Hunter Yurachek may be close to reaching the stage of begging forgiveness from Arkansas fans.
That may not be what he was thinking when he did an interview with On3’s Brett McMurphy that people have been talking about. You wonder if it’s kicking off an apology tour that will be called explaining to fans what’s going on with the program.
Without some transparency, though, no one can verify that what he’s saying is true. Or even get any sort of idea exactly what he’s talking about.
Yurachek appears at times to be the most tone-deaf person running a huge state program that I’ve seen. That time span goes back to the early 1960s and a variety of politicians who at times have looked like the biggest circus in the world.
Some of us old folks were ruined because John Barnhill and Frank Broyles probably weren’t perfect, but you couldn’t say they were tone-deaf. You talked to them for 60 seconds, didn’t say three words, and they’d remember your name for decades.
There are people with a lot of money whose names Yurachek couldn’t remember for a week. I know that’s happened because they told me about it and asked me what was up with that. I didn’t have an answer.
All of this has been the hottest topic of talk among fans for a month. He keeps talking about a plan, but nobody knows what it is.
The people he needs are in Arkansas
He’s sitting less than a half-hour drive from some of the top businesspeople in the world and apparently hasn’t even had a conversation with them about it. They have dealt with much bigger budgets and problems than the Razorbacks.
Now he goes on a national platform, and the people he needs on his side are located in Arkansas. Despite what a lot of the folks in media relations seem to think, there are a ton of people who give more credibility to state media folks. Talk about not reading some obvious signs.
Somebody in this state may be on Yurachek’s side. I haven’t heard of anybody, even though the fans are willing to give Silverfield another year.
That’s not surprising when the highest-profile Hogs program in the state is 14-53 in SEC games during the time he’s been here.
You don’t find people expecting the Razorbacks to be in the running to go to Atlanta for the championship game every year, but they have been there three times. Wanting to at least threaten every few years isn’t too much to ask, is it?
The last two athletic directors haven’t seen the football team go there once.
It’s a problem. Winning in basketball and baseball is nice, but neither one of those carries the weight of a successful football program. Even hardcore fans of those sports will admit it.
Straight talk built this department
He might be surprised if he were just straight up with the fans. Arkansas folks are usually willing to work with anybody who shoots straight with them. Broyles knew it and built the whole athletic department on that.
I’ve been told by people who have been there when Yurachek meets with some of these high-roller donors that he seems more interested in not hurting their feelings than in flat-out telling them what’s going on.
Maybe the worst thing, though, is that it’s hard to find fans or even big donors who will privately say they respect him.
And that may ultimately be Hunter’s biggest problem. He’s lost respect because of the job he’s done.
It’s too late to just say he wants to open up the athletic department more, especially in football. He needs to tell fans what’s going on behind the scenes. In other words, sell it to the fans.
The bottom line is there will be questions. Getting some national news outlet to relay his message ain’t going to work.
