ARKANSAS FOOTBALL

Herbert a Hog; 3 land elsewhere

Paul Haynes, pictured in this October practice in Fayetteville, was named head coach at Kent State on Tuesday.
Paul Haynes, pictured in this October practice in Fayetteville, was named head coach at Kent State on Tuesday.

— Three former Arkansas football assistants landed at different colleges around the country Tuesday, and Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema announced the addition of Ben Herbert as his strength and conditioning coach.

Herbert is a former Wisconsin player who worked the past 11 seasons on the strength and conditioning staff for the Badgers, the past four as the head strength and conditioning coach.

“Ben Herbert has transformed countless studentathletes, and his system has become known by those on the next level for producing individuals with toughness and an incredible work ethic,” Bielema said in a university news release. “He has a strong background in what we want out of our strength and conditioning program, and he has shown a great ability to produce results with energy and passion.

“He is focused on details and consistency and is always thinking outside the box to come up with new, improved ways to make our studentathletes better.”

Herbert takes the place of Jason Veltkamp, the fiveyear veteran who on Tuesday was named as Coach Dave Doeren’s head strength and conditioning coach at North Carolina State.

Herbert is a native of Pittsburgh and started two seasons on the defensive line at Wisconsin and played on two Rose Bowl-winning teams. He is the fifth member of Bielema’s Wisconsin staff to follow him to Arkansas. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash, defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, director of football operations Mark Taurisani and on-campus recruiting coordinator Chris Hauser have all agreed to make the move from Madison, Wis.

Former Arkansas defensive coordinator Paul Haynes was introduced Tuesday as the head coach at Kent State, his alma mater. Also former Razorbacks receivers coach Kris Cinkovich agreed to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Idaho under Paul Petrino, Arkansas’ former offensive coordinator who was named Idaho’s coach earlier this month.

“This has been a whirlwind, and I can’t begin to describe my excitement about the opportunity to come back to Kent State as a head coach,” Haynes said during his introductory news conference. “Being a former player and assistant coach here, and now coming back at a time where there is so much pride around the football program and the university, it is unbelievable.”

The Golden Flashes are 11-2 this season after losing the Mid-American Conference championship game to Northern Illinois and will face Arkansas State in the GoDaddy. com Bowl on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala. Darrell Hazell, who led Kent State to its first bowl game in 40 years, is scheduled to coach in the bowl.

Cinkovich interviewed on the Idaho campus last weekend with Petrino and jumped at the opportunity to take his first coordinator’s role on the college level.

“It’s going to be a good deal,” said Cinkovich, who had been at Arkansas since 2010 and helped develop record-breaking receivers Cobi Hamilton, Jarius Wright, Joe Adams and Greg Childs. “The big thing about Paul Petrino is he’s a winner. He’s been successful everywhere he’s been.

“I was out there last weekend and their facilities are in better shape than I anticipated and their roster is in good shape. They lost a lot of close games last year.”

A native of western Washington, Cinkovich played two years on the offensive line at Carroll College under Bob Petrino Sr., graduating from the school in Helena, Mont., in 1984. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas’ former coach, was a graduate assistant at Carroll in 1983 during Cinkovich’s junior year, and the two were reunited on the Razorbacks staff in 2010.

Cinkovich spent nine years as the head coach at Las Vegas High School before rejoining the college ranks as receivers coach at UNLV in 2004, working six more years in Las Vegas before coming to Fayetteville.

“We’ve loved it at Arkansas,” Cinkovich said, referring to his wife, Joanie, and family. “My time at the university was awesome. My memories will be all the exciting moments we were a part of, all the big games and the bowl games we played in, and the fans of the Razorback nation were awesome.”

Cinkovich’s hiring will apparently fill out Petrino’s first Idaho staff. Former Arkansas director of high school relations Jason Shumacher joined the staff as running backs coach as one of Petrino’s eight previous hires of on-field staff at the school in Moscow, Idaho.

The Vandals finished 1-11 in 2012 and Coach Robb Akey was fired late in the season. Idaho plays Arkansas State next season on Oct. 12 in Jonesboro.

Doeren, who led Northern Illinois to the MAC championship and a 12-1 record before being named North Carolina State’s coach, announced the hiring of Veltkamp on Tuesday.

“He coached in the SEC at Arkansas and he worked at Utah with Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham on championship teams in the Mountain West,” Doeren said in a university news release. “He helped build Louisville into a Big East championship squad and guide Arkansas to a topfive ranking.

“Not only has he built championship ball clubs, but he’s prepared his players to succeed at the NFL level.”

Sports, Pages 22 on 12/19/2012

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