FAYETTEVILLE — Bobby Petrino didn’t waste any time reacquainting himself to the role of Arkansas football coach.
In his first act as Sam Pittman’s (temporary for now) replacement, and before most fans even got to work on Monday, news broke that the newly appointed interim coach was already overhauling the Razorbacks’ defensive staff.
In addition to tabbing running backs coach Kolby Smith as the interim offensive coordinator, Petrino fired defensive coordinator Travis Williams, co-defensive coordinator Marcus Woodson and defensive line coach Deke Adams — moves that come with a price tag of about $2.7 million in buyouts.
“I felt it was in our best interest to do what we did this morning for our players to improve individually (and) get a little bit more motivated,” Petrino said Monday. “I think it will help our team overall get out on the field and compete and find ways to win the game.”
The last man standing on that side of the ball is first-year secondary coach Nick Perry, but the UA has promoted a pair of staffers to fill out its defensive staff.
Assistant defensive line coach Chris Wilson will serve as the interim defensive coordinator, while assistant defensive backs coach Che Hendrix was promoted to safeties coach.
That leaves an open position on the Razorbacks’ 10-man coaching staff, though, and with no other obvious candidates among the support staff, Petrino will likely have to look elsewhere.
“It’d either be somebody on the defensive line or linebacker spot that would be a great fit for us,” Petrino said. “Certainly I’ll have a lot to do with that, but Chris will have something to do with it, too. He needs to feel comfortable and have somebody that he feels will help him in the way he wants to coordinate it.”
Final Piece for Petrino?
There is no timeline for when that hire happens, but Petrino would probably like to have that final piece in place before Arkansas hits the field. Luckily for him, the Razorbacks have an open date this week before traveling to No. 15 Tennessee on Oct. 11.
Given the fact that it’s the middle of the season, the pool of candidates to fill such a role is not particularly big.
One name that would make sense, and that FOX16 sports director Courtney Mims has reported hearing “quite a bit” since finding out about the defensive staff shakeup, is Todd Grantham.
Fired as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator the same day Pittman was dismissed at Arkansas, Grantham worked under Petrino as his defensive coordinator at Louisville from 2014-16. He’s also had stints as a DC at Georgia (2010-13), Mississippi State (2017) and Florida (2018-21), not to mention a decade of experience coaching in the NFL before returning to the college ranks.
However, success hasn’t necessarily followed him to every stop. Georgia ranked 79th in scoring defense his last year there and Florida ultimately fired him nine games into his fourth season because his defense ranked 73rd in scoring.
This season, Oklahoma State checks in at 126th out of 136 FBS teams with 35.0 points allowed per game — including 69 points to Oregon and 45 points to Baylor, the Cowboys’ two Power Four opponents.
On top of that, Grantham was involved in a confrontation with then Vanderbilt coach James Franklin following a game in 2011, after which he released a statement calling the incident “unfortunate.” He also taunted a Florida kicker from the sideline in a game a year earlier, giving him the choke signal four times prior to what proved to be a game-winning kick that beat the Bulldogs in overtime:
Petrino and Wilson will have to weigh those factors against the fact that it is likely a temporary move while Arkansas figures out its long-term coaching situation.
The Task for Arkansas Football
If it was up to him, Bobby Petrino would like to be involved in that long-term solution. Athletics director Hunter Yurachek admitted as much Sunday when he acknowledged the former head coach’s candidacy for his old post.
For that to even be legitimately considered, though, the offensive guru — and whomever he hires — will have to work his magic on a unit that is giving up 30.0 points (113th in FBS) and 425.0 yards (t-118th in FBS) per game.
“The first thing that we have to do is get back to the principles of good defense, which is get into a great stance, get into a great alignment, run full speed to the football, shed blocks and tackle well,” Petrino said. “To stop people on offense, you have to stop the run first, and we haven’t been able to stop the run first.”
Part of that falls on the linebackers, who were coached by Williams, not living up to their preseason billing as the strength of the defense. However, Petrino also blamed general “errors” on that side of the ball.
He stressed getting back to the basics, which will involve individual drills and tackling circuits, as well as working on pursuing the ball and forcing turnovers. Petrino believes re-emphasizing the little things will make a difference.
From a more big picture perspective, the Razorbacks must figure out what kind of base defense they’ll run the rest of the season and build a package around that. The goal is to simplify in order to allow the team to play faster and make plays.
It’s a similar message Sam Pittman conveyed in the aftermath of the Ole Miss debacle earlier this month, but the previous staff, led by Travis Williams, failed to accomplish. Now it’ll be up to Chris Wilson, the former Mississippi State, Colorado and professional defensive coordinator, to get it done.
“He’s very intense and he understands what you need to do to stop people,” Petrino said of Wilson. “We’ll be more disciplined and our guys will run full speed to the ball.”
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