I honestly could not decide which one of a range of topics I wanted to write about for today. Then it occurred to me: why not just write about all four, Max? Literally, no one is stopping you. And with school starting back around the country, I figured we could use the core four as a fun framing device.
Social Studies: The Psychology of a Super Bowl Champion
Earlier this summer, Hog Twitter was ablaze as former Super Bowl-winning Head Coach Jon Gruden unboxed a case of Arkansas Razorbacks gear. It should be noted here that this is a common segment Gruden does with any university that opts to send him some swag. Still, many Arkansas fans felt that Gruden was overly effusive in talking about their beloved institution of higher learning. Speculation (i.e., wishful thinking) was running rampant for a few weeks that Gruden was bound for Fayetteville.
Gruden—whose media savvy should never be underestimated—has taken that simmer and blasted the heat up to a rolling boil in this clip posted online yesterday.
Anytime a coach of Gruden’s stature says that he wants “to coach again” and that he would “die to coach in the SEC,” every athletic director needs to take notice. Bookmark that tweet, Hunter! It would be program malfeasance not to.
However, all SEC decision-makers should also take note of a few other things. First, Gruden won the Super Bowl in 2002 with a roster that was already knocking at the door under Tony Dungy. After his Super Bowl win in 2002, Gruden has a record of 117-112 in ten seasons with the Buccaneers and the Raiders.
Gruden, who has never been a college head coach, is far from a sure thing, but his media savvy and presence might make him worth a hire, especially for a program like Arkansas, which could benefit from some national attention (see: Calipari, John).
Science: A Slimmed Down, Healthier Pittman
There is just one pesky problem standing in the way of all those Hog fans dreaming nightly about Coach Gruden: Arkansas football already has a head coach. More specifically, Arkansas's head coach ideally wants to continue coaching.
During the offseason, Sam Pittman took steps (literally) to make coaching out the remainder of his contract a reality. Pittman had hip replacement surgery and has lost some weight.
I don’t know about you guys, but painfully carrying around a bunch of extra weight on a hip that is giving out might make it difficult for me to do my job. (In fairness, my job often involves chasing after 7-year-olds who are fed up with this whole school thing, but I digress.) If you’re looking for reasons to be optimistic heading into a difficult football schedule, Pittman feeling good should be one of them.
Math: I’m sorry…how many yards?
For Math, let’s turn to a former Pittman player, Cam Little, who did this in a preseason game last night.
Little nailed a 70-yard field goal that looked like it could have gone 72 or 73 even. That is outrageous.
The longest kick in NFL history was a 66-yarder by Justin Tucker to secure a win for the Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, because this was a preseason game, Little’s kick will not count as the new official record. Still, Little is only 21 years old. He’s got all the time in the world to make this happen in an actual game.
It is easy to not understand the scope of someone’s greatness while they are playing. We often need that retrospective awareness to fully grasp how great they were.
I’m not exaggerating when I say: Little is the greatest kicker in Arkansas history.
English Language Arts: Writing for the Best
I’m going to end with a bit of a programming note here. I’ve started doing some freelance writing for Best of Arkansas Sports. If you enjoy my deep dives about basketball, you can read them there now too.
Some of the posts, like this one about Malique Ewin or these two about Karter Knox, will be an amalgamation or reimagining of things I’ve already written here. Others, like this one about Billy Richmond, and one I have in the works about D.J. Wagner, will be brand new for BOAS.
Read them here and there! Support folks who are doing good work on Razorback sports! And a special thank you to Evin, Andrew, and Michael over at Best of Arkansas Sports for publishing my nerdy hobby and pushing me as a writer.