2025-26 College Football Coach Fired/Hired Thread

Sounds like he was recruited until Petrino was OC.
I thought it was the other way around: Drake was not recruited until Petrino became the OC and got interested and made a late push. At any rate, Drake himself said Arkansas was never really interested, even late in the process, despite the rumors.
 

Realistically speaking, this is not great news. Wasn’t it Pittman and his staff that passed on Drake?
I will say, I'll be nervous if Arkansas hires Gus Malzahn.

Drake's grandpa (Jim Lindsey) is a HUGE booster at Arkansas - there are concourses named after him. He was also THE guy who financed/arranged the situation where Gus Malzahn left Springdale HS with 5 players (Mitch Mustain, Damien Williams, and three others) to go to Arkansas. Gus was put on Houston Nutt's staff (without much choice).

Malzahn stayed one year, went to Tulsa, and then became the Auburn coach. But it all started at Arkansas and he has deep connections to the Lindsey family.
 

I will say, I'll be nervous if Arkansas hires Gus Malzahn.

Drake's grandpa (Jim Lindsey) is a HUGE booster at Arkansas - there are concourses named after him. He was also THE guy who financed/arranged the situation where Gus Malzahn left Springdale HS with 5 players (Mitch Mustain, Damien Williams, and three others) to go to Arkansas. Gus was put on Houston Nutt's staff (without much choice).

Malzahn stayed one year, went to Tulsa, and then became the Auburn coach. But it all started at Arkansas and he has deep connections to the Lindsey family.
I thought I read Bobby Petrino was firing all kinds of people today. So that made me think he was given the keys to Arkansas again. Which I doubt would work out.
 

Next Ark coach falling on his hands and knees and offering $$$ should strike fear in our hearts.

May loyalty (to the Gophers) win out
I don't think it's about money. The Lindsey family is absolutely loaded. Like old-school money, running NW Arkansas type shit. There is a corner of the stadium named after their donations.

If he goes back to Arkansas, it'll be because of the family's deep connection to the university (and the folks who didn't offer him are gone).

I spend a lot of time in NW Arkansas for work and the people there are the only people more provincial than Minnesotans. Every one of them asks me about Drake Lindsey and they definitely are box score watching him. For Lindsey to have his game the same day they sh!t the bed against Notre Dame, had to drive them insane.
 

I thought I read Bobby Petrino was firing all kinds of people today. So that made me think he was given the keys to Arkansas again. Which I doubt would work out.
From what I hear, it will not be Petrino as the next coach. But I hope you're right.

Now, I hear it from people who are just fans. I spend a lot of time in NWA for work and the people I know aren't and don't pretend to be connected, but I think most folks believe they will go after Rhett Lashlee at SMU (former Razorback QB) and if that fails, they'll go after Gus Malzahn.

I don't think Lashlee would leave SMU, that's a great job now.
 


I will say, I'll be nervous if Arkansas hires Gus Malzahn.

Drake's grandpa (Jim Lindsey) is a HUGE booster at Arkansas - there are concourses named after him. He was also THE guy who financed/arranged the situation where Gus Malzahn left Springdale HS with 5 players (Mitch Mustain, Damien Williams, and three others) to go to Arkansas. Gus was put on Houston Nutt's staff (without much choice).

Malzahn stayed one year, went to Tulsa, and then became the Auburn coach. But it all started at Arkansas and he has deep connections to the Lindsey family.
All this and he still came here. That says a lot. Ark football has been sort of a dumpster fire for a good decade.
 

From what I hear, it will not be Petrino as the next coach. But I hope you're right.

Now, I hear it from people who are just fans. I spend a lot of time in NWA for work and the people I know aren't and don't pretend to be connected, but I think most folks believe they will go after Rhett Lashlee at SMU (former Razorback QB) and if that fails, they'll go after Gus Malzahn.

I don't think Lashlee would leave SMU, that's a great job now.
Agree, think Laslee is #1. Harder to win at Arkansas than SMU though, and plenty of money at SMU too.
Don't see them going after Malzahn, though he's a local guy. Hasn't really done much since those few years at Auburn. Think they would go after Tulane or Memphis coach first. Who knows though, maybe the "he's one of us" would win out.
 

I will say, I'll be nervous if Arkansas hires Gus Malzahn.

Drake's grandpa (Jim Lindsey) is a HUGE booster at Arkansas - there are concourses named after him. He was also THE guy who financed/arranged the situation where Gus Malzahn left Springdale HS with 5 players (Mitch Mustain, Damien Williams, and three others) to go to Arkansas. Gus was put on Houston Nutt's staff (without much choice).

Malzahn stayed one year, went to Tulsa, and then became the Auburn coach. But it all started at Arkansas and he has deep connections to the Lindsey family.
If Drake leaves, Arkansas would 100% seem like the most likely place for him to end up given his family connections to the school. Hopefully he is happy here and wants to carve out his own legacy but with the way QBs move around these days it is tough to feel confident about anything.
 

If Drake leaves, Arkansas would 100% seem like the most likely place for him to end up given his family connections to the school. Hopefully he is happy here and wants to carve out his own legacy but with the way QBs move around these days it is tough to feel confident about anything.
The big thing is also that he is having a lot of success here and my kid was in Drake's shoes, I wouldn't want any change of scenery.

I wouldn't want a new offense - especially on a rebuilding team in the SEC. I'd want him to keep cooking this year and rinse/repeat one more year. QBs are so impacted by their surroundings, I wouldn't want him to risk it.
 



Considering what he did at Wisconsin and how Illinois is now, it's surprising Bielema couldn't get something going at Arkansas. I get that the SEC was stacked at that time, but still, his teams never seemed to their footing.

That Arkansas program for about 20 years now has been just kind of average. They had that great two-year run with Ryan Mallett slinging the ball in 2010 and 2011. Other than that their best years have ranged from 8 to 9 wins.
Bielema made the same mistake as PJ and now Schiano. He hired Robb Smith as his defensive coordinator at Arkansas. I have no idea why people keep hiring the guy, but here we are.
 


I kind of chuckle at Lindsey transferring. Seems like he loves it here, loves PJ, is locked as the starter, 2 of his top 3 WRs will be back, most of the OL, possibly DT. This offense will be better next year than this and it’s another year running pro style. He’s expecting to play pro as he should. This year (and the next 3 possibly) are solely focused on that, not some possibility of legacy/money and the only way he’s going back to Arkansas is if he thinks they have a better shot of putting him in the league. If they hire Lashlee, that’s not where Drake will end up (Lashlee loves the run and shoot style with a mobile qb and is part of why he ran Preston stone off for Jennings)
 

I'm probably naive, but I don't see Drake leaving unless this season turns into a sh#tshow. He seems happy and enjoying his time here.
Also, don't forget his buddy Max is right down the street.
 





Considering what he did at Wisconsin and how Illinois is now, it's surprising Bielema couldn't get something going at Arkansas. I get that the SEC was stacked at that time, but still, his teams never seemed to their footing.

That Arkansas program for about 20 years now has been just kind of average. They had that great two-year run with Ryan Mallett slinging the ball in 2010 and 2011. Other than that their best years have ranged from 8 to 9 wins.
Arkansas fans say he had a drinking problem and some of his better coaches left. Also, the SEC West was a gauntlet.
 



Big money gonna swoop in and grab Drake AND PJ and take them to Arkansas

I don't think so either. Reminds me of the Bateman situation. They had their chance, they didn't execute on it and he made his own path. Obviously anything can happen, but my guess is he stays another 2 years before heading to the draft.
 

Arkansas fans say he had a drinking problem and some of his better coaches left. Also, the SEC West was a gauntlet.
Yeah, this popped up on a Reddit thread yesterday. Allegedly his boozing was seriously out of control in Fayetteville and was hard to even try to cover up. Seems like he's really cleaned up his act at Illinois. I don't like the guy, but hopefully that's true and he's taking better care of himself. He certainly looks healthier.
 

I don't think so either. Reminds me of the Bateman situation. They had their chance, they didn't execute on it and he made his own path. Obviously anything can happen, but my guess is he stays another 2 years before heading to the draft.
Might be wishful thinking to think Drake will be anywhere but the NFL after next year.
 

It's California, so, no.

The UC system is all one (same as the U's situation), but bigger, and muktiple D1 schools involved. The division of funding from the state is far more complex than in Minnesota (not for any real reason). The decision was centered on the negative impact on Cal's revenue from the dissolution of the PAC-12 (as I understood it) and then the disparity in revenue Cal gets from the ACC vs UCLA's cut from the B1G.

The goal is to make it equal for the UC system, having everything to do with politics and not much based on reality. I don't live in California anymore but there is a real competition between Northern and Southern California that plays out in politics and funding, so they're trying to make it "equal" between the two largest schools in the UC system.

To quote Bad Religion's song "Don't Pray on Me; "Now Everybody's Equal, just don't measure it it"
You seem to know California for obvious reasons. Can you give your thoughts on the second part of GopherGrit's question? Should we have taken Cal instead of UCLA? We would have locked down another huge TV market. UCLA's situation could improve, but it really sucks right now with the debt, the stadium across town, etc., and with USC, we didn't really even need them.
 

I don't think so either. Reminds me of the Bateman situation. They had their chance, they didn't execute on it and he made his own path. Obviously anything can happen, but my guess is he stays another 2 years before heading to the draft.
I guess my sarcasm was a miss.

I don't think either one of them are going anywhere.
 

The big thing is also that he is having a lot of success here and my kid was in Drake's shoes, I wouldn't want any change of scenery.

I wouldn't want a new offense - especially on a rebuilding team in the SEC. I'd want him to keep cooking this year and rinse/repeat one more year. QBs are so impacted by their surroundings, I wouldn't want him to risk it.
I stated this in another thread too that it's not a guarantee that he'd have as much freedom and control of the offense at another school as he currently does. Being able to successfully make audibles and checks at the LOS certainly helps his chances for the next level.
 

This pretty much sums up the problems at UCLA


so much potential but very poorly managed. Don't see how the AD get to keep his job after the disasterous Foster hire
 

I believe that Drake stays at least two more years and likely three, because the track record of QB's that leave early isn't the best.
 

We’re not firing Drake Lindsey, so what’s him got to do whit this thread???
And btw I don’t think he’s going anywhere soon. Damn some of you people that live in Minnesota think everything in your state is shit so you don’t expect to have nice things. IMO that’s why you think Lindsey will transfer if he any kind of success.
 

I don't think it's about money. The Lindsey family is absolutely loaded. Like old-school money, running NW Arkansas type shit. There is a corner of the stadium named after their donations.

If he goes back to Arkansas, it'll be because of the family's deep connection to the university (and the folks who didn't offer him are gone).

I spend a lot of time in NW Arkansas for work and the people there are the only people more provincial than Minnesotans. Every one of them asks me about Drake Lindsey and they definitely are box score watching him. For Lindsey to have his game the same day they sh!t the bed against Notre Dame, had to drive them insane.
I knew he was a massive legacy at Ark, I did not know that about the old money. Good points.

May loyalty (to the Gophers) win out!
 


I will say, I'll be nervous if Arkansas hires Gus Malzahn.

Drake's grandpa (Jim Lindsey) is a HUGE booster at Arkansas - there are concourses named after him. He was also THE guy who financed/arranged the situation where Gus Malzahn left Springdale HS with 5 players (Mitch Mustain, Damien Williams, and three others) to go to Arkansas. Gus was put on Houston Nutt's staff (without much choice).

Malzahn stayed one year, went to Tulsa, and then became the Auburn coach. But it all started at Arkansas and he has deep connections to the Lindsey family.
If Arkansas hires Malzahn there is a zero percent chance they want Lindsey
He doesn’t have the skill set Malzahn likes (running)


I guess Malzahn had an immobile QB in Casey dick as Arkansas but that’s the only one in his whole college coaching career
 




Top Bottom