current connections #2 John L. Smith and the Razorbacks

It all began with a guy and a girl and their relationship. One of these individuals was the Head Coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, his name was Bobby Patrino.  A Coach that had a job as the Atlanta Falcons head coach went to the Arkansas Razorbacks to improve the program. And to him, the assistants, and the fans of the Razorbacks he did just that with ten wins last year the Hogs were hoping to improve to the National Championship team that Hog nation despotically wanted.  Then that is when the relationship between Bobby and a young lady got involved   Bobby Patrino had had sexual relations with that young lady.  At first he lied about the accusations but then he came clean and that is when the NCAA and UofA said get out.  Which left the Razorbacks without a head coach that they could look up to and to teach them.  After about a month or so Hog nation got their answer for a new head coach his name was John L. Smith.  Everyone including me thought this would make us just as good if not better with him stepping up as the Razorbacks' head coach, but then the truth set in.  After losing three straight games to UofLM, Alabama, and Texas A&M Hog fans were furious.  Most fans were asking if Smith would be fired and when if he was, but Long, athletic director for UofA, confirmed to the fans that he was backing Smith and was going to let him run things until the end of the year.  His exact words were, "I am sticking with Smith until the end of his contract".  Hog fans were not happy about this decision and I was not happy with it in the slit-est.

     John L. Smith is one of the worst punishment coaches there is, in my opinion.  When players come off the field Smith tries to act like a coach but the players have so little respect for him they just walk right past without even a glance.  If you go and read more articles about how the players think of Smith more than half say they like him a lot more then they did Bobby, but is that because Bobby was a coach before a friend or is it because Smith lacks that drive to push his kids to their ability like Patrino did when he was there.  As a fan of the Razorbacks I do not think they are in the condition they use to be in and they also look like they lost some pride and without pride a football team can not survive, especially in the South Eastern Conference (SEC).  I believe that Smith is trying to hard to be a friend and not enough on being a coach.  He is more like an image then an actual coach. I mean when I would watch Bobby on the sidelines it did not matter if it was an important game, an easy game, if they were up by 25, or down by 25 he was always in their faces trying to make them a better football team.  And now when I watch a Hog game it is like Smith just babies them.  I have not seen one occasion when Smith got in someones face and just screamed and telling them what they did wrong.  And trust me this team has to be doing something wrong to be losing by the massive amounts every game.  I play football myself and if I did something wrong I knew that when I got to the sidelines I would not be babied.  I would be sat down and told why or why didn't I do something.  As far as respect if one of my coaches told me to do something I would go do it after saying "Yes Sir".  The worst part about having to watch this as a fan is that it looks like our Hogs have given up on the season already.  I can see it when they walk out of the tonal and I can see it how they play.  That kind of attitude does not come from the players themselves it starts out with the coaches attitude towards his players and team. 

        John L. Smith is a coach that seemed like he knew what he was doing at the beginning but then we saw his true color in the way he handles adversity   In my opinion, as a Arkansas Razorback fan, is that we should get a new coach that has that special "WANT" to win.  A coach can not just kinda want to win they have to know they will win no matter what.  As a guy that has grown up watching and supporting the hogs through good times and bad, I have to say that this year has by far been the hardest on me to stay fateful to my Razorbacks.  As the call for them Hog gets smaller will the Hogs do anything to keep that spirit of Razorback football high. 

http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-football/2012/09/26/john-l-smith-gets-backing-of-arkansas-razorbacks-athletic-director-jeff-long/