John L. Smith is out there.  We all knew when Arkansas hired him as its interim coach that he’s an adrenaline junkie with an “out there” personality.

Apparently the rest of the world is just starting to notice.

In what’s being viewed by many as a sign that the coach is cracking up under the pressure of the Razorbacks’ 1-2 start, Smith demanded that the media smile before he would take questions at a presser earlier this week.

Odd?  You bet.  Painfully awkward if you were in that room staring back at the man?  Probably.

But ask a Michigan State or Louisville fan and you’ll soon hear tales of Smith’s previous bizarre actions.

At MrSEC.com, we don’t believe this shows that Smith is falling apart.  We do, however, think it provides a glimpse into what the team is seeing/hearing from Smith on a daily basis.  If the Hogs were winning, this kind of stuff would go over big.  But the Hogs aren’t winning.

So you tell me, if you were on the Titanic and Captain Edward Smith came out and provided a John L. Smith type of “Smile!” speech would you feel better?  I didn’t think so.  And I bet plenty of Razorbacks feel the same way.

At a time when college football season’s postseason appears to be in flux, one group is considering birthing a brand new bowl game.  Forget the new playoff that’s now being debated/discussed.  Forget that some school presidents have been talking about raising the win-level for bowl-eligible teams, a move which would result in a cut back in the current number of bowls.  Folks in Show-Me State want a bowl game.

According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Sports Commission is exploring the feasibility of bringing a bowl to the city.  And the group’s president, Frank Viveritos, already believes the perfect matchup would be an SEC-Big Ten showdown:

“If we were able to produce a wish-list game, that would be the one.  If the SEC is making a commitment to the University of Missouri, then this is a market we would like to help them develop for the league…

We want to get meaningful conference tie-ins.  We want to have an event that would be considered a home run for the region in every way.”

Currently the group is gauging how much support a bowl game would get from the city and how much money the game would have to pay out to participants.  The more money going to teams, the better the conference tie-ins.  The better the conference tie-ins, the better the media exposure and tourism revenue for St. Louis.

The city of St. Louis is also expected to bid for at least one upcoming SEC basketball tournament.  And SEC commissioner Mike Slive has recently been talking about finding new bowl partnerships for his just-expanded league.  So a St. Louis bowl tied to the Southeastern Conference seems like a natural at this point.

We also don’t believe that in the end of discussions bowl-eligibility qualifications will indeed be raised.  For every school president at Alabama or Ohio State or Oregon who knows they’ll go bowling each season, there are two from Utah State or even Mississippi State who need a six-win cut-off if they’re to rake in some extra exposure — which leads to more cash, better recruiting and better football in the long run — by going bowling each year.  That’s no knock on MSU, their own AD, Scott Stricklin, has admitted that he’s against a nine-game SEC schedule because it might knock State from future bowl games.  Would he or his boss be in favor then of raising bowl-eligibility standards?  We think not.

For that reason, we would be surprised to see the number of bowl games snipped.  A better way of handling things on that end might be to require games to hit a higher minimum payout, anyway.  Such a move would either reduce the current number of games by just a few or lead to the replacement of smaller games by larger ones.  Like, say, one in St. Louis.

If there is room for a bowl on the Mississippi, the Big Ten does make sense as an SEC foe.  Unfortunately those two leagues already have tie-ins in three other games: Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowl and Gator Bowl.  For that reason, it already seems that Georgia and Michigan State, for example, have met in a Florida bowl for about nine of the last 10 years, doesn’t it?

We get that “Big Ten versus SEC” would be a better draw for the city and that’s what bowls are all about in the first place — tourism.  Cities don’t hold these games because they just like ‘em some football.

But in a perfect world, the SEC would line-up a new game with a brand new bowl partner.  St. Louis is the Gateway to the West.  Wouldn’t an SEC versus Pac-12 matchup be infinitely more interesting in a new Gateway Bowl?  Heck, even an SEC-Big 12 game would be a better compromise, possibly pitting Missouri against one of its old Big 12 rivals if things broke the right way.

But then, what the heck is ever perfect about college football’s postseason?

John L. Smith knows exactly what to say at an introductory press conference.  Having been through two of those things in the past five months it’s no surprise that he has the whole thing down to an art.

Meeting the press on his return to Arkansas yesterday — after a blink-and-you-missed-it stint at his alma mater, Weber State — Smith told Razorback fans just what they wanted to hear.  Mainly that championships are still on the table and are still the goal for this year’s bunch of Bobby Petrino-less Hogs:

“Our expectations are the same.  Nothing’s going to slow down.  In fact, we’re going to speed up.  Our expectations are that we’re going to go ahead and we’re going to battle and fight for a national title.  It was that way when I walked in the door three years ago and it’s going to continue to be that way…

Everything’s in place here.  You’ve got a good football team.  We’ve got the best fans in the world.  We’ve got great coaches.  Let’s make it a special year.”

Somebody give the Governor a harrumph!

In addition to motivating the Razorback fanbase, Smith touched on a few other topics…

* He spoke of his love of adventure and new challenges:  “If there is a door open, walk through it.  If there’s a window open, jump out of it. I guess I’ve always been a little that way.”  (Folks in Ogden can now attest to that.  Sounds like Jeff Long’s found the perfect stable, dependable replacement for a guy like Petrino.)

* He seemed eager to share some of the blame for his quick Weber State exit with his wife:  “I said, ‘This decision’s yours.  She said, ‘Here’s the deal.  You’re going back to people that love you.  You’re going back to a team that is a good football team and you have a chance to fight for a national championship.’  She said, ‘This might be the only chance you have left.’  So she said, ‘You’re going back’ and here I am.”  (Smith did not say that his wife at any point said to him, “Tough noogies to the nimrods who put their faith in you at Weber State,” but that sure seems to have been her sentiment.)

* After admitting that he’s looking for redemption — after being fired by Michigan State in 2006 — he made it clear that he feels there’s a chance he could land the Razorback job long-term:  ”We’ll have to wait and see.  Only the season is going to dictate that.”

Smith said all this while wearing a slick set of cowboy boots.  At one point he called a television personality “fat and sloppy.”  And he also intentionally mispronounced the name of Arkansas tailback Knile Davis.

It was either an oddball ending to an oddball month for Razorback football or the oddball beginning to what could be a helluva football season.  Hog fans will obviously hope for the latter.  And from purely a football sense, Long seems to have tabbed the one man for the interim gig who could calm fans, unite the players, and keep the existing assistants on his side.

Win, win and win.

Still, I want to toss a little credit in the direction of the Razorback fanbase today.  While they’ll be cheering wildly for Smith to capture a conference and/or national crown this fall — as they should, he’s the coach of their football program after all — most seem to realize that he pulled a pretty cruel stunt on the administration, assistants and players at Weber State.  The defense of Smith’s actions has been muted at best.  And that is probably for the best.  Defending the way in which he nuked his alma mater would have just given Hog fans a reputation for being blind to all but their own their own school’s issues.

As it stands, it appears that most Hog backers are for Smith to succeed… even though they know he didn’t bathe himself in glory by departing Ogden, Utah as he did.

Kudos to them.  Best of luck to him.

Former Razorbacks assistant John L. Smith is headed back to Arkansas to replace fired football coach Bobby Petrino.   Smith spent three years as the special teams coach in Fayetteville.  Smith, who’s leaving Weber State, gets a one-year deal.

Smith has a 132-86 record as a head coach at Michigan State, Louisville, Idaho and Utah State.

He’ll be introduced as the new coach at Arkansas on Tuesday.

Just a quick pre-weekend check of the scuttlebutt floating around regarding potential SEC coaching moves.  We’ll start where things are in the most flux:


* Despite reports out of Miami last night, multiple reports from Tennessee have said former Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon has not been hired as the Vols’ new defensive coordinator.  In fact, some believe Shannon and Derek Dooley have not yet spoken.  Normally we would say there’s too much smoke involved for their not to be some fire, but as we noted the other day, Shannon is coordinator equivalent of Jon Gruden.  When a job comes open, he’s immediately listed on internet sites as Candidate #1. 

Clemson’s Kevin Steele — despite his unit’s one horrible showing in the Orange Bowl — is believed to be a candidate as is Baylor’s Phil Bennett.  They’re just bowl games, but Steele’s group allowed 70 points to West Virginia and Bennett’s crew gave up 56 to Washington.  Bennett would give Tennessee some recruiting ties to the Lone Star State.


* Texas A&M reportedly interviewed Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi earlier this week.  The Spartans — despite allowing 30 points to Georgia in the Outback Bowl — had a Top 5 defense in 2012. 

Kevin Sumlin is also expected to offer a job to Stanford special teams coordinator Brian Polian.


* Defensive coordinator Chris Wilson — once rumored to be a candidate at A&M — will reportedly stay at Mississippi State.


* FootballScoop.com is reporting that “sources close to the program” have told them that South Carolina will interview Ron West for the job of linebackers coach and Randy Jordan for the job coaching the Gamecocks’ running backs.

Jordan has been on Mike Sherman’s staff at Texas A&M since 2008.  Grabbing him might signal that Carolina wants to start making some inroads into the fertile Texas recruiting grounds.  Ron West as the linebackers coach under Ron Zook at Illinois the past two years.  But he also has ties inside the Palmetto State from the 10 seasons he spent on Clemson’s staff from 1999 through 2008.


* Scuttlebutt from Auburn suggests the Tigers might’ve turned their attention from defensive coordinator Mark Stoops — who’s getting a raise at Florida State — to Seminoles’ assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach Greg Hudson.  Prior to joining FSU’s staff, Hudson had been the defensive coordinator at East Carolina.


* Boise State offensive coordinator Brent Pease is rumored to be under consideration for the same position at Auburn, Alabama, and Florida.  Pease has SEC experience as he served at Kentucky in 2001 and 2002.

Speaking of the Gators, Hays Carlyon of The Florida Times-Union reports that Jacksonville head coach and former UF quarterback Kerwin Bell is a candidate for the quarterbacks coach position on Will Muschamp’s staff and not the offensive coordinator slot.

To the 25 or so folks who emailed Georgia AD Greg McGarity after the Bulldogs’ Outback Bowl loss, the top Dawg has a message for you:


“What is important is for people to know that Mark Richt is our football coach, and he and his staff and these players spend so much time in an effort to bring championship football to Georgia. … The more negative people become, the more it distracts you from being successful.”


McGarity said he received about 50 emails after UGA’s 33-30 overtime loss to Michigan State and “about half” of those came from people complaining about coaching decisions. 

“Anytime you lose a game, especially one as gut-wrenching as that one was, people get frustrated and they vent in various ways,” he said.  “If the game was lopsided, if we had lost 42-0 or something, then there would be some concerns.  But to point the finger at a player or a coach or offense or defense or special teams is a waste of time.  That was a true team loss.  There are plenty of second-guessers out there, but there are so many what-ifs on either side it could have gone either way.”

It didn’t take long for DeAnthony Arnett to make up his mind after Tennessee cleared him to transfer anywhere he liked.  The sophomore-to-be receiver — the #12 prospect in America at his position last year — will transfer to Michigan State where he expects to start classes next week. 

He will apply for a hardship waiver from the NCAA in an attempt to play for the Spartans next season.

As everyone knows by now, Arnett planned to transfer from Tennessee in order to get closer to home, closer to family.  His father’s health has been in sharp decline in recent months.  MSU is just about an hour from his hometown.

Derek Dooley, however, initially gave Arnett a waiver that nixed Michigan and Michigan State as potential landing spots.  More than likely he felt there had been some contact between those programs and a player still on his roster and coaches don’t respond well to tampering.  But whether tampering was involved or not, there was no way Dooley could win this particular PR battle.  Two words would always trump him: sick father.

So Dooley backtracked this week and told Arnett he was free to move about the country.  It didn’t the player long to make his decision.  And that likely validates any suspicions Dooley might have had about contact between Sparty and Arnett.

As we mentioned yesterday, nothing causes a mood swing in a fanbase like a bowl game.  Just look at what’s being said and written at Florida and Georgia as an example.

In Gainesville, suddenly the outlook seems pretty good after a 24-17 win over a 6-7 Ohio State team.  The messageboards are filled with optimism.  The press is writing stories about positives, rather than negatives.  The Gators suddenly have… momentum.

Ah, but in Athens, it’s a different tune.  The Bulldogs lost 33-30 in overtime to an 11-3 Michigan State squad.  Now some folks are asking questions about Mark Richt and his program all over again.

Florida (7-6) beats a bad Ohio State team and things are looking up.  Georgia (10-4) loses to a good Michigan State team and things are no longer so rosy.

Mood swings.

But one place the mood hasn’t swung is in the Georgia locker room:


“I think the whole Dawg nation is very excited.  I know as a team we’re pretty excited about the future of this team and the direction we’re heading right now.  We have to use this (loss) as motivation.” — quarterback Aaron Murray

“We’ve got a whole lot coming back.  I’m really looking forward to the offseason and the season coming up.  We’re definitely going to be better We definitely are going to be bigger, stronger, faster.” – linebacker Jarvis Jones


The Georgia team feels good about the future and it should.  UGA will probably be picked to finish on top of the SEC East again next year. 

But Georgia will have more pressure to deal with moving forward, too.  The schedule will raise expectations.  And the mood swing mentioned up top will have many Dawg fans pointing all summer long to 2012 being yet another “prove it” year for Richt.

Derek Dooley suggested during a press conference today that former Tennessee receiver DeAnthony Arnett would be granted a transfer to Michigan or Michigan State after all.  The coach took heat last week when Arnett let the press know that the Vols’ head coach was barring him from playing for the Spartans.  Arnett said he wanted to be closer to his family as his father’s medical condition had worsened in the time since the player signed with UT last February.

In an email to media members today, Arnett verifies Dooley’s reversal of field:

“My decision to leave the University of Tennessee has nothing to do with football, coaches, players or anything related to the school.  It is an will always remain solely based off of the importance of me keeping my beliefs and family first…

(Dooley’s) decision to release me unconditionally comes as a sign of a compassionate and empathetic coach.  I will never be able to express fully my appreciations and gratitude for his decision.

All good things take time and work.  UT has always surpassed the rest and I believe in due time they will be back to the No. 1 program in the SEC.  If I did not have issues within my family, you could guarantee that I would continue to be a VOL.”

Dooley — feeling quite a bit of heat from the press and likely on the recruiting trail — has retreated.  That’s a wise choice.  For as we wrote last week, this was a PR battle that he could not win at a time when he did not need any more losses… or battles, for that matter.

Agree with the coach’s decision or not — and the vast majority do think it’s better to let the player go — this move should take an arrow from the quiver of rival SEC recruiters: “You don’t want to play for that heartless guy, do you?”

Now Dooley’s “compassionate and empathetic.”  That’s a lot easier sell in recruits’ living rooms.

So much for out with everything-that’s-bad-in-2011 and in with promising-hopes-for-2012.  At Tennessee, the departures of defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon to Washington — lateral moves at best — have left many in the Vol Nation wringing their hands as if they’d never rung in a new year at all.  Many — including some in the press — are barking for a coaching change at the top.  Like, now.

Dooley hasn’t been seen or heard by the Vol fanbase since UT’s season-ending loss to Kentucky.  That changed today with a press conference on Tennessee’s campus.

But before we get into what the coach said, let’s look at what he’s dealing with on Rocky Top at the moment:


1.  His second team had a disappointing 5-7 record, missed a bowl game, and lost to Kentucky to snap the nation’s longest team-over-team winning streak at 26, raising the dander of many a Big Orange supporter.

2.  The coach and his school are getting plenty of bad press for their handling of the DeAnthony Arnett situation.  The player wants to play at Michigan State to be closer to his ailing father.  UT pointed him toward MAC schools instead last week.

3.  There are now three slots to fill on the UT coaching staff.  And any new coach will want some assurances that he won’t be booted without a buyout should the head coach go belly-up in 2013.  So it might not be easy to find a replacement for Wilcox.  (Don’t be surprised if defensive line coach Lance Thompson is promoted.)

4.  But the three coaches who left — and that includes former special teams/tight ends coach Erik Russell — were rumored to have been upset with the fact that new AD Dave Hart isn’t big on handing out multi-year contracts to assistants.  Hart might have to if he wants to land a good defensive coordinator for Dooley.  And if he doesn’t, it might just show that Hart isn’t going to go overboard to help a coach that he didn’t hire in the first place.

5.  In addition, controversial wide receiver Da’rick Rogers took to Twitter last night and threw this bit of gas on the fire: “So many recruits lost today … wish I could tell you otherwise fellas .. but that’s whats goin on here …”


From that mess, Dooley emerged today to give an “all is well” speech.  At his press conference he said:


“The program is significantly better than it was 22 months ago, when we all got here. … I’ve never been more excited going into an offseason.  We’re returning 19 starters. … I understand why there’s a (negative) perception, but I’m more concerned with reality. … We’re on our way.  The worst is behind us.”


And Dooley is correct.  Tennessee’s roster is deeper and older now than it was when Lane Kiffin left, thanks to back-to-back Top 15 signing classes.  On paper, the Vols should be better moving forward.  And as the coach also pointed out during his presser, there have been coordinators leaving all over the SEC this offseason. 

The problem for Dooley is the perception, just as he said.  His coaches are leaving on top of a lot of other junk.  So it’s not just about the coaches.  It’s a quarterback who reportedly wasn’t interested in going to a minor bowl.  It’s a team that appeared to fracture at the end of last season.  It’s a coach who has rather poor public relations skills when it comes to sending a consistent, calming message through the media to his fanbase.  Even today, he opened his presser by admitting surprise over the size of the media throng packed into the UT football complex.  Kentucky fans might refer to this as Billy Gillispie Syndrome… a coach who doesn’t quite get just how important his each and every move is.

Dooley will need to do a better job of grasping the fact that at most SEC schools, fans hang on every word uttered from their head coach.  Dooley will also need to win and win fast. 

With a team lacking in confidence, next year’s opener with NC State at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta — a venue that has become a house of horrors for Tennessee since 2001 — will be enormously significant.  Win and things can start to calm in Knoxville.  Lose and the wheels could come off the Dooley bandwagon once and for all.  (And before someone tosses out Mark Richt’s 0-2 start this year, his players had a lot more reasons to have faith in their coach than Dooley’s would in him.)


A few other notes:

Dooley suggested that Arnett is not excluded from going to Michigan or Michigan State.  It would not surprise this writer if UT backtracks for the sake of PR and recruiting and allows Arnett to go wherever with the word leaked that he misunderstood Dooley’s initial ruling.  If that were true, of course, UT would have immediately put out a press release saying that he was free to go anywhere he chose when the bad publicity started pouring in last week.  The school didn’t. 

Next, Dooley said that Rogers — the tweeting receiver mentioned above — is still on the team despite numerous rumors to the contrary.

Also, the coach said he won’t rush coaching hires just for the sake of speed.  So UT fans can probably forget the rampant Randy Shannon speculation.  (This guy has been “hired” by about 15 different schools in the last two years.  He’s become the defensive coordinator equivalent of Jon Gruden, who’s rumored to have an interest in every college job in the country.)

Finally, just a sidenote for those folks who would like to see Dooley blown up after signing day, if you think the PR from the Arnett mess was bad, just try to lure in a whole signing class and then dump their head coach.  Tennessee’s new AD should probably focus on putting out the fires he inherited, not starting new ones.