LITTLE ROCK — John L. Smith had nowhere to go after he called the Arkansas Razorbacks Alabama’s team.
He did that early in his opening remarks to a crowd of more than 350 at the Little Rock Touchdown Club luncheon Monday.
There were several groans and moans from the crowd.
Honestly, it was just a slip of the tongue.
Yes, it was a terrible mistake coming after his team’s third consecutive loss, but John L. has a lot more to be stressed about than just football right now.
His brother died last week. The week before, it became public that his bankruptcy is to the tune of $25 million, and three consecutive losses mean when interim is removed from his name he won’t be coaching Arkansas anymore, and he has to know that.
So if he was a little distracted, so be it.
It may have become obvious that whatever it is the Razorbacks needed as an interim head coach, it is not John L.
However, he is still a nice person. A good man. A great husband.
It is just that every explanation that comes out of his mouth seems to be a verbal group hug.
No doubt, he is a positive guy. He sees the glass half-full and eight winnable games on the schedule, nine if you count the bowl.
That’s just him. He’s upbeat and positive no matter what.
Plus, he never considered canceling his talk in Little Rock. It already had been rescheduled from the Monday after Alabama to this Monday, and he was not going to ask someone else to face the heat.
When asked about game plan for Texas A&M, he instantly boomed, “Win.”
John L. met with the media for almost 15 minutes before the lunch and then threw the luncheon open to questions for more than 20.
He didn’t run. He didn’t hide.
He didn’t always make sense, but he was there doing his best.
His promises - too many times he said them - are accountability from the players and staff, consistency, and go to work every day and improve.
Wearing a suit and tie and no hat, the guy owned up. He took responsibility for where this team is.
Yes, he tried too hard to be funny, but he does that too often and everyone knows it now so that should have been expected, like when asked whether the fans’ expectations were too high going into the season.
“Your expectations were too high?” he said, deliberately making it sound like he was just repeating the question, but the crowd got it. Of course, he’s the one who said his goal was to win the national championship.
He even said Monday it still is, but he admitted it isn’t looking good right now.
Maybe John L. doesn’t deserve a pass for changing the deep snapper in the Alabama game, or for Dennis Johnson not getting enough touches last week when he averaged more than 7 yards a carry. (Johnson has had some fumbles in the past, but usually on the third or fourth effort to get yards).
Maybe John L. is just doing what he was hired to do, keep the coaching staff intact and the players happy.
He told the media he is letting the coordinators do their jobs, and it sounded like he meant without much interference from him.
He did say he loves these kids, and that he loves Arkansas, and that Arkansas has the most passionate fans in the country and he loves that about them.
He also said some things in sentence fragments, and his answers weren’t always as crisp and clear as we would have liked.
And yes, he said the Razorbacks belong to the state of Alabama, something he apologized for.
It was a slip, that’s all, and the man has had enough of them lately, including the disappointment of this season, to be excused for a verbal slip.
Sports, Pages 15 on 09/25/2012