From a Former Hog

[Outlaw85]

Nice read.

www.rabidhogfans.com/rhf_php/index.php?action=view&id=469649&page=3

[heathwaldrop]

"blatant bashing of a former player"--Gary Breshears, by any chance?

Want to take a guess on who our former wide receiver at Arkansas, signed sometime in the late '90s, was by his admission only a "mediocre player", might be?

My first thought was Steadman Campbell, the son of Louis Campbell.

[jwh]

steadman is the only one i could think of that might still be that close to the program who was a wr and who would post about it.

[Outlaw85]

You guys are probably right on the mark with that being Steadman.

You know who I blame for all this mess more than anyone else? The NWA media, specifically Mike Irwin and Bo Mattingly. Both are so far up Mustain and Malzahn rears that they will need a surgical procedure to remove them. Those 2 post daily on Hogville. Mustain has used them as his personal media links. When he calls they jump. They keep him pumped like he is a god.

[heathwaldrop]

I blame Houston Nutt because he lied. Houston Nutt doesn't lie and none of this spirals out of control the way that it did.

I also think people are vastly underestimating the number of people who are, like me, so ticked off at the program that they aren't even going to pay much attention anymore. Some idiot on Chuck Barrett's show tonight called in and said that the number of people who want Nutt gone is ".0001 percent." Do people honestly believe that? Do they ever bother asking anyone else what they think?

I'd guess the number of people who wanted Nutt gone back in December to be probably 25 percent of the fan base; since Malzahn left I'm guessing the number doubled at the very least...maybe even came close to tripling.

[complexed]

How do you know exactly that HDN Lied?
Coaches & Managers always do what is in their teams best interest, if at all possible. At all times! That's not a bad thing.
Were U listening when at the "Monk Meeting", Marcus Harrison said being a defensive player and being on the sidelines (while the offense was on the field), he knew GM was calling the plays?
Sounds like U & the 50 IDIOTS that remonstrated outside the Broyles Complex are making assumptions about things and conversations and interactions you don't really know about unless U were a fly on the wall somewhere at sometime?
I wish all parties involved the best and much success, especially the 2007 Hogs, may they pass just enough to open up defenses to get D-Mac a Heisman and FELIX the Doak Walker and Heisman Runner up and may Monk & Ben Cleveland tie for most receptions in the nation and thusly the SEC! GO HOGS

[heathwaldrop]

Because Houston Nutt called a public press conference when he hired Malzahn and TOLD us that Malzahn was going to be the offensive coordinator, running his offense and calling his own plays.

How many times were we as fans told also this throughout the spring, summer and season?

Malzahn certainly was under this same impression. Listen to the things that he said in interviews early on. We were told that his system would be implemented gradually, that we'd see more and more of it throughout the season. In fact we saw less and less of it throughout the season.

Instead of Malzahn's offense with Nutt's input, as Nutt said that we would see, we got Nutt's offense with Malzahn's input. That was blatantly obvious. In the three losses at the end of the season we were back to running the stretch draw 40 times a game, just like always, and the result was losing, just like always.

Even that I could have tolerated, and did tolerate, because we still were being told that "we don't want to make any radical changes in the first year; we're going to gradually add Gus' ideas into our offensive package." Fine. As long as we eventually see effective passing and imaginative playcalling sprinkled into what they're doing offensively.

EVERYBODY (except you, since you don't like passing the football), Nutt included, agreed that the team's problem over the last several years was the lack of an effective passing game and Malzahn was brought in supposedly to help orchestrate one. Yet Nutt hamstrung him and wouldn't let him implement it the way that he had hired him to implement it.

Nutt himself late in the season came out publicly and stated that he intervened and got conservative with the offense because they were afraid that too radical a change too soon would lead to losses, and that he could not afford to have many losses and still keep his job. But he said that Malzahn's offense would be added incrementally over time. Again, I could accept that...IF he was telling the truth.

Obviously he was not telling the truth. This business about sneaking around and hiring David Lee to be a co-coordinator and giving HIM the play-calling duties was just too much. Malzahn was forced out. No way does a guy leave as supposedly THE offensive coordinator at an SEC school that went 10-4, to go to TULSA to SHARE that same title, unless he is miserable. In his interviews after being hired at Tulsa, he said that he took the job because he wanted to run HIS offense and call HIS OWN plays. This was what we were being told over and over again that he was doing at Arkansas. Clearly he wasn't.

David Lee...what a joke! He was at Arkansas twice before and failed each time. He was an OPTION coach. He was the one who they ran off when Matt Jones was here because he couldn't make Matt Jones into a decent passer. Now suddenly they go and hire him back and he's going to make the passing game improve? Are you kidding me???

He was brought in because Nutt didn't like Malzahn and never wanted him there to begin with, so obviously he wasn't about to let him take over the offense, despite all of the lies that he told us. He went and hired Malzahn just to get his players, so the fan base would get off of his back, which is ethically questionable on its own.

Now as a result, we lose not only a great coaching hire, but the National Player of the Year, a top-20 receiver and a heck of a lot of fans. Not to mention that he has failed to sign the top three players in Arkansas coming out this season. What was all of that nonsense that he preached when he was hired about "building a fence" around the borders of the state? If he can't get the top recruits here, he will not be able to sustain the program, and his reputation is too tarnished to be able to do that anymore.

And mark it down...there is no way that Houston even sniffs double-digit wins again. Moreover, I don't care if he does...he's not getting me back in the fold.

[complexed]

Again pure speculation. Again bottom line, if they don't want to be a Hog they should move on, & GM did. I'd have like to have seen him stay a while, but it is NOT a tragedy that he is gone. I can't make it to 14 games a year like some, but I'm still a Razorback Fan and will remain so! The death knell was sounded when FB "fired" Lou and again when KH jumped to Clemson. Truly those were bad times under Joe Kines, Crow & Ford. It is being sounded now and will no doubt chime once again when HDN decides to get out for whatever reason. In the Grand Scheme of life, it's no biggy! Truth be known it's not much different anywhere else. All I'd ever ask anyone is don't be fair weather, U either is or U AIN't! Go Hogs ;D