Hunter Yurachek: Arkansas football not financially 'set up to win national championship'

As he evaluated the state of Arkansas athletics this week, Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek touted the on-field success of multiple programs. He pointed out the on-field achievements in Fayetteville compared to multiple other schools he claimed have budgets upward of $300 million.

But as he evaluated the football program, from a financial standpoint, Yurachek said it still has some work to do to reach national championship-level competition. However, he added he feels good about Arkansas’ standing in the SEC.

Speaking at the Little Rock Touchdown Club, Yurachek praised Arkansas’ ability to compete with the SEC’s bigger spenders. He also specifically said men’s basketball and baseball are in position to make national championship runs, but football isn’t quite there yet – though the revenue-sharing model can help.

“I know the focus is on football – and we all want to win in football – but at the same time, those schools have been outspending us for the last decade and we still won more SEC championships among more sports than any school in the SEC,” Yurachek said. “So I think we’re doing just fine at the University of Arkansas. I think we’re set up to win a national championship in men’s basketball moving forward, we know we’re set up to win a national championship in baseball moving forward and I think we’re set up in several other sports to win a national championship.

“Football, where we are right now, we’re not set up to win a national championship. I’ll just be brutally honest with that. But I think we’re set up to compete really well in the Southeastern Conference, especially now with the new revenue-sharing model.”

When it comes to investment in the roster, Yurachek noted the front-loading of NIL dollars across the country ahead of the rev-share era. That was a trend ahead of the House v. NCAA settlement, which paved the way for schools to directly share up to $20.5 million with athletes. It also meant the NIL Go clearinghouse would go into place, vetting deals worth more than $600.

Yurachek acknowledged Arkansas was able to take that approach. However, other schools were able to capitalize even more as they built their football rosters.

“It’s directly related to finances in what programs we’re able to invest in their teams in the past and what they’re continuing to invest,” Yurachek said. “There was a loophole where schools could get ahead of the revenue-sharing and pay, really, whatever they wanted to by June 30, 2024, to players that are on their current roster and save their revenue-sharing for this year on next year’s roster and kind of double-dip, in a sense. We were able to do that to a point, but we weren’t able to do that at the same level that some of the schools that we compete with in football in this league.”

Hunter Yurachek laments ‘third lane’ in college sports

As he assessed the post-House settlement landscape, Hunter Yurachek cited three “paths” schools can take. The first is revenue-sharing with the $20.5 million cap, which he said Arkansas has “figured out” with its staff additions. The other is “legitimate name, image and likeness,” meaning deals with companies for players to capitalize on their NIL.

But there’s a third path Yurachek sees in college sports. He called out “illegitimate name, image and likeness” as something schools are using to circumvent a lack of enforcement.

The College Sports Commission came to be after the House settlement’s approval, but is still in the early stages of its launch. Until it’s fully ready, Hunter Yurachek predicted there will be schools trying to cut corners, in a sense. While he doesn’t want Arkansas to take that route, he hinted at seeing “what that third lane looks like.”

“What we have right now in college athletics is we have a speed limit, but the signs haven’t been posted on the interstate and there’s not a trooper that’s patrolling,” Yurachek said. “Let’s all raise our hands. If you’re driving down I-40 and the speed limit’s 55, but you know there’s not going to be a trooper out that day, how many are going 65? That’s what’s happening in college athletics right now. So you have to decide as an athletic director, are you going to get out in this lane that you know you’re not supposed to be in and operate without the highest level of integrity? Or do you want to stay in these two lanes? That’s where the rub is coming right now in college athletics.

“Until we get our enforcement agency up and running, you’re going to continue to have schools operating in that third lane and that’s a bad place to be, in my opinion. It’s bad for college athletics. And I don’t want to operate there, but I think to be competitive, we may have to figure out what that third lane looks like for the University of Arkansas. But we’re in a good place otherwise. … I really think we’re in a good spot in those first two lanes.”