For many loyal followers of Arkansas football, James Franklin was supposed to be the program’s savior.
Instead, Virginia Tech gets to have all the fun, as Franklin spurned Arkansas for a fellow blue-collar middleweight in the ACC. Alongside SMU coach Rhett Lashlee inking an extension to stay in Dallas, the Hogs have now swung and missed on their top two “splash” targets for their head coaching vacancy.
As Arkansas goes back to the drawing board, a familiar queasy feeling of disappointment starts bubbling up in the gut. Dreams of Gus Malzahn in 2017 before Chad Morris came to town, or of Lane Kiffin’s candidacy before athletics director Hunter Yurachek eventually settled on Sam Pittman.