Razorback Baseball: The Best Gets Better

Coach Sam Pittman Twitter Thread

Many regulars on Twitter, especially those who had followed Coach Sam Pittman when he was previously at Arkansas, have found themselves blocked from seeing his Twitter account. It's my belief based upon how some digital media operate that University of Georgia personnel operating the account executed the blocks.  Hopefully it will be corrected in the off-season. Until then, Coach Pittman's tweets will be updated here from time to time as they are found on his "Tweets & replies" feed.  (As an aside, Arkansas Proud's Wordpress is acting up. Hopefully this will be reposted there when corrected.) Coach Pittman's original tweets I'll embed (eventually) and retweets will be images.

Go Hogs!!  -- Sharp

Tweets & replies

Coach Sam Pittman on Twitter

Received such a wonderful gift from ⁦@EstesTaylor⁩ and the women's golf team this morning. I asked for coach to autograph it for me because of Sec Coach of the Year in 2014, 2018. 9 All Americans, 31 All Sec selections! Plus she was a 4 time All American as a player!

Coach Sam Pittman on Twitter

Big road win tonight. Call those hogs!!!! @EricPMusselman #yessirr

Coach Sam Pittman on Twitter

Go Hogs!!! #YESSIR #callthemhogs

Coach Sam Pittman on Twitter

Had a great time at the basketball game to watch the Hogs with our wonderful friends! ⁦So great to be home!! @Todd_Ross_ ⁦@krisaross⁩ ⁦@JamiePi18217472⁩ #yessirr

****

The Devil Went Down to Georgia... College Football Championship Version

I'll keep posts on Arkansas Proud (fka Hog Database) to Arkansas Razorbacks information & occasionally post other things here.  This especially doesn't need to be there today with the announcements of SMU's Joe Craddock  and Texas A&M's John Chavis as Arkansas' Offensive and Defensive Coordinators to join Chad Morris.   

With apologies to Charlie Daniels...

........

The Devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a game to steal.
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind. He was willing to make a deal
Then he summoned his young man throwin' a football & playin' it hot
And the Devil jumped upon a hickory stump & said "Kirby, let me tell you what."

"I guess you didn't know it, but I have a freshman player, too.
And if you'd care to take a dare I'll make a bet with you.
Now you play a pretty good football, boy, but give the Devil his due. 
I'll bet this trophy of gold against your soul 'cause I know I'm better than you."

The man said, "My name's Kirby, and it might be a sin,
But I'll take your bet; and you're gonna regret
'cause I'll beat the best there's ever been."

Kirby, sharpen up your game & play your football smart               
'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia & the Devil steals them hearts
And if you win you get this shiny trophy made of gold,                 
But if you lose the Devil owns your soul.
            
The Devil opened up his play & he said, "I'll start this show."       
& fire flew from his freshman's hands as he tossed around his throws.
And they ran the bawl across the field and it made an evil hiss.         
And a wall of defense joined in & it sounded something like this.   
                                                     
When the Devil finished, Kirby said, "Well, you're crafty good ol' man,   
But stand down on the side right there and let me show you how it's ran."

"Hell on Stone Mountain." Run, boys, run!
The Devil's in the house of the favorite son;
Crimson's in the backfield stopping us cold.                     
Granny, did the Dawgs dog bite? No, child, no."                             

Then Kirby bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat.
And the Devil laid that golden trophy on the ground at Kirby's feet.   

The Devil said, "Kirby, you won't come back if you ever wanna try again,

I own your soul—you son of a bitch—I'm the best that's ever been."

And he played:

"Hell on Stone Mountain. Run, boys, run!
Nick Saban's in the house of the favorite son;
Crimson's in the backfield stopping them cold.                     
Granny, did the Dawgs dog bite? No, child, no."

....and I Wailed with Bon Scott

Originally published May 27, 2009 on Sportingnews.com member blogs. I don't expect any of my Razorback readers to understand why this would be voted Blog Entry of the Year. It's written in the style of a well-respected blogger & mentor of mine, Harvey Salem. His posts were personal and frequently lyrical. He said about my entry in his style was voted better than his own in his style. This post is a fictional story based upon Harvey's posts. Harvey Salem passed away in January 2017 after some years of battling pulmonary problems. Some of you know me as a researcher. In December 2016 after some years of Sportingnews blogs being closed, I located many of the members' posts on the Wayback Search Engine. Many felt like they were reunited with long lost friends they would never see again. The links moved Harvey. All of it is humbling.


This isn’t a crossover of one particular blog entry. It reaches acros bigtoke’s blog, particularly the early entries. They're almost prerequisites for this entry, and as such, all of the hyperlinks, save one small period, are links to bigtokes's blog entries which have inspired this one. Thanks to backell for having the Bloggers Crossover Challenge and to bigtoke for writing for us, his audience. -- SharpTusk

There he sat. His bare feet propped up on the coffee table in front of him. His long khaki shorts were wrinkled, and he hadn’t shaved in two or three days. Bottles of Busch beer, plates, and wrappers cluttered his foot rest while his face reflected the flashing blue of the television screen in front of him. From the looks of the discs stacked on the edge of the coffee table, he was more than ten hours into watching the first four seasons of Dancing with the Stars on DVD.

Without the effort of even a glance, he said, “Did you drink the two beers I had in the bottom and back of the refrigerator from a while ago?"

Of course I had. They had been there for a couple of months, and it’s not exactly the coolest task to do yard work in the Arizona heat, and it’s especially not like they're rockets in Da Nang. To his vacant, blue expression I said, “I was planning on replacing them when I went out this afternoon.”

Diesel was in a funk. Divorces are rarely without their hard times. He wasn’t getting along with his ex-wife, and his kids were deciding that their own friends were better company. Being around Diesel, a tough hide went a long way right now.

I wasn’t exactly the best company either. A while back BMW had done a marketing study which said that the BMW dealership of Chapman’s Auto Group in Scottsdale would be better off in Tucson. The folks at Chapman's were working to implement BMW’s recommendation and would expand the VW part of the business in Scottsdale as part of the transition.

Chapman Automotive had grown and made a lot of changes since Mr. Chapman rescued me from a management career at Frontier Lanes Bowling Alley in 1974. Over 30 years Chapman’s business became one of the largest dealerships in the country as it grew with Scottsdale. I stayed on after Mr. Chapman left Scottsdale some years ago to open a dealership in Las Vegas. But these times were different.

Customers were becoming harder sells. We had a few returning cars. Others wouldn’t buy the step-up vehicle because of increases in mortgage payments. I could see that there would probably be more of everything except sales on the horizon and that made me uneasy after 30 years.

While I was out doing errands, Bud was on sale, so Budweiser it was for Diesel. I really hadn’t seen Diesel so down before. The man needed Mark Grace's solution to life's downturns. About the best I could do for him was to get him out of the house. I needed to get out, too.

I really didn’t want to get Diesel too pissed off. The effort took nearly two episodes Dancing with the Stars to convince him to go and had the season not ended I might have been there hours more. I even promised to spot him a couple of hundred dollars at Casino Arizona. He didn’t owe me if he lost and could keep whatever he won over the $200.00. This was one of the rare times I cleaned the funk in my house while Diesel made himself look respectable.

Driving into the casino parking lot, the place looked hopping. Not wanting to get behind from the start, we played the video poker machines for a while. I went with Diesel around the casino as he played a little of everything, and he came out a little ahead as he went. We decided to go our own ways and meet up later. He milled around, and I headed back to video poker.

Maybe a couple of hours and a few machines went by before I went to find Diesel. I walked around the place once or twice. To this day I don’t know where he went, but as I walked toward a 7 card stud table, one side of the table had a group of a dozen or so drop dead gorgeous women dressed to the nines who were easily having a good time. No sooner than my focus had shifted away from the vixens, the disheveled dealer motioned to me and said, “Come on, buddy, we’ve got a seat right in the middle for you.” “Why not?” I thought.

I sat at the five seat table, and one of the women from the drop dead group sat two players to my right. I had to double check that this was a $6/$12 table when I saw a couple of stacks of $100 chips as she put some of the chips in a handbag with an F and an upside down, backward F on it. Despite the large room of tables, there wasn’t a soul trying to tell these ladies to hold it down. Most seemed to be as interested as I.

I played for a few hands and was mainly paying the pot when up strode Diesel with a drink in his hand talking to a woman who stopped to mill with this group. I just glanced at him and grinned while he did his thing. After I won a second small pot, the gorgeous player to my right looked away over her shoulder and said, “Daddy, do you want to take my seat?" He said, “Sure, I’ll play a hand or two. Leave me some chips, would you?"

When he sat down, I knew him. I’d seen him in person a couple of times and even talked to him, but he didn’t recognize me. As the dealer tossed my second card, I saw Diesel start to move along with the group of women. He was wasn’t too far away yet. I laid my cards down and turned to Diesel who was having a really good time. I motioned for him to come over and said, “Give me all the chips you have.” Diesel didn’t hesitate and looked over his shoulder to make sure the woman wasn’t going anywhere.

The new gentleman player talked to whomever came up and seemed to be happy enough with his cards that he raised everybody the first round. After the dealer laid down a pair of Jacks on the table, everyone started to get a little excited. One of the players bowed out and the gentleman kept raising. I had enough to stay in the game and had the cards to justify it. Some of the women started gathering around and as the dealer threw down an Ace to go with the pair of Jacks on the board; another player folded. The first player checked and then folded when I bet, leaving me and the gentleman to my right who promptly raised me. I called. The dealer flipped another Ace, and I noticed the crowd around us beginning grow and buzz. I bet, he raised, I raised and he raised again before I called. The dealer dealt our last cards. Mine was no help to me.

I bet and we kept raising with neither backing down. I finally told him, “You can outspend me if you’d like, but you won’t beat me.”

He looked back at me and said, “Have it your way. I call. Let’s see what you got.”

No sooner than I showed my cards he stood up, threw his cards face up and announced, “A pair of pocket Aces. Four bullets. I win.” And he did.

The table and the crowd around it erupted. More people came up and the eruptions continued. I shook my head and couldn’t believe it. I stood up and held out my hand and said, “Nice game, Mr. Bidwill.” He said, “Maybe you’ll win next time.” I replied, “I was surprised that you didn't have to check with your wife before you laid down your cards.”

I don’t think he remembered as he gathered his chips because tonight, that's all he was getting from me. He blew it off, but it was a while before I made it out of the casino. The pit boss came over and talked to the dealer and us, while a couple of security goons waited close by. They let Mr. Bidwill leave after a short conversation. One of the goons came up and told the pit boss that the tape was good. A little while later, I made a couple of passes around the casino. I didn’t see the women or Diesel anywhere in sight. People kind of looked at me and stared.

I was done for the evening. I stepped out of Casino Arizona and called Diesel. I could hear women’s laughter and voices in the background as he said simply, “I’m good.” Click.

As I walked toward the car, I could hear the excited voice of a man talking on his phone up ahead. “Yeah, that’s right, baby. That many thousands of dollars. Can you believe it? I can move you all out here. God how we needed it! Thank you sweet Jesus!!” As I walked past, he stopped talking and looked over at me with an Arizona Cardinals ball cap on. It was our dealer. I glanced through the rear window of his car. It looked as though he was living in it. He looked up with a big smile and said, “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.” Politely, I told him, “Don’t worry about it” as I kept walking.

I started the ignition and flipped on the radio. Diesel was doing what he wanted and a more fitting song couldn’t have started on the radio. It was one of the best evenings I've ever had.

I belted my own lyrics along with the bluesy Bon Scott as I drove home, "You got the Aces ... but I got the Jacks! The Jacks, the Jacks, the Jacks.”

For my friends who don't play, I lost with a hand of 4 Jacks which is called a "bad beat." The Bad Beat Jackpot had progressed over 6 figures and most is paid to the "beaten" player.

Things were going to be alright.

As the way things have gone lately, everyone could use a little pick-me-up. My friends would enjoy your reading and commenting on their blogs. Thanks. --->

University of Arkansas to Retire #42 in Honor of Bill Clinton

The University of Arkansas will retire basketball jersey #42 in honor of Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, as being the "sixth man" as part of the celebration of the 1994 Arkansas Razorback National Championship squad.  The ceremony is believed to occur at the Arkansas v. LSU game on February 15, 2014 at Bud Walton. The other possibility is versus South Carolina on February 19, 2014.

In the interview below, former President Clinton confirms the jersey retiring to an ESPN reporter. ESPNU is televising the Arkansas v. LSU game on February 15.

The University of Arkansas rarely retires player jerseys for either basketball or football if that is, in fact, what is to occur.

For what it's worth, not figuring that anyone from UA would return my email request for confirmation, I did tweet two of UA's major accounts asking for confirmation more than an hour before this post and before I found the video.

@ArkRazorbacks @RazorbackMBB Any truth to rumor that UA is retiring Jersey #42 on 2/15 (LSU) in honor of Bill Clinton related to '94 Champs?
— Sharp Williams (@SharpTusk) February 6, 2014

Former President Clinton discusses the honor starting around the 1 minute mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2nA40hlXro#t=71

Update:

Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News Bureau, ArkansasNews.com asked Arkansas Associate AD Kevin Trainor and Scotty Thurman about the retiring of a jersey in honor of former President Clinton.  The tweets as he reported follow.  Follow Robbie Neiswanger on Twitter @NWARobbie ...

Arkansas associate AD Kevin Trainor confirms the program is working with Clinton Foundation on a date to honor the former President in BWA.
— Robbie Neiswanger (@NWARobbie) February 6, 2014

Trainor said he didn't have a lot of details (like retiring a jersey, etc.) at this point, however.
— Robbie Neiswanger (@NWARobbie) February 6, 2014

Scotty Thurman said it would be "pretty cool" to have President Clinton back in the building to have a number retired for him. Also ...
— Robbie Neiswanger (@NWARobbie) February 6, 2014

Thurman added it would be "much more exciting" to start having "former greats to be able to have their names put in the rafters as well."
— Robbie Neiswanger (@NWARobbie) February 6, 2014

Thurman hopes it will jump start that movement. "I mean, I love the former President and all, but he never scored any baskets here."
— Robbie Neiswanger (@NWARobbie) February 6, 2014

"You Can't Get There from Here"

Welcome to those who have made it here from "McGee Doesn't Tell Recruits What They Want to Hear" written by ArkansasSports360.com's Chris Bahn. I have improved the formatting and added information here which was previously linked. In my mind, and maybe only there, the details of this post likely changed perceptions of any Bobby Petrino/John L. Smith recruiting class. Leading up to this post, Arkansas' 2010 recruiting class was roundly criticized as failing to be up to the standards to win in the SEC, much less win the SEC. However, Coach Petrino's circumstances and success at Louisville on a national level conflicted with the idea that Coach Petrino would fail to recruit players who would succeed. If Petrino succeeded, were his recruits really of poor quality? If Petrino succeeded with recruits of a poor quality, how did he do it? -- SharpTusk Originally published February 7, 2010

Needing some direction lately, we've rolled down the Hog Bus window and asked the Recruiting Fellas, "How we can get to the SEC or National Championships?"

Their replies? "You can't get there from here."

In Bobby the Builder instead of looking outward to all of the recruits who are available, I turned the viewer back to Bobby Petrino and the Razorback Team believing that the key to understanding any players that he recruits starts with understanding him. Simply, Petrino thinks empirically and in terms of mathematical efficiency in order to maximize the benefit of many coaching decisions he makes.
As applied to recruiting, the "needs" he was trying to fill were determinable and not some eye-balled guess at the direction Coach Petrino would take the team.

I re-worked the current player distribution graph when more detailed scholarship information on players and positions came my way. It's worth a look at the breakdown:

Distribution of Players by Position and Eligibility Spring 2010

[table id=52 /]

Table Not Sortable

This is a close estimate and some of it will change after players, like Neal Barlow who didn't play, actually have a year of eligibility restored. Some of it will change as players change positions. For the graph above, 4 years of eligibility represents the 2010 recruiting class.

Put aside reality for a moment and consider the "ideal distribution" (just think, "we'll even all the players and classes and positions") of players by position and by years of eligibility remaining. The chart would look something like this:

Ideal Distribution of Players by Position and Eligibility

[table id=53 /]

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Putting the actual numbers of players at a position next to the "ideal" number for everyone but kicking and punting squads, here's how they look together:

Actual v. Predicted Distributions of Players by Position

[table id=54 /]

Table Not Sortable

Players generically labeled as defensive backs (DB) might be cornerbacks or safeties as well. All-in-all, for putting together a group of 85 people, the actual is close to the ideal.

The whole reason this is important is that it's my belief that Coach Petrino would like a program that "reloads." The goal is to build a "consistent, Top 10 team." Logically, that goal won't sell out one year for another or have gaps at some position in some years. ALL the players are important every year!
As they were giving directions, the Recruiting Fellas said, "You can't win in the SEC with 2 and 3 Star players. You can't get there from here."

Let's think about this for a moment. The implications are that Petrino is being "out-recruited" by others and isn't executing a viable plan to get the Razorback Bus where we want it to go. Further, Bobby Petrino's analytical mind failed to construct a football system without redundancy or alternative means to accomplish the goal.

What other road to winning the SEC and National Championships is there?

It's developing players.

When I've suggested that, others have said,

"Petrino and staff are no better at developing players than any other SEC Coach."

"Florida and Alabama recruit have recruited much better talent than Petrino. Those schools send a lot of players to the NFL."

"We're starting off behind. Period. End of Story."

I take some consolation in the fact that these folks at least agree that a player getting drafted by an NFL team has some NFL talent.

Quick Quiz:

Including the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 NFL Drafts, which team had the most players drafted --
Arkansas
Florida
Alabama
Louisville
Tennessee
Mississippi

The answer is Louisville with 21 NFL players drafted.

Over that time period, SEC schools had the following numbers of players taken in the NFL Draft.

Arkansas -- 14
Florida -- 19
Alabama -- 15
Tennessee -- 18
Mississippi -- 11

Let's look at the Louisville players drafted by the NFL.

I've included the "pick number" used to take the player in the NFL draft, the player's name, playing position, school, draft round, year began at Louisville, Rivals Stars and Rivals link.

Now we can compare the fact that the player was drafted by the NFL to an estimate of the player's ability at the beginning of his college career.

[table id=58 /]

Sort as You Like

Of 11 player rankings I could readily find (information before 2002 isn't available), NINE of the NFL Draftees were 2 or 3 Star players when signed by Louisville.

* 0
** 5
*** 4
**** 2
***** 0
unk. 10

If you noticed that some of the players were from 2002 and before, Petrino didn't recruit them. Arkansas Coach John L. Smith did!

BY COMPARISON PETRINO AND SMITH WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PUTTING MORE PLAYERS IN THE NFL THAN A FLORIDA TEAM WHICH WON BOTH THE 2006 AND 2008 BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.

If you're inclined to think that Petrino is just as good at "coaching up" players just as well as anyone else, you might change your mind.

Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators' program certainly HASN'T COACHED UP PLAYERS.

Through these five drafts, he's had no 2-star players and only 3 3-Star players drafted. The rest were 4 or 5 star players. I couldn't find a rating for one Florida player using gatorbait.net.

[table id=59 /]

Sort as You Like.

In the Recruiting Classes leading up to these classes, I counted around 11 or so 5 star recruits. Florida has had only a handful of 2 Star recruits. I counted more than 40 3 Star recruits from the classes leading up to these Drafts. They had even more 4 Star recruits than 3.

Few "average" Florida players made it to the NFL while Petrino and Company's "average players" were going to the NFL in greater numbers than Florida's "star players."

There are TWO ways to get there from here.

DON'T WORRY, PETRINO AND COMPANY KNOW THE WAY!



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NFL Draft Information for Selected SEC Schools from 2005-2009
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Source: NFL.com

Have A Jimmy Sexton Christmas!

Originally Published November 26, 2012 it remains as it was then.  Who the hell knows who's choosing the next Razorback Coach now other than Mad Money - some who need to prove they have more sense than money??  Add Gus Malzahn and Jimbo Fisher to Sexton's client list at the end and many others could be added as well. 

While we're waiting on Jeff Long  to announce the new Coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks and in the midst of other SEC coaching changes at Tennessee, Auburn, and Kentucky, we might as well have some seasonal fun with this little ditty to the tune of Burl Ives' Holly Jolly Christmas...Sharp 

Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
It's his best time of the year
Well I don't know, where my coach will go
But have a keg of beer

Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
And when you talk ‘round the street
Say “Hell No” to his client, you know
Or your money you won’t keep

Oh no his Christmas toe
Stuck where you can’t see
Big buyout waits for you
Kiss it bye for me

Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
And in case you didn't fear
Oh, bygolly
Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
This year

Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
And when you talk ‘round the street
Say “Hell No” to his client, you know
Or your money you won’t keep

Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
And in case you didn't fear
Oh, bygolly
Have a Jimmy Sexton Christmas
This year

For those who don't know, Jimmy Sexton is a Memphis-based sports agent whose clients at different times have included Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Tommy Tuberville, Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, Houston Nutt, Philip Rivers and John Parker Wilson, Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson.