Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
UA dismisses athletic director
Football woes cited by trustees
Jeff Long — the athletic director of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, for nearly a decade — was fired Wednesday after support from the Razorback community waned.
In a letter dated Wednesday, UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz did not state a reason for the termination, but he wrote, “As we have discussed, in my professional judgment, I believe this decision is in the best interest of the athletics program and the University.”
A handful of University of Arkansas trustees spoke Wednesday of unhappiness among fans, alumni and other supporters of a football team that has gone 4-6 overall and 1-5 in Southeastern Conference games this season and has a program-record five losses of 20 points or more. A few also made reference to other concerns but would not speak about them.
“The decision to change leadership in our Athletics Department is not an easy one, and was made after great deliberation, discussion and thought, after consultation with the Board of Trustees and [University of Arkansas System] President [Donald] Bobbitt,” Steinmetz said in a statement. “Since coming to Fayetteville in 2008, Jeff has led our department with character and integrity and helped move us forward in so many ways.
“However, over the past year, Jeff has lost the support of many of our fans, alumni, key supporters, and members of the university leadership, support that I believe is critical in our pursuit of excellence.”
UA has named Julie Cromer Peoples, 46, as interim athletic director. She will
not be the first woman to lead a Southeastern Conference athletic department: The University of Tennessee in 2011 named Joan Cronan as an interim athletic director.
Long’s firing comes at a time when the university is in the middle of the expansion of the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, a $160 million venture that will add about 4,200 premium seats, and when the future of Razorback football games in the capital city is in question. The university is under contract to host one more game in Little Rock, against a Southeastern Conference foe, but the specific opponent has not yet been determined. And it’s unclear whether UA will extend its agreement with War Memorial Stadium beyond 2018.
The decision also comes six days after the UA board of trustees met in a regularly scheduled executive session to discuss personnel matters. After nearly an hour and a half, trustees left the closed meeting to take a break while Bobbitt rounded up Steinmetz and Long for a second round. Trustees had called in Bobbitt and Steinmetz, leaving Long waiting outside for nearly two hours. No action was taken then on Long.
Long, 58, replaced longtime athletic director and former Razorback football coach Frank Broyles on Jan. 1, 2008. Long led the already planned merger of the men’s and women’s athletic programs into one Athletic Department and started a new administrative structure for the department, according to his biography on UA’s athletics website.
During his tenure, Long focused on further developing student athletes, helping to secure a $10.65 million gift from the family of Dallas Cowboys owner and former Razorback Jerry Jones, an Arkansas native. The gift, the largest donation to athletics in more than two decades, led to the creation of the Jerry and Gene Jones Family Student Athlete Success Center, a 55,000-square-foot facility.
The university’s student athletes have posted their best-ever academic progress rates and graduation success rates under Long, according to UA.
UA’s Athletic Department is one of 25 in the nation to be self-sustaining, not collecting a student fee and not taking state funds, the university said. Long helped to ensure that financial security in signing a 10-year deal with IMG College to form Razorback Sports Properties, bringing in $73 million.
The university’s athletics budget more than doubled during Long’s tenure. The department generated more than $119 million in revenue in the fiscal year that ended June 30, up from $58.5 million in fiscal 2008, when Long was hired, according to reports provided by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
A lucrative broadcast deal the Southeastern Conference struck with the sports network ESPN beginning in 2009 helped boost income — the university received $30.1 million last year for broadcast rights — but ticket sales and private contributions toward athletics also swelled under Long.
Contributions totaled $14.9 million in 2017, up from $8.5 million in 2008. Ticket sales, which were $25.8 million in 2008, exceeded $40 million for the first time last year.
He was also the inaugural College Football Playoff selection chairman for the 2014 and 2015 seasons and remains on the committee. Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, said in a statement Wednesday that Long will continue his term on the committee through the remainder of this season.
In 2011, Long finished an athletics plan that gave the department a guide for $320 million in facility renovations and additions, including the Basketball Performance Center and the Fowler Family Baseball and Track Training Center.
The university is also in the middle of construction to close off the stadium, which will include a new south-end video board, a 360-degree stadium concourse and the new seating. The renovations and additions for the stadium called for the university to issue up to $120 million in bonds, which two UA trustees had opposed.
The project — set to finish by the fall 2018 football season — is on time and on budget, and the guaranteed maximum price for construction “remains at $132 million” of an overall budget of $160 million, Steinmetz wrote in an email to Bobbitt and the trustees in October. Seating commitments are either completed or on pace to meet sales projections, he wrote.
Gift commitments for premium seats, along with donations toward the stadium renovation project, have totaled about $41.5 million, said Scott Varady, executive director of the Razorback Foundation. He described “great support” from fans.
“We’re confident that will continue,” he said when asked about how the athletic shakeup might affect fundraising.
LONG’S COMPENSATION
According to the termination letter, Long will receive all salary and incentive compensation earned through Wednesday. He is to return all university property — including UA-issued computers, cellphones and keys — to Clayton Hamilton, senior athletics director and chief financial officer of the department, no later than the end of the day Nov. 30. Long is also to return two vehicles furnished for his use by the same date to Varady.
A UA spokesman said Long’s incentive compensation would total $90,000 but that the figure could change.
“Going forward, consistent with the relevant provisions of Mr. Long’s employment agreement, the University will pay Mr. Long $1 million per year for the remainder of his contract through June 30, 2022 (prorated for the remainder of fiscal year 2018) in monthly sums of $83,333.33 up to a maximum of $4.625 million, all of which is subject to mitigation if Mr. Long is later employed and/or receives compensation elsewhere,” spokesman Mark Rushing said.
Rushing added that the payments will come from athletics department and private funds.
Under his most recent contract amendment, Long is paid an annual salary of $750,000 from the university. A personal-services agreement with the Razorback Foundation also guarantees Long annual payments of $250,000 in private funds. Long can also earn up to $1.1 million in private funds if he meets certain benchmarks, such as achieving a graduation success rate for all student athletes of more than 75 percent or maintaining good citizenship.
In fiscal 2017, which ended June 30, Long made $1.37 million because he hit certain benchmarks, including winning five Southeastern Conference championships in cross country and track.
Long’s fourth contract amendment was the latest to lay out rules for “termination at convenience of the university.”
“In the event the University terminates this Employment Agreement for convenience and subject to the duty of mitigation, the University shall pay Mr. Long the sum of One Million and No/100 Dollars ($1,000,000.00) per year from the effective date of Mr. Long’s termination through the end of the Term of this Employment Agreement, including any extensions of the Term, with any partial year being prorated,” the amended employment agreement said.
The fourth agreement said the university can use private funds, any dollars self-generated through the activities of the Athletic Department or any other legally permissible funds. It also states that Long will not be entitled to any additional payments from the university or the Razorback Foundation except for the compensation “earned, but yet unpaid, prior to the effective date of his termination for convenience.”
The same agreement includes an offset clause that allows the university to reduce severance pay on a monthly basis should Long earn “gross compensation” personally, through business entities owned or controlled by him from employment as an administrator or consultant either at a college or university or with a professional sports organization.
‘A TRUE HONOR’
Long did not make himself available for comment. A man who answered the door at Long’s listed address told an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter seeking comment, “I don’t think that’s going to happen today.”
On Wednesday evening, Long issued a statement thanking the university community, Fayetteville community, all of Northwest Arkansas and the coaches, Athletics Department staff, chancellors, student athletes and fans.
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve our University in the last 10 years,” he wrote in the statement. “It has been a true honor.”
Long said in the statement that he wanted to take some time with his family to collect his thoughts before speaking to the media.
Steinmetz, when reached by text message, wrote back, “I don’t have anything more to say than what’s in my statement.”
UA board Chairman Ben Hyneman of Jonesboro said Wednesday that the panel had not talked to Long during its
private personnel meeting last week.
“I think this action today was a culmination of Joe’s consideration of a lot of things going on in the athletic domain in the football program,” he said. “I wasn’t shocked by it. I didn’t really know what Dr. Steinmetz was going to do. He was not issued any edicts or anything like that. There was just discussion.”
And Steinmetz took that discussion into account when he carried out a “comprehensive review” of Long, Hyneman said.
“Jeff was a great athletic director. He had a great vision and a master plan that has largely been implemented now,” he said. “At the end of the day, the fans, the alumni, the supporters, I think, expect positive results. When you don’t get that, this is a kind of natural following.”
Hyneman pointed to other university football programs in the Southeastern Conference, all of which he said have high expectations.
“Unfortunately, when they all have to play each other, everybody can’t be winners,” he said.
Under football Coach Bret Bielema’s tenure, the Razorbacks are 29-32 overall and 11-27 in the Southeastern Conference.
Trustee Cliff Gibson of Monticello said he understood that Steinmetz saw a need to change the direction of the Athletics Department.
“Well, the performance particularly of the football team has been deficient, I think would be the correct word,” he said. “As [Harry] Truman said, ‘The buck stops here.’ At the end of the day, if there’s someone who failed to do something or who did a less than desirable job, the athletic director should be taking action to correct that. I suspect that Jeff Long thought he did that, and I suspect that Dr. Steinmetz believed that it was ineffective and that it was time for a change.”
When asked how Long’s firing might affect Bielema’s future at UA, Gibson said: “They’re intertwined, are they not? Certainly one relates to the other.”
Gibson said Wednesday’s action was the result of “an accumulation of issues” but that the primary mover was the football season. When asked about other issues, he said, “Let’s leave it at what I’ve told you.”
“At the end of the day, Mr. Steinmetz is like an umpire.
He calls balls and strikes,” Gibson said. “And we put our faith in him. I have high regard for him and his abilities and his acumen. If he has reached the level where he thinks there needs to be a change, then I can’t help but support that.”
Trustee Mark Waldrip of Moro, who is the board’s vice chairman, said Steinmetz has “without a doubt” given great consideration to the overall state of Razorback athletics.
“I think at a time like this that Chancellor Steinmetz has fulfilled the responsibility that he’s charged with and he’s made a decision,” he said. “You don’t make a decision such as Chancellor Steinmetz has made without having given due consideration to all of the factors involved. I am certain that Chancellor Steinmetz has done that.”
Waldrip would not comment “about a personal opinion” in regard to any concerns with Long before the firing.
“I thank Jeff Long for his contributions and for his leadership of Razorback athletics during the past 10 years,” he said, adding he wished Long’s family the best moving forward. “I think that Razorback fans are obviously very passionate and that they’re all very interested any time there’s any change, certainly of this magnitude, that’s made in Razorback athletics. I’m hopeful that all supporters of Razorback athletics will be supportive of the program in this time of transition.”
UA will identify and announce members of a committee to help Steinmetz in the search for a new vice chancellor and director of athletics.
Hyneman, the board chairman, said he was confident that trustees backed Steinmetz’s decision.
“It’s just a difficult time,” he said. “I’m saddened by the way things worked out for everybody. I really wish Jeff the best and would like to thank Jeff for some of the things he accomplished as athletic director. Jeff just had a great vision … had a real passion for student athletes and their well-being and providing them with the best resources he could for them to be successful. We’re going to be a beneficiary for a lot of those things in the years to come.”