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Leach agrees to extension at Washington State; Kiffin still considered main target

With Mike Leach agreeing to an extension and a raise that puts him around $4 million a year to stay at Washington State, Arkansas fans are re-focusing their attention … primarily to Lane Kiffin.

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With Mike Leach agreeing to an extension and a raise that puts him around $4 million a year to stay at Washington State, Arkansas fans are re-focusing their attention … primarily towards Lane Kiffin.

Of course some have believed Kiffin, who still has a Conference USA game to coach for Florida Atlantic this weekend, has been athletics director Hunter Yurachek’s main target all along.

There has been speculation in a wild and wacky week for fans that certain members of the UA’s Board of Trustees weren’t on board with the choice of Kiffin, but it appears they are going to let Yurachek decide, which is his job.

Memphis coach Mike Norvell, who has an American Athletic Conference title game Saturday, has reportedly shown more interest in the opening at Florida State than Fayetteville, but Ole Miss has made a push there after dumping Matt Luke last week.

Sources in the league say Louisiana coach Billy Napier appears to be the frontrunner for the Rebels’ spot.

Some of the pieces started falling in place earlier this week when USC said Clay Helton would be back, eliminating what would have been what many consider the highest-profile position.

Florida State is next in the pecking order, but they may have set their sights on a bigger name than they are actually able to attract for whatever reasons.

Kiffin’s name has been linked as a target for the Seminoles’ spot.

Missouri also has an opening to replace the fired Barry Odom. Arkansas State’s Blake Anderson was considered to be a leading candidate earlier in the week, then a report by FootballScoop.com basically said he wasn’t a big enough name.

The biggest names in Arkansas’ search right now are Kiffin and indications are he’s got to choose between three jobs — the Hogs, Florida State or Ole Miss and when he decides things may start to fall into place.

Leach’s name was highest on the wishlist along with Kiffin for a lot of Hog fans, but with him returning to the Wildcats and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell getting a raise and an extension, that means you move down the list.

But, as we found out in the basketball search that landed Eric Musselman, nobody knows what Yurachek is going to do and there are not the reliable links everybody has seen in the past.

If Kiffin isn’t in the mix, then pick from a list of the names that have been bandied about for a few weeks now.

Or be surprised.

The guess here is we should start to hear more heading into the weekend and we’ll know when the school a coach is leaving starts leaking.

Until then, it appears to be a waiting game for fans.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
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Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-31
Sat, Nov 16vs TexasL, 20-10
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (25)10-02681
2.Greenwood (2)10-02343
30Conway9-12022
4.Little Rock Parkview9-11714
5.Bentonville7-31625
6.Benton9-11486
7.Fayetteville8-21117
8.Pulaski Academy8-2898
9.Rogers7-3439
10.Joe T. Robinson9-122
Others receiving votes: Valley View 8, Mountain Home 7, Cabot 6, Little Rock Catholic 6, Shiloh Christian 6, Elkins 1, Farmington 1.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (27)10-01351
2.Conway9-11022
3.Bentonville7-3813
4.Fayetteville8-2454
5.Pulaski Academy8-2395
Others receiving votes: Rogers 3.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (27)10-01351
2.Benton9-11082
3.Mountain Home8-2623
4.Shiloh Christian7-3494
5.Little Rock Catholic9-1345
Others receiving votes: Marion 6.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (27)9-11351
2.Joe T. Robinson9-11062
3.Valley View10-0793
4.Farmington9-1484
5.Hot Springs Lakeside8-2205
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 7, Harding Academy 7, Morrilton 3.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (20)10-01261
3.Arkadelphia (5)8-2913
2.Little Rock Mills (1)10-0682
4.Warren8-2554
5.Dardanell (1)9-123
Southside Batesville10-023
Others receiving votes: Malvern 12, Gravette 5, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
1.Bismarck (12)10-01051t
2.Fordyce (10)10-0961t
3.Prescott (1)9-1704
4.Osceola (2)8-1543
5.Booneville (1)9-1395
Others receiving votes: Mansfield (1) 23, Rivercrest 10, Rison 4, Salem 4.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (20)10-01271
2.Conway Christian (7)10-01152
3.Des Arc8-2595
4.East Poinsett Co.7-352
5.Bigelow6-4183
Murfreesboro7-3184
Others receiving votes: Mount Ida 6, Junction City 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3.
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (27)5-0811
2.Midland9-0532
3.Cedar Ridge8-1253
Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 3.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.