Last Friday information about Long was leaking like, well, bad doors on an old submarine.”

God Watch: No overt references to matters of faith. However, at one point, after describing Broyles’ success in building new athletic facilities, he says of Frank, “One might think he had some carpenter’s blood in him.” Hmm … might Wally be ascribing divine qualities to Broyles? If nothing else, we now have an idea for “The Da Vinci Code” sequel.

Delusion of Grandeur: His statement that his column on Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson’s candidacy for the UA job “did seem to jolt the UA power players into action.”

Our Analysis: Not a terrible effort, but, ultimately, you have to ask yourself, “Yeah, so?” Some speculation or informed opinion about what specific changes the new AD may have in store would have been interesting. Alas, there’s none of that to be found.

Let’s hope Pittsburgh Athletic Director Jeff Long takes it easy during any New Year’s Eve celebrations he might attend. That’s because he’s slated to replace Frank Broyles as Arkansas’ AD on Jan. 1., meaning his first official act as AD may be to watch the Hogs receive their annual bowl game ass-kicking. He may end up wishing he’d spent that time filling out insurance and other HR forms.

We’re not opinionated one way or another about the hire, but we wish Long well. We were amused, however, by Wally Hall’s minor fit about the lack of the lack of serious AD candidates with a Razorback background. “Maybe the new tradition is to hire folks for athletic positions who have never called the Hogs,” he huffed in Sunday’s column. “No offense to either [Long or Tulane AD Rick Dickson], but do they know anything about the history of the Hogs? Or the passion that once seized almost an entire state every Saturday in the fall?”

Don’t worry, Mr. Long: Just publicly utter a few verses of Scripture, and Wally will be in your back pocket in no time.

A couple of weeks ago, this blog applauded outgoing Athletic Director Frank Broyles for his belief that the LSU game should be played in Little Rock (we hear that this meant a lot to him). Now, however, we’d like to voice our displeasure with one of his other stances – his refusal to permit the Razorbacks to play other Arkansas schools.

We recognize this is a well-worn debate in Arkansas, but viewed from afar, it’s particularly baffling. I live in Atlanta, where the Georgia-Georgia Tech football game is perhaps the most anticipated sporting event of the year. Furthermore, those universities’ various teams periodically play those from other, smaller in-state schools, such as Georgia State and Georgia Southern. Even if the game is a mismatch, the geography factor gives it some appeal that would be absent from just any other ‘ole non-conference dust-up. In California, where John lives, intra-state match-ups are a vital part of the college sports landscape. Arkansans got a brief taste of how exciting such games can be in the 1987 NIT Tournament, when the Hogs stormed back from 20 points down to defeat Arkansas State in overtime.

It doesn’t have to take place every year, but a football game against Arkansas State would provide some excitement to a non-conference schedule that all too often is weighted down with the likes of North Texas and Tennessee-Chattanooga. Same goes for basketball – wouldn’t you be more interested in seeing the Hogs take on A-State, UALR, UAPB or Central Arkansas than most of the typical out-of-conference foes?

Not having really followed the issue in recent years, we’re not sure what the current stated and unstated reasons for not playing in-state schools are. But the fear that the U of A would suffer some sort of significant loss of prestige — if indeed this is a reason — by losing to one of these schools is pretty silly. This is a school whose football team lost to The Citadel of Division I-AA and whose basketball team lost to American-Puerto Rico of Division II. And yet, somehow, the program is in pretty good shape. It’s clear now that those losses were mere bumps in the road (well, maybe not to Jack Crowe).

Frank Broyles has been a forward-thinking AD in many ways. But on this issue, he’s way behind the times.

away from Little Rock?

In a Q&A that appears in today’s Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, outgoing Athletic Director Frank Broyles addresses the rumor that the day-after-Thanksgiving game against LSU may one day move from Little Rock to Fayetteville. “I’ve told people that if I were to remain as athletic director I would not move the LSU game out of Little Rock,” he says. “I just told that to the stadium commission down there. I told them the rumor was out there, and I said that is not in my plans at all. If the new athletic director would ask me, I would tell him I think that would be a mistake.”

Many may accuse Broyles of growing senile, but I think he’s definitely got his wits about him on this issue. Little Rock deserves this game. Plus, I’m worried that all of the liquor stores within the three-mile radius surrounding War Memorial may go belly up without the every-other-year infusion of LSU fans into the area.

In one way, it’s kind of amazing to me that the location of this event has become anything approaching a big deal. In 1994, John and I, along with our group of friends, attended Little Rock’s first Thanksgiving weekend tussle between these two teams, and it was a thoroughly depressing affair. Both teams were firmly in the doldrums (the Tigers brought a 3-7 record into the game, the Hogs a 4-6 mark). Furthermore, the weather stunk (chilly and rainy), and this horrible human tragedy had taken place the night before. Add it all up, and Razorback fans were in a noticeably apathetic mood. If I recall correctly, we snagged tickets for something like $2 apiece. The only way the afternoon could have been bleaker is if there had been an Emily Dickinson poetry reading at halftime.

Almost needless to say, the Hogs got throttled (30-12). But the day was not a total waste: We got our photos in a Sports Illustrated article about the game. And that’s not because we were particularly close to the action: The crowd was so sparse that you could clearly see us sitting in the upper reaches of the end zone. Alas, it was our first and only appearance in the magazine.

The Battle for the Boot has come a long way, baby.