LIKE IT IS

Crowe good guy caught in tough situation

— Jack Crowe is a nice guy. A good person. Always has been.

When he was pulled off the plane headed to Clemson with Ken Hatfield and his staff by Frank Broyles and told he was the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, probably no one was more surprised than he was.

Crowe, a bright offensive coordinator, had not been a head coach on the highest level of college football so he didn’t meet Broyles’ No. 1 criteria, but when you get a chance to coach at Arkansas you wave bye-bye to the plane as it leaves for South Carolina.

At that time, Crowe had no idea what he was getting himself into.

The Arkansas Razorbacks were about to become the most hated team in the Southwest Conference. After his first season, the Razorbacks accepted an invitation to join the SEC, and everyone knew the demise of the once powerful SWC was imminent.

As far as all those Texans were concerned, it was all Arkansas’ fault.

Even with veteran quarterback Quinn Grovey, the Hogs struggled to a 3-8 record in Crowe’s first year, beating only SMU in league play.

Then Broyles announced the Razorbacks were moving on, and the target on the backs of the Razorbacks was huge as they made their final trip through Texas before trading Mexican food for barbecue.

Still, with great senior leadership from Mark Henry and Kirk Collins, the Razorbacks beat Texas in Little Rock to get their record to 5-2.

They lost the next two, the second to Texas Tech in Lubbock, and with a dry west Texas wind whipping around, Crowe turned to a sportswriter and said he needed to shake up the offense.

Quarterback Gary “Peanut” Adams was a good athlete but an average thrower, so the suggestion was made: Why not go to the option for the game with Texas A&M?

The next day, Crowe announced he was closing practice, something unheard of back then, and he installed the Wishbone.

The Razorbacks were defeated 13-3 in College Station, and it turned out one of Crowe’s student trainers had let the change slip to a trainer at Texas A&M, and the Aggies were prepared.

The Razorbacks finished the regular season with a victory over Rice and went to the Independence Bowl, where they lost to Georgia.

The victory over Texas got Crowe a new five-year contract that wasn’t signed until about three weeks before the season opener with Division I-AA The Citadel, which beat the Hogs in a horribly boring game 10-3.

The next day, Crowe was called to a meeting with a senior athletic director — not Broyles, who never took it personally when he had to fire or run someone off — and Crowe was told he was no longer the head coach.

Crowe left, but not until after some litigation that paid off all five years of his contract.

Crowe was hurt. He was knocked down, but he didn’t stay that way.

He became an assistant coach for five years and then went to work for Warren Stephens’ financial services. Crowe had wisely invested his buyout money with Stephens and didn’t have to work, but after five years of being out of football, the calling was still there.

That’s when he accepted the head coaching job at tiny Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala., for a salary of less than what he made 20 years ago at Arkansas.

Crowe didn’t have to take this game with Arkansas, but he did it for a program that needs money.

Jack Crowe has always been a good guy.

Sports, Pages 21 on 08/31/2012

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