5 Reasons Arkansas Should Settle for an Interim Coach in 2012

Here we are on the 10th of April. Spring practice is already well underway. Offensive and defensive schemes are being installed. Everyone’s attention is focused on the 2012 season ahead, except in Fayetteville.

University of Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long announced the firing of Bobby Petrino Tuesday night for lying about an inappropriate relationship with a staff member within the athletic department.

Now the Hogs are left without a coach less than five months prior to the opening game of the season against Jacksonville State.

Two options are available for the Arkansas administration. They can choose an interim coach to get through 2012 and search for a replacement following the season, or conduct a search and try to find the long-term solution for the coaching vacancy.

Here’s a look at why it would be best to go the route of the interim coach.

Lack of Current Coaching Options

Arkansas has a lot to offer to any college football coach. They have a great program, great facilities, a great fanbase, a team that will compete for the conference championship and they play in the best conference in the country. What coach wouldn’t be at least slightly interested?

However, a major problem stands between Arkansas and finding its next coach: Every candidate Arkansas would find desirable is already occupying another position.

Is it reasonable to expect a coach to drop everything he currently has to take this position? I don’t think there are very many coaches who will be willing to do that.

It leaves Arkansas with the choice to either commit multiple years to a coach who isn’t at the top of their list, or settle for an interim coach and have the opportunity to get the desired coach next offseason.

It seems like an easy decision to me.

Time

When it comes to college football coaching searches, the process generally is not a quick one. It often drags out over several weeks, or months even, before the search committee finds the right man for the job and officially announces the hire.

At the moment, time is something that Arkansas doesn’t have a lot of. The Hogs have less than five months before the opening game of the season, and there is a lot that must be accomplished between now and then.

Most major programs make their coaching hires as quickly after the season ends as possible. It’s not just by happenstance that it works this way.

There is a laundry list of things that a new coach must take care of in order for the program to be run his way, some of which are addressed in this list.

The only way to get all of it done, though, is by allowing the coach plenty of time to do it. Unfortunately for Arkansas, the next five months are going to go by really fast.

Schemes

As was mentioned before, spring practice is already underway. For new coaching staffs, spring is the time that new schemes are installed, expectations are set and coaches get acclimated with the players.

Arkansas is working behind the eight ball now. By the time they could conduct a coaching search and hire someone, spring practice will be all but over. Whoever the new coach is will have a very limited amount of time to put his schemes in place.

However if the Razorbacks choose an interim, especially if it is one within the program, schemes for the most part stay the same.

Naturally there will be some changes. Whoever the interim coach would be is not going to be the offensive genius that Bobby Petrino has shown to be. However, keeping the same schemes in place allows the players to feel comfortable, which should generate better results on the field in 2012.

Acclimation

When a new coach takes over a program, there is a feeling out process that takes place between the players and coaching staff. Players have to learn what the coaches expect, and coaches have to learn what the players respond well to.

If Arkansas brings in a new coach from outside of the program, this acclimation process becomes yet another thing on the list of tasks to be accomplished between now and the first Saturday of the college football season.

An interim coach lessens this process immensely. There will obviously be a time when he will have to figure out what buttons to push with his team, but a huge key lies in the fact that he knows his players, and his players know him. In a situation like this one, there’s a lot to be said for that fact.

Sure things will be different with a new man in charge, but the more things that stay the same, the smoother the immediate transition will be.

A Championship Contending Team

Arkansas enters the 2012 season at least on the radar of the BCS National Championship.

Fifteen starters return for the Hogs, seven on offense and six on defense. Included in that is quarterback Tyler Wilson, who threw for over 3,600 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2011.

Not included in those numbers, but also returning, is running back Knile Davis. Davis led all SEC running backs in 2010 with 1,282 rushing yards. Prior to an ankle injury that stopped him from playing in 2011, Davis was mentioned on Heisman lists of several college football analysts.

With all of this talent returning, it is very understandable why the expectations are so high in Fayetteville for 2012.

Coaching changes generally don’t result favorably in year one. The talent is there for a big season, but a major coaching change would seem to derail those expectations.

Worry about the talent on the field first, and take care of the coaching situation after.