Delay on defensive coordinator adds to intrigue

Arkansas has terminated the contracts of all the previous coaching staff except one — Barry Lunney, Jr.

That makes sense. It’s also what most new coaches do, replacing the entire staff, but keeping one holdover for some sort of continuity.

It also might be a good guess that Chad Morris has met Barry Lunney, Sr., at some point. He did spend time in Arkansas meeting with Gus Malzahn and the name probably popped up along the way.

Keeping Lunney, who is the key recruiter in the state and also has as good of a track record as anyone in developing tight ends, is probably a smart play.

Monday, reports began surfacing that Morris’ assistant head coach and running backs coach Jeff Traylor would be coming to Arkansas after the Mustangs quickly moved to hire Sonny Dykes to replace Morris.

Source: New SMU head coach Sonny Dykes will coach the Frisco Bowl as associate head coach Jeff Traylor will be leaving to take a position under Chad Morris at Arkansas

— Adam Grosbard (@AdamGrosbard) December 12, 2017

And, of course, that came during a separate report that had Traylor in the mix to go to Missouri as offensive coordinator.

SMU interim Jeff Traylor could end up back with Chad Morris at Arkansas, but I’m told he also has significant traction with Missouri as OC. https://t.co/8p4tvvZkfN

— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) December 11, 2017

With the head coaching situations starting to be a little more resolved, now the assistant coach carousel starts spinning.

But the biggest question most Razorback fans has is who will be the defensive coordinator?

Could it be Brent Venables of Clemson in some sort of associate type position? That probably is a little far-fetched. It might be one of the other members of Clemson’s staff, however.

Or could Morris be talking to former Texas A&M, LSU and Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis?

Earlier today our friend Trey Schaap from The Buzz in Little Rock had a rather cryptic tweet:

There will be a new “Chief” in the state soon.

— Trey Schaap (@trey1037TheBuzz) December 11, 2017

Now that doesn’t exactly mean Chavis, but it could.

One thing that is interesting through all of this is how locked-down the hunt seems to be on the defensive coaches.

There aren’t the usual bevy of “sources” leaking anything about this, it seems.

But if it is Chavis, what’s the delay in announcing it?

It’s not like he’s tied up with anything else too pressing right now.