Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

9/11/2007 at 11:10am

Harry King of Stephens Media goes into detail deeper in this column about the connections, or the lack of them, that current athletic directors had with their current Southeastern Conference schools:Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky, for one.

There will be some fans who will believe until their Razorback red in the face that Frank Broyles' successor should have come in also bleeding Hog blood. With the hiring of Pitt's Jeff Long, that won't be the case; Long has no ties to the Broyles machine or Arkansas. But that shouldn't matter, King notes.

Also, it won't matter to the devoted Razorback donors either, he writes:

People who care deeply about the University of Arkansas athletic program will continue to write checks as long as the person doing the asking is informed and passionate and the pig is prominent.

Many of the givers do so to support the Arkansas Razorbacks, not the Frank Broyles Razorbacks. It's the same in Baton Rouge, La., Lexington, Ky., Columbia, S.C., and Gainesville, Fla., where the money goes for the Tigers, the Wildcats, the Gamecocks and the Gators ...

... The string of facilities along Razorback Road is a stout testimony to Broyles, but there is also the possibility that his exit will open the door to new donors or prompt some former contributors to return to the fold.