(01-05-2023 08:26 PM)UALR92 Wrote: And no one on the hill cares about this program. And with incompetent coaches we will never be able to compete with them on any level. This is a dumpster fire and it is ole DW's fault.
If we want to be accurate about this, there is one person at fault. The chancellor (I forgot his name) who forced Chasse Conque to hire Darrell. Chasse was strongly against hiring Darrell. So the chancellor, who was fired soon afterwards, is responsible both for Darrell's hiring and for causing a very good AD to leave.
Unfortunately, my dream of competing with the hogs is over. Believe it or not, I once thought we could compete with them. We were moving into a state of the art, 18,000 seat arena and were located in the capitol city. Why couldn't we be like other city programs like Cincinatti, Wichita State, Creighton, Memphis, Louisville, etc. which compete quite well with the flagship university in their respective states? I didn't see a good reason we couldn't, other than the fact that Little Rock sucks as a sports town. If the powers that be in Little Rock fully supported our program monetarily and the average resident supported us with butts in the seats like folks support their local school in Wichita, Omaha, Memphis, etc. it could have happened. It will never happen now with our move to a low major conference, which is really where we belong considering the business and fan support we get in Little Rock (the OVC lists our average attendance as 2600, we may have had one tenth of that last night). Recent changes like the Transfer Portal, free transfer without sitting out, and NIL (which were all beyond our control) further ensure that we will never "get too big for our britches" as folks at UA-F see it.
In some ways I am very sad about this. On the other hand I am looking at the positives. We still have a DI program (even if it is low DI) in Little Rock. We have a beautiful arena. I can get into and out of the arena with little hassle and no traffic. I can get unbelievable seats, right near the court, at a fraction of what I would have to pay at a "big time" program. We will be able to compete quite well in the OVC and will occasionally make the NCAA tournament unless there is a dramatic change in the current system. Coaches (at least in the past) and administrators really appreciate the fans and supporters and you don't have to be a big donor to get to know them (if that is something you want to do). Lastly, I still think our program is closer to the "old college" model than the big schools that are really nothing but professional franchises with coaches and star players making millions of dollars.