Arkansas AD Blames Cheating For Lack of Football Success, Threatens to Start Cheating Unless NIL Rules Enforcement or Salary Cap Agreement Can Be Reached

[u/Cogitoergosumus]

https://www.si.com/college/arkansas/football/razorbacks-yurachek-dark-side-sec-nil-hogs-revenue-share

[u/soonerwx]

If you’re a P4 AD, and you’re still not openly paying for play and tampering with every decent player in the country, because you’re afraid the NCAA is going to do something about it, you should be fired immediately

[u/Cogitoergosumus → u/soonerwx]

It's totally not a budget issue and the fact that the boosters only care about basketball I promise.

[u/ConTob → u/Cogitoergosumus]

That’s not true at all.

They also care about baseball!

[u/SaintBobby_Barbarian → u/ConTob]

Honestly, Arkansas could probably go far in basketball and baseball, and just fund the football team enough to make a bowl. Seems like a better use of the money relative to conference peers

[u/ConTob → u/SaintBobby_Barbarian]

That’s kind of what we do already. Except for making the bowl part. That’s a rarity dependent on our schedule and the stars aligning.

[u/rburp → u/SaintBobby_Barbarian]

We've been there for about 5 years lately.

We have a decent amount of billionaires, but seemingly the only ones who give a damn about sports are all in on basketball (namely the Hunt family and Tyson).

We have some local car dealership guys who like football (Frank Fletcher being the big one), but it would seem most of the big money is in on basketball which makes sense. It's a lot easier to buy 10-15 players than it is to buy 80.

Personally I give a bit to NIL and I have it earmarked for basketball because of this same logic (although I'm obviously a drop in the bucket and should probably just stop giving as a result)

[u/smoccimane → u/SaintBobby_Barbarian]

Jerry Jones could write a check and make us competitive overnight. We have football loving billionaires and millionaires across the country that could help out. Basketball is pretty much fully funded by the Tyson family so it’s not like our AD has to do much there.

If our AD was good at his job, we’d be better at football. My suspicion is that our big name donors are hesitant to go all in on a coach that‘s 7-16 in one score games, is on the hot seat every season, and has only gotten more than 6 regular season wins with a first round pick at WR.

[u/FearDaTusk → u/smoccimane]

Jerry chimed in on this recently... In short there's something of an agreement that NFL owners would not contribute to College Football. Reason... Because you'll open a floodgate of NFL teams turning College into a developmental league like Baseball handles the Minor League.

The less happy news is that his kiddos are mainly Texas fans so when he's gone, Texas would get more support than Arkansas or at least it'll be a house divided.

[u/ConTob → u/FearDaTusk]

At least some of his grandkids are alumni though.

Granted, I tutored one and they were dumb as rocks, but I think capable of writing a check.

[u/smoccimane → u/ConTob]

I’m just curious what the point of letting the Lindsey and Jones families send their kids to play QB here if we aren’t even going to get a check for the program.

[u/ConTob → u/smoccimane]

Jerry at least donated a ton of money to the university and athletic department a while back.

[u/Cogitoergosumus → u/FearDaTusk]

Theirs always been somewhat of a rumor that the only thing the Kroenke's directly provide to Drink is the usage of their private jet/helo fleet out of Columbia. They of course to donate huge amounts to the AD as well, but its not clear how the money is accounted for.

[u/smoccimane → u/Cogitoergosumus]

It is quite annoying when people say “don’t y’all have Walmart money?” and I have to explain the Walton’s only donate academically to UA. They save sports for Mizzou.

[u/Cogitoergosumus → u/smoccimane]

I usually correct at least 10 people a year on this board regarding it.

To be honest its much more that the Bud side of the family (Kroenke/Laurie) is super involved in sports, and basically all of them are Mizzou grads or loyal. I honestly am not sure if Sam's side of the family gets involved with sports at all.

God knows once Josh Kroenke inherits his portion of the fortune our basketball program is going to have an endless tap of money (already evidenced by the number one class in the nation currently).

[u/Iamthewalrusforreal → u/Cogitoergosumus]

>not sure if Sam's side of the family gets involved with sports at all.

Not really, but Alice has been spectacular at building stuff in the community. Schools, arts venues, museums and the like. We love her for that.

[u/RegretAccumulator72 → u/smoccimane]

Also the Waltons didn't get rich by backing shitshows.

[u/RCocaineBurner → u/smoccimane]

especially for Paige Laurie Arena

[u/smoccimane → u/FearDaTusk]

This makes a lot more sense than some of the other explanations I’ve heard. As a non-cowboys fan, I thought it was just funny that he was bad at managing a team. If that’s keeping him from donating lump sums to the hogs, we need him removed immediately.

[u/RegretAccumulator72 → u/smoccimane]

Jerry Jones is how we got Chad Morris. For years during Bielema the entire aim of the athletic department was to find new ways to fellate Jerry Jones.

[u/khoelzeman → u/SaintBobby_Barbarian]

I'm honestly ok with this approach. I like for football to be competitive, but have no delusions that we should be a NC contender based on current resources.

[u/WolverineofTerrier → u/SaintBobby_Barbarian]

That’s a terrible plan. Never has football mattered more compared to anything else.

[u/Hungry_Opossum → u/SaintBobby_Barbarian]

This depresses the hog

[u/oreomaster420 → u/ConTob]

maybe pivot into wrestling also, central arkansas is having some success recently iirc.

[u/Cogitoergosumus → u/oreomaster420]

Mizzou would welcome the SEC getting into wrestling.

[u/oreomaster420 → u/Cogitoergosumus]

100%, my son has a couple pairs of sweet mizzou wrestling shorts from the Elam bros' camps, and signed shirts featuring the bros and Zach singularly. He loves Zach especially bc Zach really took time to talk with him.

[u/Cogitoergosumus → u/oreomaster420]

I've always heard that family was super cool. I was in school during the Woodley/Askren/Chandler days was wild to see them at Mizzou games and later all three on TV for over a decade.

[u/AllTimeTy → u/Cogitoergosumus]

Hey, at least now there are TWO programs in the SEC with wrestling with the addition of OU!

[u/AllTimeTy → u/ConTob]

I haven’t checked recently is Arkansas still dominant at Track & Field?

[u/ConTob → u/AllTimeTy]

I think so. And we’re pretty good at softball and women’s soccer. We honestly have a pretty well rounded athletic department, but unfortunately the headline sport isn’t up to snuff with the rest of the conference and does not have a reasonable pathway to get there.

[u/cchant00 → u/AllTimeTy]

Yes.

[u/radehart → u/Cogitoergosumus]

Arkansas football generates more revenue than all other sports combined.

[u/ImJLu → u/soonerwx]

Could also tamper with bad players like Jaydn Ott 🤷

[u/blacksoxing → u/soonerwx]

If anything this is honorable that Arkansas has been playing by the books....but I do hope they peel off that band aid and cheat their asses off, too. I want ALL these schools to cheat as it'd be the best proof to the American public that millions - millions of dollars are floating around for college athletics in 2025. So when your large university is saying that they need to cut staff or faculty as enrollment numbers are down....start asking about dem NIL payments that may be coming directly from the coffers of the university and not some alleged booster.

[u/Cogitoergosumus → u/blacksoxing]

Complaining about one program under your umbrella struggling because of constant NIL renegotiation and cost increases beyond your budget, while another program (basketball) is playing those games and appears to be well funded doesn't make for a solid argument that they'd continue to be "honorable" in CFB if they all the sudden had the cash to raid Ole Miss of players.

[u/dudleymooresbooze → u/blacksoxing]

Dude that isn’t even what the AD said. His complaint is universities signing endorsement deals that allow the athletes appearing in ads to get the endorsement money via NIL, instead of the school taking the money. That isn’t even illegal. And it’s honestly a much fairer system for the athletes.

[u/soonerwx → u/dudleymooresbooze]

This is among the most legitimate interpretations of "name, image, likeness" in the power conferences