MERRILL: Long’s downfall was attitude toward Arkansas

The news came down this morning that many have been expecting for – no pun intended – a long time now. The University of Arkansas will make a change at the position of Athletic Director. Jeff Long is out, and it is highly likely that Bret Bielema will follow very quickly.

Prior to getting into the digital news business, I was a sports talk show host on The Sports Hog here in Fort Smith, in Fayetteville, and on the Arkansas Radio Network for several years. Despite the state of disrepair our athletic program has been in, I am grateful to Jeff Long that he came on our program many times, and was nothing but cordial.

At the same time, being cordial and honoring the people who have entrusted their state’s point of pride to you are two very different things.

The month he was hired in 2008, one of the first events that we both attended was the retirement party for Coach John McDonnell, the track and field coach that produced more national championships than any one person in memory. As my former colleague Gary Campbell and I walked in from the parking lot, Long parked next to us and we all walked in together. He greeted me and I asked him a question that I just assumed was still valid at the time, given the legacy that position had under Frank Broyles the week before.

“Jeff, how does it feel to be as powerful as the Governor in this state?”

I remember him chuckling, but not much more about his answer other than him acknowledging that I wasn’t the first person to ask him that. Now, seven years later, it was apparent that he didn’t have the same reverence for that position that the rest of us did.

In Arkansas, that proved to be his downfall.

We are a state full of tradition. In Arkansas, to get anything done, you have to know who is who, what is what, and most importantly you have to keep positive relationships with those who write the big checks. The people who care about writing those checks, care about the influence and access that that money can grant them.

In the end, the outside perception is that Jeff Long didn’t fully embrace any of that. He didn’t embrace how things work in Arkansas.

I mean, who in the world thinks it is a good idea to go to war with David Pryor, when Arkansas’ elder statesman says “building a new stadium expansion isn’t a good idea”? You might as well be going to war with the Pope.

Overall, none of the rest of us thought it was a good idea either. But Jeff Long seemed to think so little of his fan base and the revered Senator, that he ramrodded the idea through. And now, we are stuck with a football program that will have a hard time filling the seats we do have in Fayetteville or Little Rock, if the appropriate change isn’t made.

And it isn’t just a stadium expansion issue. We like our traditions. Jeff Long didn’t. Just ask the ol’ slobberin’ Hog that was removed from the Bud Walton floor, taken to the trash as if it were a three-week-old newspaper. Ask anyone who ever tried to start a Hog call during a time out, only to be shouted down by the barrage of commercials for any business that had some loose change lying around.

Jeff Long may have portrayed himself as the smartest guy in the room from time to time, but his attitude toward our state sure didn’t give him the appearance of having much common sense.

From a fan standpoint, a donor standpoint, and a national prestige standpoint, Arkansas is in a dire situation. We have to have someone that knows this state, and knows how to get things done in an environment that is different than any place in the country.

It is the bottom of the ninth, and we’re up against a 3-2 count. The selection of a new athletic director had better be a home run.