A lengthy line of Little Rock Touchdown Club members waited to greet and meet University of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek on Monday afternoon.
Pictures were taken, footballs were signed and smiles were exchanged.
Yurachek, the guest speaker, soaked it all up in front of a crowd of 400 at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Little Rock.
“There are a lot of happy faces here,” Yurachek said. “When you can start your football season 4-0, and for two of the wins to be against ranked teams, and for two of those teams to be Texas and Texas A&M — pretty special time to be a Razorback.”
Yurachek’s previous two trips to the LRTDC as AD — in 2018 and 2019 — were scheduled to coincide with what were supposed to be slam-dunk Arkansas victories.
Yurachek said he was given this advice by Kevin Trainor, UA’s chief public relations officer.
“Let’s pick one of our cupcake games,” Yurachek said Trainor told him. “You always want to go after a win.”
That strategy didn’t work well after Arkansas was routed by North Texas in 2018 and then lost to San Jose State in 2019.
“Kevin,” Yurachek said. “No more cupcake games.”
Instead, they chose Texas A&M, a team that had beaten Arkansas nine consecutive times.
“I said, ‘Hell yeah, we’re going after Texas A&M,’” he said.
This season, the second under Coach Sam Pittman, has exceeded the expectations of the most diehard fans and the man who hired Pittman.
“Did I think we were going to be an improved team? Absolutely,” Yurachek said. “To say we’d be 4-0 and ranked in the top 10, I’d be lying to you.”
Sudden success is gratifying, but Yurachek said Pittman face different challenges now that the No. 8 Razorbacks have appeared on the national radar.
Second-ranked Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) is next on the schedule, followed by No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 23 Auburn.
“That’s one of the things Coach Pittman and I talked about this morning,” Yurachek said. “He’s getting significantly more requests from members of the media to do appearances, radio appearances, television interviews, newspaper interviews.
“Sam and I talked about it: No. 1 thing for him is to get the team ready to play Georgia this weekend.”
Yurachek said Pittman requested some reassurance that he was doing the right thing
“He just wants my blessing to make some decisions to say ‘No’ to some folks,” Yurachek said.
It’s a problem Arkansas hasn’t previously had since Yurachek took over as AD in December 2017.
“It’s great that people are talking about the Razorbacks in a positive light because that wasn’t the case two short years ago,” Yurachek said.
Sudden success not only brings publicity, but it also highlights members of the coaching staff as possible candidates for other jobs.
There’s not much an athletic director can do if an experienced assistant is courted for a head-coaching position, especially for somebody like defensive coordinator Barry Odom, a former head coach at the University of Missouri
“He’s been courted and approached by other schools to be their defensive coordinator,” Yurachek said. “He’s been very open and up front about it.
“[We] have worked to retain him, and I think his desire always is to remain an Arkansas Razorback as far as the coordinator role goes.”
Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles is in a slightly different position.
“Kendal’s an up-and-coming offensive coordinator and he’s doing great things,” Yurachek said. “In the future, he’ll get courted by other schools as an offensive coordinator and as a head coach as well.”
Yurachek bragged on the overall state of Arkansas’ sports, noting that 13 of the Razorbacks’ 19 sports teams have appeared in the top 10 in various polls in the past year, including baseball’s rise to No. 1 and men’s basketball foray to the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
“I’m trying not to let the highs get too high or the lows get too low because there’ll be peaks and valleys in this business,” Yurachek said. “We’re in a pretty special way right now. We’ve got to ride this as long as we can.”