Arkansas football has a new head coach and is ready to move on from a challenging 2017 season. What do they have to takeaway from the rough year?
More: 3 reasons Chad Morris can make the Razorbacks instant contenders
Arkansas (4-8) came within minutes of falling to Sun Belt foe Coastal Carolina at home this season. They lost to every SEC opponent, save for Ole Miss. For whatever the reason the Razorbacks had a rather unsatisfying year and accordingly found themselves in the marker for a new coach in December.
As is this case with every team there were plenty of highs and lows with the Razorbacks. Here are five takeaways from Arkansas’ 2017 season.
5. It was time for a change
Bret Bielema leaves Arkansas with a 29-34 overall record and zero top 25 finishes. This isn’t Alabama, but the lack of competitiveness wasn’t flying anymore. The Bielema era never gave anyone much faith that the Razorbacks were close to breaking out from their slumber.
Arkansas started 0-8 in conference play during Bielema’s first season. Since then they’ve finished better than .500 in conference play just one, 2015 when they went 5-3 against the SEC and 8-5 overall. Early season losses, included the annual heartbreaker to Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M, finally soured and got Bielema shown the door in Fayetteville.
Alabama, LSU and Auburn all kept their head coaches while Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M all made changes they hope were improvements. It was time for the Razorbacks to role the dice and hire someone new. Chad Morris is stepping into a challenging situation, but he’s got a decent chance to start off strong in year one.