Josh Pate names Alex Golesh as an ideal candidate at Arkansas

Arkansas still has an open job at this point, with it being nearly two months now since their firing of Sam Pittman back in September. So, where do things stand in the coaching search being conducted by the ‘Hogs?

Josh Pate discussed the latest regarding the Razorbacks’ search during ‘Josh Pate’s College Football Show’ on Sunday night. He noted how this one, like several others still ongoing on this carousel, has changed a lot over the last seven weeks, and even more so in ways than those other openings.

“The Arkansas coaching search has taken some twists and turns,” said Pate. “This one has always been a little bit different. I’ve tried to allude to this as much as possible.”

The reason for that to Pate was the level of donor involvement apparently going on at Arkansas. That’s not necessarily a bad thing considering the dollars that are needed to make any hire they may be looking at, but it’s the presumed say that some may be expecting to have that could complicate it for the Razorbacks.

“Here’s the great catch twenty-two of head coaching searches,” said Pate. “At Arkansas? Really underrated job if it’s harnessed properly. People at Arkansas get so tired of listening to this, but someone is watching that knows very little about the Arkansas job. The Arkansas job could be a rocket ship if the J.B. Hunts, and the Tysons, and the Walmarts are on board, and that means fully infusing the program with cash. That’s what it means to be on board there.

“Now, in the best of worlds, that’s happening. But, I say catch twenty-two. That doesn’t sound like a catch twenty-two. That just all sounds good? Well, it’s good when you get big money invested in your program. The catch twenty-two is, when big money invests in your program, they want oversight. They want say so in your program…The downside to big money investing in your program, and therefore wanting some input in your program, is, 99 times out of 100, the big money did not make their money by coaching football, or being associated with college athletics in any way…They didn’t make it by coaching offensive line, and yet they want input on people who are going to do such things. I would imagine that the search at Arkansas is operating under those kinds of parameters, where you’re asking for big money to be involved and big money wants a say in who’s going to get hired here. And, it’s not even unfair as a concept. Hey, I’m giving you millions of dollars, I’m not just writing the blank check and saying let me know how you spend it. So, I get it. It’s just, sometimes, in like a utopian college football sense, you wish people knew what they don’t know, but that’s not realistic.”

As for actual candidates, though, “the same list of recycled names” have come up here lately, especially among those from out of the Group of Five. Pate also wondered if they’d want to go for a major name in how they go about this, even naming an example in Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, with previously reported interest also in James Franklin, who has now since taken the job at Virginia Tech, and reported conversations with Ed Orgeron.

Arkansas also doesn’t seem to be in the most opportune of spots in line when it comes to the coaching candidates this year. However, if he were to pick one, Pate thought they should zero in on USF’s Alex Golesh, being 21-15 (.528) in the first head coaching job of his career right now down in Tampa, considering all the boxes that he checks for who he thinks could succeed with the Razorbacks.

“It’s been pretty obvious for a while Arkansas has got to be comfortable kind of running number two or number three in the pack instead of leading the pack because, if you’re after some of the same guys that other programs with better jobs are, you’ve got to wait. It sucks,” said Pate. “You either got to wait, or you got to go a different direction. You’re free to go a different direction. Candidly, I think they should, and I’ll give you my feedback, for what it’s worth, in a second.

“I have the guy that I think Arkansas should hire…I was talking about Golesh down at South Florida. I’ve been high on him for a while. And I’ll just fully tell you, if Arkansas isn’t fully aligned, and the big money up there isn’t fully aligned, no one is really going to win there – Alex Golesh or anyone else. When I look at Arkansas, okay? My opinion of Arkansas is I’ve got to have someone with an edge. I’ve got to have someone who’s innovative. I’ve got to have someone who knows the league. I’ve got to have someone who has the ability to capture the imagination of the fanbase and the donor base. And, someone who can attack Dallas in recruiting. I think Alex Golesh can do all of those things. There’s an attitude that he carries himself with that I think would fit perfectly at Arkansas. There’s a level of offensive innovation. There’s an understanding of the league from his time at Tennessee. And there is a relentlessness in that I don’t think that guy would be denied until he got the infusion of donor support he needs there, and I don’t think, therefore, they would be denied until they got the talent that they need to get out of Dallas.”

This wasn’t to necessarily say anything about Golesh’s actual candidacy for this job, as Pate believes even Arkansas doesn’t yet know who Arkansas wants to hire. It’s just, based on what he’d be looking for, he sees a possible fit there between him and the ‘Hogs.

“Golesh, I think, is a serious candidate for the job. I don’t know who leads. I don’t think Arkansas knows who leads right now,” said Pate. “I just think, if he ended up being the guy? I think he’d do really good things there.”