**NOTE: This is the third installment of a six-part series on the state of the Arkansas football program. For a preview of the upcoming parts of the series, refer to the dates below the article.**
Bret Bielema has been at the helm of the Arkansas football program for exactly 14 months. During that time, he has been praised and ridiculed by fans and the media.
The hire made a splash nationally, as no one knew Bielema would be open to leaving Wisconsin, where he led the Badgers to three consecutive Rose Bowl appearances.
One of the reasons Bielema left Wisconsin was because he said he could not keep assistant coaches on his staff because he couldn’t pay them enough. At Arkansas, he did not have that problem.
Arkansas’ assistants had a combined salary of $3.233 million in 2013, according to USA Today. That was the 10th highest in the country and 29.6 percent higher than Wisconsin’s assistant payroll.
He used this increase in money available for his assistants to build what local and national media called an “all-star” staff of experienced coaches and recruiters.
However, after a 3-9 season, a couple of coaches have jumped ship.
Charlie Partridge, the Razorbacks’ defensive line coach and main recruiter in Florida, was the first to leave Arkansas when he took the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.
This seemed like a major hit to Arkansas’ recruiting in the Sunshine State, but since his departure, the Razorbacks have landed four commitments from players in Florida.
The second coach to leave was defensive coordinator Chris Ash, who left to become the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State.
Partridge was replaced by Rory Segrest, while Bielema has not hired a defensive coordinator, as of Feb. 4.
Segrest comes to Arkansas from Samford, the Razorbacks’ FCS opponent last season. He also has NFL experience, as he spent five seasons as an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles.
On the offensive side of the ball, Bielema hired Jim Chaney to call plays and coach the quarterbacks. Chaney came to Arkansas from Tennessee, where he helped lead quarterback Tyler Bray to a successful career as his position coach and offensive coordinator.
Before Tennessee, Chaney was an assistant for the St. Louis Rams and, most notably, the offensive coordinator at Purdue when Drew Brees played there.
Bielema received some criticism when he did not retain Tim Horton, as he had many recruiting connections within the state. Instead, he hired Barry Lunney Jr. to be the tight ends coach.
Lunney came to Arkansas from Bentonville High, where he was an assistant to his father, Barry Lunney Sr., for eight years. This appeared to be an attempt by Bielema to regain some recruiting power in the high school ranks in Arkansas.
He also hired Sam Pittman to coach the offensive line and Michael Smith to coach the wide receivers. Pittman and Smith both have national reputations as top recruiters.
Joel Thomas is the running backs coach and came from Washington, where he coached a 1,000-yard rusher every season from 2009-2012. He also coached a 1,000-yard rusher in 2008 at Purdue. Counting Alex Collins’ 1,026-yard season last year, Thomas has had a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last six seasons.
Besides Segrest and the search for a new defensive coordinator, the defensive coaches are also solid recruiters.
With the loss of Partridge, linebackers coach Randy Shannon will be Arkansas’ top recruiter in Florida. Shannon spent 17 seasons as a coach at Miami (FL), including the last four as the head coach. He was also an assistant for the Miami Dolphins for three seasons and played at Miami (FL) from 1985-1988.
Taver Johnson is the only holdover from the staff before Bielema took over. He has extensive experience in Ohio, as he was an assistant at Ohio State for five years, Miami (OH) for six years and for the Cleveland Browns for one year.
In less than two months, Arkansas’ star-studded staff of recruiters brought in a recruiting class ranked as high as No. 24 in the country, by 247sports.com, and as low as No. 34, by Scout.com.
This season’s recruiting class is ranked No. 29 by 247sports.com, but could rise depending on what happens on National Signing Day.
Future “State of the Program” dates and links to previous parts…
Part IV – Recruiting (Feb. 12)
Part V – Television (Feb. 19)
Part VI – Attendance (Feb. 26)
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