November 30 was a whirlwind in the Southeastern Conference, with five different schools in the league announcing new head coaches.
That quintet included Arkansas, which did announce a new coach … just not the one everyone expected.
After all reports indicated that Alex Golesh was bound for Fayetteville, there was a reversal. Golesh ended up going to Auburn instead, and Arkansas hired Ryan Silverfield from Memphis.
The downgrade is real. It’s like sneaking through your parents’ house looking for Christmas presents and seeing what you think is the new video game system you wanted. And then Christmas Day happens and you see that same box under the tree and unwrap it to find … ? Underwear and socks.
Golesh, to clarify, is the gaming system. He was the first offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel at Tennessee, then took the job at USF and led the Bulls to rank second in total yards per game (501.7) and fourth in scoring (43 points per game) last season. Golesh led USF to bowl eligibility in each of his three years, transforming the fortunes of a program that went 1-11 in the season before his arrival and logged four total victories in the three seasons under Golesh’s predecessor Jeff Scott.
Then we’ve got Silverfield, the “underwear and socks” of our comparison. Sure, Silverfield led Memphis to a finish at or above .500 in each of his six seasons leading the Tigers. But it’s not like coaches who have left Memphis have gone on to great things at the power conference level. Mike Norvell, Silverfield’s predecessor, is coming off consecutive losing seasons at Florida State. Norvell’s predecessor, Justin Fuente? He succeeded Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech and went 43-31 over nearly six years before he got fired.
Of course, everyone associated with this whole endeavor insists that everything happened as intended. Golesh said “it wasn’t true” that he had agreed to leave for Arkansas. One reporter who Arkansas cited his source that Golesh “played Arkansas” to get leverage for the Auburn job, and that Razorbacks athletic director Hunter Yurachek “got caught with his pants down.”
Hey, maybe Silverfield works out. Maybe, just maybe, in an increasingly competitive SEC where LSU just dropped about $90 million on Lane Kiffin, a relatively unknown coach from Memphis can make a splash and get the Hogs back into contention in the toughest conference in the land. Maybe Golesh totally flames out at Auburn.
But, for now at least, Arkansas’ new coaching hire looks like the equivalent of a kid opening underwear and socks on Christmas.
That’s why the Razorbacks take our L of the Week.
‘L’ Of The Week Archive
Oct. 20-26: Mississippi State football
Oct. 27-Nov. 2: Carson Beck
Nov. 10-16: That Texas state trooper from the A&M-South Carolina game