Does Yurachek have ‘ace in hole’ if reports correct Kiffin picks Rebels?

The news broke Friday night that Lane Kiffin may not make it to Fayetteville after all because he reportedly is close to finalizing a deal with Ole Miss.

Multiple sources telling me tonight Lane Kiffin to Ole Miss is as close to a done deal without being official as is possible. At this point, I expect an announcement Sunday.

— Neal McCready (@NealMcCready) December 7, 2019

Now what direction does Hunter Yurachek go and does he have an “ace in the hole” like he did with Eric Musselman in the basketball search?

Kiffin has been the hot target for the Arkansas search. Yurachek and Jon Fagg have met with him at least once. Both have probably talked to him several times on the phone.

It’s really been the only name that’s seriously been floated about for the past week. Memphis coach Mike Norvell kinda disappeared, but now the question has come up if Florida State can afford him.

Yikes, FSU president John Thrasher has urged donors to up their giving to a “one-time 20% increase” to fund the coaching search.

— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) December 6, 2019

Former Arkansas athletics director John Barnhill always did a masterful job of getting everybody looking one way while he went to what he called his “ace in the hole.”

That’s how Frank Broyles got hired. He wasn’t the popular choice initially. Everybody was focused on Minnesota coach Murray Warmath, who turned Barnhill down.

He knew all along it was probably going to be Broyles. When Yurachek landed Musselman that was my first comparison because, remember, it was supposed to be Kelvin Sampson.

Yurachek may have known all this going in, but he wasn’t saying anything. Fans had to at least think he tried to land what they perceive to be a bigger name than interim coach Barry Lunney, Jr., or Appalachian State coach Eliah Drinkwitz.

We heard Wednesday that Kiffin was out. Then we were told he was back in. Then we heard Lunney was in the mix.

It’s almost enough to ask if Arkansas is trying make the best hire or the biggest name.

There are positives and negatives with every name on the wishlist and the coaches that have been interviewed for the Arkansas opening.

Matt Campbell and Mike Leach apparently weren’t that interested. Both have extensions and raises (although Leach’s has been reported as a standard roll-over he was going to get anyway).

Lunney was a Razorback quarterback and if you’re reading this you probably know his history. He stepped in when Chad Morris was fired November 10. The team responded and played harder.

Quite frankly he appeared more capable of handling an SEC team than Morris ever did.

Drinkwitz has shown he can come in and win 11 games with somebody else’s players. He won two more games against Power 5 teams than Morris did in two years.

He has taken Appalachian State to an 11-1 record in his first season, beating North Carolina and South Carolina on the road.

Let that sink in for a second. He took somebody else’s players and beat a bowl team in the Tar Heels and an SEC team on the road. Now that was an 11-2 team, but he knew enough to not mess it up.

Drinkwitz, who went to Arkansas Tech and had coaching stops at Alma, Springdale and Arkansas State, has shown he can coach teams to win games. The past eight years for Hog fans should show them that does, indeed, matter.

More importantly, he’s done it with somebody else’s players. Several current and former coaches have told me that’s a big indicator.

As usual, though, nothing is perfect in these things.

Just because a coach has had success at another school means he will duplicate that at Arkansas. It’s a unique situation in Fayetteville.

At some other schools, it’s about recruiting, recruiting and more recruiting. You develop them a little and try not to over-coach the whole thing.

For the Hogs, it’s about evaluating players who are a good fit, developing them to play the way a coach wants and motivating them to play even above that level for a dozen Saturdays in the fall.

Arkansas has never — and likely will never — consistently been a big winner on the first Wednesday in February. If it’s possible why has it never happened?

Yes, the right coach can win games with the Hogs. That HAS happened in the past.

If you go back the last 60 years, Arkansas has brought in coaches who were the “name coach” and had some limited success. Lou Holtz, Danny Ford, Bobby Petrino, Bret Bielema and Chad Morris didn’t last.

Ken Hatfield and Houston Nutt did.

While Hatfield was a hot prospect, Nutt came in and blew a search committee away in the interview and suddenly Tommy Tuberville wasn’t at the top of the list.

Success at Arkansas historically has come in a unique way and unless Yurachek identifies someone who can figure that out and make it work, well, we’re going to be right back here in a few years.

Which it was interesting to hear Lunney had what was supposed to be a courtesy interview and ended up winning the interview. We can’t say he knocked it out of the park yet, but if he doesn’t get the job at best he got a triple.

By the way, that’s not a prediction … I have no idea.

For now, though, you can expect some kind of news to start leaking over the next 48 hours, which should give SOME direction.