[quote="Making Plays" post=348567][quote="Monte" post=348516]
I’m not about to start knocking CMA, but let me just say this: I have a very hard time believing that after he came back to Arkansas, cleaned up mess left behind by the previous coach, supposedly got the program back on track, that he the got fired because a few members of the BOT didn’t like him? Because of his connection to NR? Then why would they have hired him in the first place? Not buying it.I’ve read a lot of stuff on the Arkansas board and the local papers. The vast majority of those people thought/think the world of him as a person, but felt that it was time to move on. I saw very very few people defend CMA as a coach, and even fewer people who were sorry to see him go. That says a lot to me. As I’ve said before, no one knows a coach like the fan base.[/quote]
If I said anything in my post about the condition of the program before CMA arrived that was factually incorrect, please feel free to correct me. All the information I said about Dana Altman taking the job for a day, the players getting kicked out of school, heavy roster turnover, APR problems, all of that can be easily googled and verified. I didn't exaggerate or add anything to it.
As far as your question on why they hired CMA in the first place when a BOT did not want him and other other people didn't want him as well. It's pretty simple Jeff Long, the AD that got ran out of town, was the person that hired him he wasn't an Arkansas person and he wasn't around during Nolan's tenure. Even though CMA was considered a home run hire by most outside people there was still some with influence at Arkansas that didn't want him hired because of his connection to Nolan and have been trying to run him out since day 1. I know this because I live around these people and hear it all the time. Google Nolan Richardson and Arkansas and everything he went through down here. I also wasn't exaggerating in a post a while ago when I said they killed his farm animals down here and was calling him with death threats, when he had a down season. Nolan Richardson is in every basketball HOF, and it took Arkansas 20+ years to name the court after him and still was met with backlash from certain people.
You're free to "buy" what you want to buy and listen to who you want to. I'm just sharing what I know and the actual facts. Kinda funny that you read a few message board posts and a newspaper article and know more about the UofA than someone that literally lives about a mile and a half away. And I'll say this again, if anything I said above is factually incorrect please feel free to correct it with the source. I know a lot of people who were upset about the firing, I can't tell you how many facebook and twitter conversations I seen around the time. You can click on CMA's departure speech he posted on twitter and see all the support he had.[/quote]
I didnt read “a few” message board posts and newspapers articles, I read a lot. Anyhow if it came across as me questioning your statement about the condition of the program before CMA arrived, I didn’t mean it that way. I have no doubt that the program was a mess before CMA arrived, and I know he cleaned it up. So if I understand you correctly, his dismissal had little to do with performance and a lot to do with politics? Regardless of reason(s)he was let go, I stand by my assertion that the large majority of the fan base felt it was time to move on. Maybe they’ll come to regret that down the road. Hopefully your loss is our gain. Answer me this question: what are CMA’s flaws/weaknesses as a coach?
