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LSU Lawsuit Raises Question About Arkansas Coaches

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LSU Lawsuit Raises Question About Arkansas Coaches


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The lawsuit filed by Les Miles against LSU over wins vacated as a result of NCAA violations from back during his run as Tigers’ head coach has brought forth rather interesting realizations.

The first is that there are coaches out there to whom the College Football Hall of Fame matters enough to spend money on lawyers while simultaneously dragging their names back through the mud for the outside shot they’ll get voted in. The second is how simple the criteria for getting considered happens to be and what a low bar it is.

To qualify, coaches must have a .600 average winning percentage and serve as head coach in at least 100 games. Basically, if someone can make it through each of his regular seasons going 6-6 in the regular season and win the bowl game against a Group of Five school over while possibly extending that regular season record to seven wins a few times, that mark can easily be hit during the eighth season.

So, with the bar so low, the question becomes whether any Arkansas coaches meet the standard during the modern era. Modern is a loose definition, so let’s say all schools are fully integrated with their football programs, conference television rights are a thing, and spread formations have found their way into the game.

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Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield on the field prior to facing the Miami Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl.

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Ken Hatfield on the field prior to facing the Miami Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl. / RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

The most natural marking point in Razorbacks history takes place right after the departure of Lou Holtz. His successor, Ken Hatfield, faced Andre Ware and the famed run and shoot offense that once hung 95 points on SMU and coached games that appeared on Raycom, the Southwest Conference’s version of Jefferson Pilot.

Hatfield looked like a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame when he left Arkansas after winning over 75% of his games. He was headed for Clemson, which had recently won a national championship.

He won 70% of his games with the Tigers after being tasked to clean up the NCAA sanctions mess left behind by Danny Ford. Yet, the fans there were unwilling to support him, so he left in 1993 still highly qualified for the honor.

Afterward, he sentenced himself to time at Rice where coaching careers go to die. At first he was such a good coach that being the second fiddle college in Houston wasn’t enough to hurt him.

In an odd twist worthy of a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame itself, Hatfield won the championship in an Arkansas-less SWC despite a 5-6 overall record. Unfortunately, his Owls weren’t eligible to accept the bowl bid that typically comes with being a major conference champion because of the losing record.

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After a pair of 7-4 seasons in 1996 and 1997, his overall record was134-84-4, well above the .600 mark. Unfortunately, Hatfield stuck around another eight seasons, only one of which featured a winning record, taking him out of Hall of Fame eligibility.

NOT ELIGIBLE

Arkansas fans might be surprised to know Jack Crowe, perhaps the biggest blemish on the Frank Broyles record on the college football side of things other than being why Hatfield left, finished his career with nearly the exact same winning percentage as Hatfield.

He finished 3-8 in his first season after Broyles talked him out of going to Clemson with Hatfield. The following year was his best at 6-6, which was good enough for runner-up in the SWC.

Then came the breaking point. He opened his third season with a shocking loss to Division I-AA Citadel in the Hogs’ debut as a member of the SEC. Crowe was 14-20 at that point, dating back to his days as head coach at Livingston.

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Eight years later he got a third chance a head coach at Jacksonville State. It looked like more of the same as he began 14-18 in his first three seasons, but the Gamecocks stuck with him through a move to the Ohio Valley Conference.

It paid off big time as he went 73-39, including an upset of Houston Nutt’s Ole Miss Rebels in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in 2010.

NOT ELIGIBLE

Had Ford stuck around at Arkansas much longer, he would have possibly knocked himself out of eligibility. Fortunately, he built a huge winning percentage while racking up infractions at Clemson.

He went 26-30-1 with Hogs despite bringing the Hogs their first SEC West championship on the strength of Madre Hill’s legs. It was Ford’s players Houston Nutt would use to put Arkansas legitimately in national championship contention for the first and only time in the modern era.

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In 2017 he became a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as the youngest coach ever to win a national championship at age 33, but no one will ever think of him as an Arkansas Razorbacks coach when they look back on the success that landed him there.

ALREADY IN

Houston Nutt is by far the most successful Razorbacks coach of the SEC era. He came a Clint Stoerner stumble while running out the clock against No. 1 Tennessee on the road from potentially competing for the first ever BCS national championship and went to six consecutive bowl games back when that truly meant something.

Overall, he went to eight bowl games, including a Citrus, two Cottons and a Capital One while also winning the SEC West twice. He also is the only coach besides Bobby Petrino to have double-digit wins in the SEC era.

He likely would have been a shoe-in for the College Football Hall of Fame off his 75-48 record at Arkansas alone had he not stuck around at Ole Miss afterward for one season too long. In the two seasons after dealing with pushy parents and Broyles forcing him to hire Gus Malzahn against his wishes nudged him toward Oxford, where he led the Rebels to back-to-back Top 20 finishes and a pair of 9-4 records.

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However, things began falling apart in 2010. Ole Miss dropped to 4-8, which would have been the perfect time to exit as key relationships within the Rebels community began to fray.

Had he bailed at that point, Nutt would have been a perfect .600 and easily a nominee after 18 years as a head coach. Unfortunately, his time at Arkansas taught him a rebound is always around the corner after following a 4-7 season in Fayetteville with 10 wins.

It didn’t materialize though as he went 2-10 before being unceremoniously fired and inexplicably never given another opportunity to head a team despite only being 53.

NOT ELIGIBLE

Bobby Petrino is the only coach at Arkansas to win 11 games in the SEC era. He’s also the only coach to have multiple double-digit wins and a Top 5 finish since the Hogs moved to the SEC.

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That alone should be enough to land him in the College Football Hall of Fame even though a picture of him in a neck brace following a motorcycle accident will remain his most iconic image. Whether it was Arkansas, Louisville, Western Kentucky or Missouri State, he finished his time at each school with a winning record.

He has since opted for the offensive coordinator route, a job that in the SEC pays more than a lot of head coaching opportunities without a lot of the headaches and the potential of ruining his College Football Hall of Fame eligibility. So long as he keeps following that route, his .659 winning percentage will stay intact.

PRIME CANDIDATE

While Bielema’s tenure is remembered as a bit of a turbulent mess bookended by losing seasons and featuring massive letdowns and an embarrassing scene where a player stole from a department store despite being there to get bowl game gifts, Bielema put together just enough winning seasons to still have an outside shot of qualifying.

It took a Hunter Henry heave miracle against Ole Miss celebrated on April 25 each year since to do it, but Bielema went 7-6, 8-5 and 7-6 from 2014-16 before being fired so Arkansas could hire Chad Morris following a 4-8 season.

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At the time, that was considered an unacceptable level of football following nearly a decade of high level success. After spending years doing the least possible to make sure the Razorbacks had to continue paying his buyout, he finally landed at Illinois where he has since gone 18-19.

Bielema currently sits at a .599 winning percentage, which puts him below required line. Too many years at Arkansas and Illinois have since wiped out the wins at Wisconsin.

Whether he would be nominated should he get the required amount of wins is questionable. He is better known for his footwear, creating an environment that not even Sam Pittman would stomach as his assistant, and making the high school coaches of Texas furious, than his prowess as a head coach.

Even his success at Wisconsin is attributed more to the guidance of Barry Alvarez than Bielema’s genius. He is the only Badgers coach to lose consecutive Rose Bowl games, including a shocking loss to Mountain West champions TCU in 2011.

NOT ELIGIBLE

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These two coaches are grouped together because they come from the darkest period of Arkansas history in the modern era outside of Crowe’s tenure. Morris quite literally ran the program into the ground with an average of two wins per season as the meat in a four-year stretch of Razorbacks history that culminated in 11 wins.

Part of those 11 wins over four years includes the beginning of a losing tenure under Pittman. While he put together a pair of winning seasons in his second and third years, things have been on a downward trend since a victory in the Capital One Bowl over Penn State capped a 9-win season in Year 2.

Pittman currently has a 23-25 record and is the only coach in the modern era to be given a fourth season at Arkansas with a losing record. An unexpected huge turnaround this year could help him eventually get to enough seasons and wins to go in as a head coach, but right now the odds are stacked against him.

NOT ELIGIBLE

Despite eight coaches being given a shot to lead the Razorbacks as official head coaches, only one looks as if he will earn the chance to be considered for the College Football Hall of Fame and be viewed somewhat as a Razorback. While his tenure at Louisville might overshadow what Petrino with the Hogs, the iconic neck brace photo and Top 5 finish with the Hogs just prior to his time being unexpectedly shortened at Arkansas may be enough for people to think of him as a Razorback should it happen.

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HOGS FEED:

• Razorbacks lose first key piece of offseason

• SEC mascot quiz: With Texas, Oklahoma added, do you know the names of all the league’s mascots?

• Whether Pittman rips or praises his team could be clue of what to expect

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow allHOGS on X and Facebook

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Arkansas

Awash in Christmas’ glow | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Awash in Christmas’ glow | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


Editor’s note: This is a revised and updated version of a column first appearing Christmas Eve 2015.

On a Saturday morning that spring, I sat alone, having breakfast at Leo’s in Hillcrest. A text came in from Gwen Moritz, then editor of Arkansas Business and regular estate-scale scavenger.

She said she was at that moment looking quite possibly at the very item I’d written longingly about in a Christmas column.

She was at an estate sale at a house maybe five blocks away. I hurried over and went upstairs.

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Indeed, she’d found it, or, more precisely, one very much like it.

There was a brief discussion of estate-sale strategy. You could take a chance that the item wouldn’t sell, in which case you could get it for less on Sunday afternoon.

I took no chance. Full price. Right now. Into my Jeep. Then into the attic, until it was time.

And now it is time.

If all goes according to recent tradition this evening, at or about midnight, I will sit in a comfortable chair next to a deeply warming splash of Jameson whiskey.

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I will turn off all lamps, overhead lights, smartphones, laptops and television sets. I will gather the beagles Roscoe and Sophie at my feet. Shalah will be nearby, pleased to behold my rare serenity.

In the darkness, I will gaze upon, and lose myself in, the vintage 6-foot aluminum Christmas tree, circa ’65, in the corner, a wonder of glorious nostalgia and tackiness.

I will watch the slow-circling color wheel transform the shiny tinfoil of the tree to a calm deep blue and then a peaceful yellow and then a shining green and then an understated red, and back around.

I will listen for the brief grinding sound each time the wheel reintroduces blue.

I will escape to childhood, to life at 10 to 12 in that flat-topped, four-room house at the end of a graveled lane in southwest Little Rock. I will recall a tree like this one, and a permanently creaking color wheel a little bigger and better than this modern online discovery.

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I will be returned to that hardwood floor of the mid-1960s, flat on my stomach, eyes fixed, deep in my happy certainly that this exotic aluminum tree–framed by a picture window outlined in blinking lights–was surely the most magnificent among all monuments of the season.

I will remember the happiness and safety of those 1960s Christmases–of, in fact, an entire childhood.

I will be thankful for the hardworking low-income parents who provided that happy and safe childhood, and the little fundamentalist church that nurtured it, and the public school that educated it, and the community that encouraged it, and the backyard that was a field of dreams–a baseball park, a football stadium, a basketball arena, a golf course.

It was there I threw and caught the passes, even punted high and ran to make the fair catch.

It was there I provided the roar of the crowd and the play-by-play announcing and color commentary.

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I concocted a baseball card for myself, one with impressive statistics and a brief biography that included the nickname: “Fly Ball Brummett.”

My dad told me that you don’t want to hit fly balls, boy, because they get caught for outs. And I explained that fly balls sent airborne by “Fly Ball Brummett” arced like gentle bombs to distant places no outfielder could reach.

He said I was talking about line drives. I said these soar higher than that.

We’d argue that way, and more seriously, for a few more years, and then each of us would realize that the other was smarter than we had thought. Then we got along fairly well.

Cigarettes took him much too young, younger by seven years than I am now. My mom gave me his cufflinks and tie clasp that first Christmas without him. I fled the room teary, much as he’d fled the room that Sunday afternoon years before when I coaxed enough Okinawa memories out of him that he mentioned “Sarge.”

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After a half-hour of Jameson sips and color-wheel hypnosis, I will head to bed. And I will think about Mom, gone now three years, after four years in a nursing home for what they call “cognitive decline.” I will wonder if she remembered at the end, if but for a fleeting moment, that aluminum tree and color wheel of our cozy, happy little home.

It’s more likely that she remembered instead in those last years the very thing I’d spent those moments remembering–the safety and happiness of childhood, her own, which is where she spent her final days.

There are far worse places to be.


John Brummett, whose column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a member of the Arkansas Writers’ Hall of Fame. Email him at jbrummett@arkansasonline.com. Read his @johnbrummett feed on X, formerly Twitter.

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Applications available to catch gar | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Applications available to catch gar | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


Today at 7:00 p.m.

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Arkansas Game and Fish



Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologist Chelsea Gilliland works with a 187-pound alligator gar.
(Courtesy photo/Arkansas Game and Fish)

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Anglers interested in hooking an epic-sized trophy fish can apply for a 2025 alligator gar tag through Dec. 31.

Many Arkansas anglers travel all the way to the Gulf of Mexico each year in search of trophy fish like tarpon and sailfish. Most don’t know they are passing up a similar opportunity right here in Arkansas.

While not truly a dinosaur, the alligator gar was alive during the Cretaceous period. Individual gar take decades to reach 6 feet long. They are the second largest species of freshwater fish in North America, only topped by the white sturgeon. They frequently grow longer than 7 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds. The largest fish ever caught in Arkansas was an alligator gar in the Red River that weighed 241 pounds, more than 100 pounds heavier than the state’s next largest Arkansas catch, a 116-pound blue catfish that once held a world record.

Anyone may fish for alligator gar on a catch-and-release basis with an alligator gar permit, but a trophy tag is required to keep an alligator gar longer than 36 inches.

Interested anglers can enter the free online drawing through Dec. 31 for one of 200 alligator gar trophy tags for the 2025 season. Applications are available under the “Fishing License” section of the Game and Fish online license system at https://ar-web.s3licensing.com.

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The drawing will occur Jan. 2. Applicants will be notified of the results by email.

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Approximately 18% of Arkansas’ state positions are vacant, data shows • Arkansas Advocate

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Approximately 18% of Arkansas’ state positions are vacant, data shows • Arkansas Advocate


Nearly 18% of 66,000 Arkansas executive branch and higher education jobs remained unfilled this year, according to available data.

The Arkansas Department of Veteran Affairs (ADVA) reported the highest percentage of staff vacancies in a single department, according to the Department of Transformation and Shared Services. Of the agency’s 303 total positions, nearly 59% were unfilled as of Dec. 5.

“The vast majority of our vacancies are direct care nursing positions at our two State Veterans Homes,” retired Army Maj. Gen. Kendall Penn, the department secretary, said in a statement. “However, our veteran residents are still getting exceptional care at both homes through a combination of state government-employed nurses and nurses provided by contracted staffing agencies.”

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Penn, who was appointed in January 2023, will resign from his position on Dec. 31, 2024. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Dec. 17 named retired Air National Guard Col. Robert Ator II as Penn’s successor. 

“[Arkansas] state government continues to face a significant challenge trying to match the market rate for nursing positions, as well as additional ADVA high vacancy and low volume positions, such as those in food service and maintenance,” Penn said. “These challenged areas artificially inflate our overall department vacancy rate.”

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Kendall Penn, the state department secretary of Veteran Affairs. (Courtesy photo)

Penn said the department hopes to reduce its vacancy rate in 2025 using a combination of special compensation recruitment and retention bonuses. Penn also noted competitive salary increases may stem from Arkansas Forward — an initiative from the governor that aims to increase government efficiency — which he said could help with vacancies.

While Veteran Affairs had the highest vacancy rate among departments, the Department of Finance and Administration’s Division of Racing reported a 78% vacancy rate with 11 of its 14 positions empty as of Dec. 5.

But DFA isn’t planning to hire any additional full-time staff to the three positions it already has filled, spokesperson Scott Hardin said.

“The Racing Division’s needs are met in full each year,” Hardin said. “The Division utilizes seasonal, extra-help positions for those that work in live racing for a certain period each year. It allows the state to meet all needs throughout the live racing season. In addition, three full-time employees oversee the day-to-day operation of the division.”

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chart visualization

Higher education positions at colleges and universities are also on the state payroll. According to Arkansas Department of Education data from October, Southeast Arkansas Community College reported the highest vacancy rate at 66%. Of the school’s 365 available positions, 243 were vacant.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences offers the most positions of any college or university with over 11,000 jobs. Data shows UAMS has one of the lowest vacancy rates among higher education institutions at 8.5%.

‘Arkansas Forward’

In November, Sanders announced a proposed overhaul of the state employee pay plan through the Arkansas Forward initiative, which officials have said aims to improve government efficiency.

Arkansas state employee pay plan overhaul boosts salaries for hard-to-fill jobs

The proposed pay plan would cost an estimated $120 million annually and provide pay raises to 14,539 employees. It would also add two pay table distinctions, professionals and law enforcement and safety, to an existing four classifications: general, information technology, medical professional and senior executive.

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The pay plan does not propose decreasing any available jobs, though it would consolidate roughly 2,000 job titles into approximately 800, officials said.

If approved by the Legislature, the pay plan would go into effect in July 2025.

According to a 900-page progress report on Arkansas Forward the governor’s office released on Dec. 16, the whole initiative could save the state $300 million over the next six years by implementing cost-saving measures.

The report suggests that many Arkansas cabinet-level agencies need to upgrade their salary schedules to compete in the job market.

In addition to the employee pay plan, the initiative also calls for the integration of information technology across all state agencies, a centralized state procurement process and renegotiated contracts, the sale of old state vehicles and a reduction to the government’s physical footprint by identifying cost savings in real estate.

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The report provides examples of “compensation levers,” or instances in which an employee would receive a bonus based on their performance. The report also recommends one-time annual bonuses for people who “perform above baseline,” and “spot bonuses” that are awarded outside the normal evaluation cycle to employees meeting their performance expectations.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

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“I’ve made no secret that I believe that Arkansas’ current state employee pay plan is broken,” Sanders said at a November press conference announcing her proposed pay revamp. “It’s confusing, it doesn’t reward hard work and it’s not recruiting new hires for our most in-demand positions.”

The initiative would increase the entry-level salaries of correctional officers, social services employees and Arkansas State Police officers at double-digit percentages. Officials often describe these positions as the state’s toughest to fill.

According to data from the state Department of Transformation and Shared Services, the Department of Human Services reported 20% of its positions were vacant.

State Police reported a vacancy rate of about 10%, and spokesperson Cindy Murphy said the agency had 74 vacant officer positions on Dec. 4.

The vacancy rate across all correctional departments and agencies was nearly 30% as of Dec. 5.  Shari Gray, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, said 1,010 security positions — including correctional officers — were vacant.

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At the Board of Corrections’ monthly December meeting, members discussed extending shifts of most employees at Community Correction Centers from 8 hours to 12 hours. The change in shifts would both reduce the need to hire more staff and ensure that there’s enough around-the-clock supervision to allow more inmates to be moved from county jails to the state-run centers.

Statewide job openings

The roughly 12,000 vacant state jobs are a small portion of Arkansas’ total job openings. In September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Arkansas had 102,000 job openings. Arkansas tied with Alaska for the nation’s highest job openings rate at 6.9%, according to the BLS. The national rate was 4.5%.

According to the most recent BLS data from October, Arkansas’ total job openings decreased to 82,000 for a rate of 5.6%. The national rate was 4.6%.

Michael Pakko (Arkansas Secretary of State)

Though Arkansas has been at the top of the rankings in recent years, Michael Pakko, chief economist at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s Arkansas Economic Development Institute, said the inflated rates are a nationwide phenomenon.

“On one hand, it means that we have a robust labor market where there’s plenty of opportunities for workers and job seekers,” Pakko said. “On the other hand, it probably does indicate a mismatch that we need to address in order to utilize our full potential.”

The BLS defines open jobs as full-time, part-time or seasonal positions that could start within 30 days and an employer is actively recruiting outside workers.

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The number of jobs available can also contribute to a higher quit rate because workers feel comfortable that there are other opportunities out there, Pakko said. The perception, however, puts more constraints on employers, and they may have to offer higher wages to keep staff.

Nationwide, about 1.7 million fewer people were active in the workforce this November than in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey of unemployed workers, about half said they are now not willing to take jobs that don’t offer remote work. One in three respondents said they were focused on gaining new skills, education or training before reentering the job market, and 17% had retired.

“As baby boomers are aging and retiring, we’re losing a lot of that cohort of workers, and then it’s a matter of offsetting that with higher participation from younger-aged groups,” Pakko said.

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