New Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek did not dodge contentious topics Wednesday when he addressed the Roy L. Murphy Razorback Club at the Lakeside Athletic Complex.
Yurachek displayed his knowledge of the issues concerning Razorback sports fans, including the success of the football program, games at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock and Coca-Cola. He shared how he and new head football coach Chad Morris found equipment and trash strewed about the Fred W. Smith Football Center when they began in Fayetteville.
"I guarantee you if you walked in there today, there is not a speck of anything on the floor in that locker room," Yurachek said. "The kids pick it up and it is the culture of the program."
Arkansas hired Yurachek from Houston and Morris from SMU in December with both officially starting in Fayetteville within 24 hours of each other. Yurachek had high praise and has set high expectations for Morris.
"He is going to be successful," Yurachek said. "I wish you guys had a chance to hear him speak about it. He would energize you tenfold to what I am able to do because he is so excited and so energetic. He was drinking Red Bull while waiting to see if he could come tonight. He was fired up and ready to go, but we are going to have some success. I promise you that."
Morris was scheduled to speak at the event on Wednesday, but NCAA recruiting regulations restricted him from attending because it was held on a high school campus.
"I can't tell you who is going to start at quarterback," Yurachek joked. "Coach Morris, he was going to announce that tonight who was going to start at quarterback, but you are going to have to wait until Sept. 1 now to get that."
Arkansas will open its 2018 season on Sept. 1 against Eastern Illinois at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
"I would be shocked if we don't go to a bowl game and have significantly more wins this year than we had last year," Yurachek said. "Because we've got some talent. We've got some talent on that team.
"We don't have a lot of depth right now. We are going to work on our depth, but we've got some talent and we've got to build depth in here, especially on the offensive and defensive lines."
Yurachek said Morris was on Houston's list of prospective coaches in 2014 when he was associate vice president and chief operating officer for athletics. He was promoted to athletic director the following year.
Houston fired Tony Levine in 2014 after he went 21-17 in three seasons with three bowl appearances. Yurachek said SMU had a head start in hiring Morris after June Jones resigned during the season. The Cougars ended up with Tom Herman, who was 22-4 in two seasons before accepting the Texas job in 2016.
Yurachek said he had previous knowledge of Morris when one of his sons attended a prospect camp at SMU.
"Coaches interact in different ways at those prospect camps," Yurachek said. "The way coach Morris interacted -- this will tell you a lot about him -- he did not spend any moments on the field with the players.
"He walked and shook the hand of probably 700-800 moms and dads, grandmas, brothers and sisters that were there watching the game. He shook every single person's hand sitting in the stands introduced himself and with some he spent a minute or two of time with them."
Yurachek said he expects a decision in the coming weeks to be made about the future of Razorback football games at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. He said it would be an easy decision if it was based solely on finances, but he said he understands other factors are involved.
Arkansas loses about $4 million in potential revenue for each football game it plays in Little Rock instead of Fayetteville. The Razorbacks will host Ole Miss on Oct. 13 at War Memorial in the final year of the current agreement to play in Little Rock.
"I think you will see some resolution here in the next three, four or five weeks about the direction we are heading for that," Yurachek said.
Yurachek said the athletic department hopes to lower the cost of concessions. He also addressed the unpopular decision to switch from Coca-Cola products to Pepsi.
"Everybody thinks it was an athletic department decision," Yurachek said. "The athletic department is obviously part of the university in this regard. We like to be separate in most things, but that was part of a universitywide deal, the Coke vs. Pepsi. It was a seven-figure difference annually Coke vs. Pepsi."
Yurachek said he believed the current contract expires in two years. He said the previous slobbering hog logo is also a common topic frequently raised in his appearances throughout the state.
Arkansas is Yurachek's eighth destination in his 25 years in college athletics. He said his faith, family and college athletics are his three passions.
"If anybody told me tomorrow I had to change my profession, that I had to do something else with my life, I have absolutely no idea what I would do," Yurachek said. "I love being in college athletics. I love being around unbelievably competitive and driven student-athletes and coaches, and I love doing it in such a place like the University of Arkansas."
"How did I get to the University of Arkansas and the state of Arkansas? As fast as I could," Yurachek added. "As fast as I could, I promise you."
His career began as an unpaid intern at Wake Forest. He took subsequent positions at Vanderbilt, Western Carolina, Virginia and Akron before he became athletic director at Coastal Carolina.
The Hot Springs Police Department provided an escort for Yurachek to Lakeside. Club President Forrest Spicher thanked the police and the event sponsors for their contributions.
The Eastern Illinois will be the first game in Fayetteville after construction in the north end zone of Razorback Stadium is completed. Yurachek said renovations were made throughout the stadium.
"What a spectacular facility that is going to be," Yurachek said. "And, I promise you the football team is going to run the right way through the 'A' this year. Apparently, they ran the reverse way last year. I've gotten some emails about that. I just want to confirm, they ran the wrong way because of the construction on the north end zone, for any of you concerned that we are changing any traditions."
Local on 04/27/2018