Jeff Long probably welcomes his responsibilities with the College Football Playoff committee each week this month.
It gets him out of Arkansas.
Tuesday someone told me Long was the modern-day equivalent of Nero, who is often accused of fiddling while Rome burned back in July of 65 A.D.
While there is no known evidence that Long even knows HOW to fiddle, Nero didn’t do that. For starters, the fiddle wasn’t even invented until the 11th century when the class of musical instruments known as the viol was invented. At least that’s what musical experts believe.
Then there is the fact Nero wasn’t even in Rome during the Great Fire. He was at his villa in Antium, roughly 35 miles from Rome, although he hustled back to blame some Christians for the fire, then executing them.
History does show that Nero was an ineffectual leader in time of crisis.
But the comparison with Long is something many Arkansas fans are thinking right now.
Over Long’s tenure as athletics director it’s appeared his style of leadership is to wait until the bandwagon gets rolling … then throws himself under it.
Many fans like to give him credit for a variety of things that really were going to happen whether he was here or not. Some of the other great things he gets credit for are really smoke and mirrors, some fans believe.
Right now, though, with a football program that has careened off course over the past 12 months, the fan base is looking for someone to take a leadership role and do something.
Instead, Bret Bielema continues to sound more and more like a guy who started off nearly five years ago with a great plan that has never really come together. With almost every press conference he sounds more lost and confused than the last one.
Don’t tell me about that little stretch in 2015 when they finished the season on a hot streak against some unmotivated opposition to reach a staggering 7-5 season, then won in the Liberty Bowl against an overmatched Kansas State team.
That was the high point of Bielema’s run.
Yet, some (mostly Bielema himself) like to point out how close those teams were to something much, much greater.
What nobody points out is they were just as close to total disaster during that time so it all kinda balances itself out, doesn’t it.
As Bill Parcells said about football teams one time, you are what you are.
What Arkansas football has become under Bret Bielema is something very, very average in the best of times.
That is #uncommon for Razorback football, so at least Long got that marketing slogan accurate for football, although it wasn’t the original intent.
In his decade of running things in Arkansas athletics, Long’s leadership has led to one football coach that ran wild for four years with no adult supervision, another one that spent a year auditioning to do standup comedy and hiring a coach with zero experience rebuilding a program or coaching anywhere in the South.
While some will argue there’s more to an athletic department than football which is technically accurate, but literally flat-out wrong.
An entire university in the SEC is defined by the football program (with the notable exceptions of Kentucky, which has basketball, and Vanderbilt, which is on a different academic level than everybody else).
That’s right … the football program is THE most valuable tool for the ENTIRE university.
At Arkansas, some feel it’s been without leadership for about, oh, roughly 10 years or so. The record has gone consistently downhill and is now in the worst shape it’s been since World War II.
Yes, that’s how bad it’s become.
And the person responsible for the leadership is, well, off trying to decide which four teams will play for the national championship.
Normally, that would be a plus.
Instead, many see it as a lack of leadership from the director of athletics at the largest and most high profile business entity in the state.
The general view among a growing number of fans is the leader is fiddling while Razorback football burns to the ground.
It’s Jeff Long’s move, unless those above him make it for him.
Remember, he’s quick to point out that he merely makes recommendations on anything negative, but the final decision is up to the chancellor, president and Board of Trustees. He’s said that about playing games in Little Rock and other matters.
It could be interesting to see what decisions they would make if they decide to suddenly actually become leaders.
