A large group of frustrated fans remain very glad you chose to come to Arkansas where at some point you can hopefully lift our long-suffering football program to new heights.
It seems like a decade since Bret Bielema left Wisconsin and arrived to confidently proclaim he’d come not to play Alabama but to beat Alabama, and not to play in the vaunted SEC West but to win it.
Imagine the excitement statewide to hear such bravado from a big-time coach with a winning record following our fans’ earlier disappointments. Thousands returned to the stadium, hoping to see the new coach fulfill his pledge.
Bielema proceeded in five years to amass lackluster seasonal records of 3-9 (0-8 SEC), 7-6 (2-6 SEC), 8-5 (5-3-SEC ), 7-6 (3-5 SEC), and 4-8 (1-7 SEC). That amounted to 29 wins and 34 losses, and a dismal SEC record of only 11 victories against 29 defeats.
Two years before Bielema brought his preference for recruiting enormous but relatively slow (compared to SEC speed) players, Coach Bobby Petrino, with an excellent offensive mind (not so much on motorcycles) in four years had justifiably lifted the fan base hopes sky-high.
In the season Petrino self-destructed, the Hogs were ranked fifth nationally and were hoping to build on a steadily improving four-year record of 34-17.
The Razorback football program plummeted in short order from exploring the uppermost ranks of college football to becoming the doormat of the powerful SEC West.
I’ll not even go into the inexplicable meltdowns, missing intestinal fortitude and overall lack of basic blocking and tackling fundamentals that culminated in the Razorback’s likely worst-ever 2-10 season, at both Mississippi State and Missouri.
I certainly don’t write today to criticize or humiliate you. I feel certain you’ve administered more of that on yourself than anyone else possibly could.
Many out here are hoping (perhaps even praying) your aggressive recruiting of speed, courage and ability pays off in coming seasons. It’s beyond obvious the only way out of this dark abyss is through recruiting determined young men committed to playing four full quarters with team unity and committing every ounce of all they can muster.
My football-savvy friends also see the nightmare you’ve endured this year and realize (as you well know) that without an “A-grade,” dual-threat quarterback and a reliable offensive line that can open holes and protect him at the same time (no patty-cake, patty-cake, OK-you-can-go-past-me-now blocking), defensive players who understand how to shoulder tackle to the ground, a cat-quick secondary that turns to actually see the oncoming ball, and equally quick cornerbacks who can effectively seal the edges, things aren’t likely to change anytime soon, perhaps ever.
Please know that as deeply disappointed as you are with this season, most fans remain solidly behind you and all you are trying so hard to achieve here. The state wants you (and hopefully capable assistant coaches you choose) to succeed beyond even your expectations. Welcome again, Coach Chad Morris, to your new home and to the rugged, hyper-fast and unforgiving SEC West.
Worthy of honor
If there ever lived a populist doctor who made house calls, helped everyone around him in need and never met a stranger, it would have to be the venerable Dr. Tom Whiting of Huntsville.
I wrote a few years back about the good doctor’s return to the Huntsville area with wife Martha after retiring in 2001 from a family practice that included being the team doctor for Springdale Public Schools’ athletic programs.
The 81-year-old family physician, born in Gillett, quickly found the retirement thing wasn’t for him, so he re-established a shuttered (yet badly needed) medical clinic in Huntsville that is flourishing 17 years later.
He still schedules Mondays in the office and spends a lot of hours weekly outside its doors assisting the people of Madison County and beyond with their medical concerns.
Besides that, he’s become the, well, I suppose you’d call him the groundskeeper for the clinic, since he’s the one who oversees everything from repairing a broken X-ray machine to making sure the asphalt gets layered on the parking lot.
In other words, Dr. Tom (as I call him) is one of those people who has and will continue to give of himself until his last full measure of devotion is expended.
That’s one reason the University of Arkansas at Monticello, a place fond to his heart, awarded him its Distinguished Alumnus Award the other day. It was presented for his lifetime of achievement and merit.
“Just what I distinguished I do not know,” he said with an unassuming smile. Dr. Tom and various members of his extended family all attended the university at Monticello. “It’s always been like a home to me, my family and friends,” he said.
He attended the school between 1955 and ’58 before trying an unfulfilling year of agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Then he returned to Monticello for pre-med studies in 1959-’60. Then it was on to UAMS to earn his M.D. before interning in Wichita, Kan., and a two-year family practice residency. He established his family practice in Springdale in 1967.
Today, between his cattle ranch atop a mountain in the Ozarks and his part-time practice, he and Martha have found peace and fulfillment as he continues the work he was born to do while distinguishing himself for so many contributions to others’ lives.
So it was no surprise to me to hear the university at Monticello recognized Dr. Tom for those qualities. It’s good we still have such good and caring people in this world, and I always enjoy recognizing the many positive contributions for their enduring sense of caring.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].