Arkansas Football: John L. Smith Hire Puts an Unfair Stereotype on Hogs

Arkansas Director of Athletics Jeff Long again made national news on Monday when it was announced that Weber State head coach John L. Smith would lead the Razorbacks for the next 10 months. Smith's tenure as Weber State head coach—his alma mater—was five months.

Considering that Smith's hire comes on the heels of Bobby Petrino's time at Arkansas, the football program is going to branded as a landing spot for coaches coming off of controversial departures.

In Petrino's case, it's fair to criticize. He lied on Monday Night Football in December of 2007, the night before leaving the Atlanta Falcons and taking the job at Arkansas. To make matters worse, he notified his players via a four-sentence laminated note left in their lockers. 

That situation justifiably left Petrino wide open for criticism, but Smith leaving Weber State high and dry is not the same and it shouldn't reflect negatively on Smith or Arkansas.

People will argue that Smith should have remained loyal to Weber State because it's his alma mater and he made statements like this one that he made to the Salt Lake Tribune on Dec. 6, 2011: "To come back and run your own program as a head coach again was crucial for me. Loyalty is No. 1."

He won that press conference, as do all coaches that take over programs in their introductory press conference. It's coach speak. Coaches are loyal to their paycheck and prestige. Loyalty to their roots will almost always take a back seat to career advancement.

Smith has the chance at Arkansas to step into a ready-made BCS Championship run where the top bullet on his job description is to stay out of the way and not screw things up. Sure, that may be more of a challenge for Smith considering the way his career at Michigan State went, but he shouldn't be criticized for jumping at the chance.

Long knows that Arkansas is stacked this season, and the only candidate that has familiarity with the staff and has major collegiate head coaching experience was Smith.

The circumstances surrounding Long's exit from Louisville, when he told his team at halftime of the GMAC Bowl that he was leaving for Michigan State after the news broke, will likely contribute to an unfair stereotype on Arkansas and Long.

Had it not been for that incident, would Arkansas be considered a home for coaches with questionable loyalties? I don't think so. It'd just be another program that was in a tough spot and got the coach that it felt was right at the time.

It's unfair to paint Arkansas with a broad brush given the current circumstances, because this circumstance is far from normal.

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