FAYETTEVILLE -- By tonight's end, a portion of the fan base in either Arkansas or Tennessee will be ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The football misery was supposed to end this season for the Arkansas Razorbacks and Tennessee Volunteers according to giddy preseason projections based off the way the teams finished 2014, when both were 7-6.
It hasn't, with the Razorbacks 1-3 overall and 0-1 in SEC play and the Vols 2-2, 0-1 heading into tonight's game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
The gloomy path will surely get gloomier for tonight’s loser. The Razorbacks (1-3, 0-1 SEC) and the Vols (2-2, 0-1) kick at 6 Central tonight at Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
The gloomy path will only get gloomier for tonight’s loser, with many fans likely calling for the head of their wealthy coach.
For their rosy 2014 finishes, Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema was rewarded with raises to a package now worth $4 million while Tennessee's Butch Jones was raised to beyond $3 million.
Given the ridiculous salaries that colleges bestow on head football coaches, the investments seemed in line for both coaches after their programs showed certifiable improvement over the shambles each inherited.
Arkansas won three of its last four last season, which included two SEC shutouts and a bowl victory, while Tennessee won four of its final five games, including a bowl victory.
That led some pundits to peg both a dark horse SEC contenders going into this season.
Of course, little turns a hero into a goat faster than great expectations that go unfulfilled.
Tennessee fans fume that their Vols lost 13- and 14-point leads in the fourth quarter in losses to Oklahoma and Florida. Razorbacks fans see red that their Hogs lost to underdogs Toledo and Texas Tech, then lost a fourth-quarter lead against Texas A&M before eventually losing their SEC opener in overtime.
However, before tonight's losing fans start clamoring for a coaching change -- a change that would cost millions because of either coach's contract buyout -- perhaps they should be careful for what they clamor.
The slides for Arkansas and Tennessee commenced after fans got their wish and the schools ousted longtime coaches Houston Nutt (Arkansas) and Phil Fulmer (Tennessee).
In 2009 both programs hired coaches, Bobby Petrino at Arkansas and Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, of unquestioned offensive prowess but questionable character. Both paid the price.
Kiffin bolted Tennessee after one year for Southern California. Petrino had a sterling record on the field but was caught up in a scandal off it and was fired in April 2012.
Since then, Tennessee went through three losing seasons before firing Derek Dooley, had one-game interim coach, and in 2013 hired Jones away from Cincinnati. He went 5-7 his first year.
Arkansas went 4-8 under interim coach John L. Smith before hiring Bielema, who went 3-9 in 2013 after coming off three Big Ten titles in seven years at Wisconsin.
Bielema and Jones proved last season that patience and planning pay off, but their struggles in September set both back.
Nevertheless, that fact that Arkansas changed coaches and offenses like socks from 1990-97 with only one winning season and Tennessee did the same from 2009-2014 ought to make all ponder the risks of changing just for change's sake.
Sports on 10/03/2015