With Long out, search for new coach may be speeding up

Jeff Long’s firing Wednesday had been rumored for a couple of weeks so it really wasn’t that surprising.

For a lot of fans, it’s confusing. They are just looking at part of the picture and, to be honest, none of us know the entire story … yet.

But you just have to use a little common sense when you see that the UA is going to honor his contract, which runs through 2022 at about $1 million a year plus some change.

You don’t pay someone that kind of money to NOT be the athletic director over football wins. There has to be something deeper, more serious, at play here. Exactly what that is likely won’t be known for awhile.

It’s not the main thing right now. What IS going to be entertaining is the search for a new one. Hey, it’s really the first one at Arkansas where so little is known about the direction or even exactly how the process works.

Long was hired by John White, who set the UA athletics back 10 years with his decisions. Don’t forget, he was the one who called Frank Broyles about Nolan Richardson’s comments in Kentucky, not the other way around.

The only thing we’re pretty certain of is the next athletic director will be somebody from the state of Arkansas with an understanding of dealing with a complex fan base from all four corners.

Don’t worry about the coach. We wouldn’t be surprised to hear there’s been a group working on that for a few weeks now. Yes, Bret Bielema has been an interim for awhile now.

The incoming athletic director won’t be hiring the new football coach.

Whether you or I think that’s right or wrong is not relevant. That decision is being made in other places.

And the process is underway as we talk.

Three names keep surfacing:

• Gus Malzahn, Auburn: The choice of a lot of Razorback fans for the popular former high school coach in the state who made his reputation as an offensive genius. He has turned into more of a CEO-type coach at Auburn as he has changed in his five years on The Plains.

• Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M: A lot of discussion in some circles for the Aggies coach, who is likely to be fired at the end of the season. For whatever reason, his teams have tailed off at the end of every season, but apparently his offensive prowess and recruiting ability have drawn the interest of some in the search.

• Mike Norvell, Memphis: Behind Malzahn, his is the name being thrown out most often by Hog fans. He’s a hot topic of discussion lately at a lot of the openings in the SEC, which seem to be growing daily. He’s a native of Texas, played at Central Arkansas and is, for lack of a better term, a Malzahn starter kit.

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There will be others, but Arkansas first needs to fire Bielema, who is still merely going about his business as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. Some would considering what he’s going to be paid to NOT be the coach of the Razorbacks he doesn’t.

Lots of people question why Malzahn would leave Auburn for what they perceive to be a worse job at Arkansas, especially considering he has the Tigers poised to be in the College Football Playoff discussion if they beat Alabama in about 10 days or so.

Well, there is precedent for coaches leaving successful programs and coming home:

• Bear Bryant did it in 1957, leaving a Texas A&M program at the top of the college football world for Alabama that was wallowing around with a couple of wins a year.

• Steve Spurrier did it in 1989 leaving Duke after winning an ACC championship for Florida, that was in NCAA jail and really had never done anything to amount to much in college football other than have a lot of potential.

• Johnny Majors walked away from a national championship program at Pittsburgh in 1976 to take over a Tennessee program that was stuck in mediocrity.

Would Malzahn be interested in doing the same thing? We’re hearing he’s going to have to say no and if he does, then Sumlin is going to get a chance to say no.

But these are the names we’re hearing … at least the last couple of days.

It’s almost certain to change.