Great column by ESPN's Pat Forde on UA mess
Pat Forde, the terrific sports columnist from Louisville and its paper, the Courier-Journal, also covers college football for ESPN, and he writes about the University of Arkansas-Springdale High football mess of the past two days like he lives here. Great stuff.
The news making headlines in Arkansas this week has nothing to do with preparing to face Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. It has to do with a parents' meeting with athletic director Frank Broyles to discuss "the direction of the program," the transfer of one true freshman and the apology of another. There are quotes aplenty from parents, including a "statement" issued by the mom of the hotshot quarterback.
I've seen more camaraderie on Jerry Springer's set -- and this is after winning the SEC West. Makes you wonder what the place is like when the Hogs aren't winning 10 games, doesn't it?
By empowering a high school coach, his star players and apparently their pushy parents, too, Nutt has given the inmates the keys to the asylum. To an extent, he's brought this on himself. Nutt combined the ingredients of a melodramatic cocktail that's now being stirred by the straw of teenage celebrity.
It seems a desperate coach made some promises he's unwilling to keep to a group of players and parents who have enjoyed too much hype and too much adulation much too soon.
