Arkansas needs better results from firm this time

FAYETTEVILLE — Tuesday’s announcement the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, has hired separate search firms in its quest to hire a Razorbacks athletic director and head football coach jogged memories of the last time the school publicly hired a search firm in the quest for a coach.

It was April 2007, after Dana Altman’s infamous one day on the Arkansas men’s head basketball coaching job before scurrying back to Creighton from whence he came.

John White, then-UA chancellor, prevailed on then-athletic director Frank Broyles to use the Parker Executive Search firm of Atlanta to find the replacement for Stan Heath.

Heath was fired after five Arkansas seasons following the stormy 2002 firing of Nolan Richardson, Arkansas’ Hall of Fame who directed the basketball program to its lone national championship. For a $90,000 fee, Parker Executive suggested South Alabama Coach John Pelphrey. Pelphrey had just come in second to Heath for the head coaching vacancy at South Florida.

Arkansas hired him anyway. After initial 23-12 overall, 9-7 SEC success with the players he inherited, Pelphrey’s program skidded to 14-16, 2-14 and 14-18, 7-9 the next two seasons. Even an improved 1813 overall record couldn’t save him with another 7-9 SEC season and decreasing Walton Arena crowds.

The Razorbacks need more for their search firm money doubling down this time around.

UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz announced Tuesday the executive search firm Korn Ferry assists him and the seven-member advisory committee in the quest to replace Jeff Long, the athletic director fired Nov. 15.

The UA also announced the executive search firm DHR International will assist Interim Athletic Director Julie Cromer Peoples in the head football coach search that began last Friday night following the firing of five-year coach Bret Bielema.

For Razorbacks’ fans, Tuesday’s most optimistic read is Steinmetz’s urgency expressed to hire an athletic director.

“The search for an athletics director is progressing quickly and there are a number of talented individuals we are considering,” Steinmetz said via Tuesday’s UA news release. “We understand speed is of the essence and are working to name a new leader as quickly as possible.”

Though Peoples is well respected by her Arkansas peers in four Arkansas years, it behooves the Razorbacks to have a permanent athletic director in place before hiring their next football coach.

Not just for the obvious of a new coach wanting to know for whom he will be working, but also for the football frenzy possibility of a just-hired coach casting undue influence on whom the permanent athletic director will be.

The all-sports program the late Broyles built and Long continued shouldn’t risk discounting and disgruntling the successful likes of baseball coach Dave Van Horn, basketball coach Mike Anderson, men’s track coach Chris Bucknam, women’s track coach Lance Harter and others to appease a yet unnamed football coach who hasn’t head coached an Arkansas down.