Paper: Jim Grobe Takes Arkansas Job
By Harry King
Arkansas News Bureau
FAYETTEVILLE – Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is going to be the next football coach at the University of Arkansas and is likely to be introduced on Thursday.The board of the Razorback Foundation met briefly via conference call Wednesday evening and approved a salary supplement for Grobe, who just completed his seventh season at Wake Forest.There is a strong likelihood that Grobe will be paid more than former coach Houston Nutt, but details of the salary package were not immediately available.
A coach’s salary from state funds is limited so the Foundation must agree to guarantee any other money that is promised a coach.
For instance, former Razorback coach Houston Nutt received a state salary of $330,000, but his total package was about $1.5 million. Among other things, Nutt was guaranteed $600,000 for radio-TV and $250,000 for speaking engagements.
Huge loss for the Deacs if this comes to pass….but hardly shocking.
If Grobe leaves WS, winning the division and the ACC may turn out to be the worst thing to ever happen to WF football.
First thing that popped in my mind…Paul Johnson. It’s be a perfect fit and a much better gig for Johnson than Duke. Plus he’d already have a program established similiar to what he had at Navy.
Stuff like this sentence make me wonder if this is a legit article:
It is believed that Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long zeroed in on Bowden and Grobe as his top two choices in the days after Nutt resigned. People very interested in the search were told that Long would hire the best head coach available.
I do have to say this though – if they were to get PJ – well, I wound’t expect much of a drop off.
Great hire for Arkansas, possibly tragic loss for Wake.
Agree that Wake would/should be a major player for PJ. They’ve tasted success and have some real talent, strike decisively and they could bring PJ in and not miss a beat.
I hate that for Wake. It’s also certain that the ACC doesn’t need to be losing good coaches to other conferences right now.
Given all of the press shenanigans that have gone on in just this coaching search, I will not believe it until it is confirmed by Ron Wellman or Grobe walks into a UA press conference.
Wow…tough for Wake. Good for everyone else. Grobe was the best coach in the ACC, IMO.
Agree with RAWFS. Most notably in this situation, you’re really going to see how a successful AD takes care of business. Either announcement tomorrow that Grobe has been extended or PJ (or someone else comparable) gets the hire within a week. I would be stunned if Wellman doesn’t pull one of these two out of his hat within that timeframe.
p.s. – get O’Brien a raise, and a new football field…NOW, Lee.
Tough loss for Wake. Gets us another notch up the ladder if we can take advantage. What about PJ to GT?
Hopefully Wake tanks, the Coastal seems much more difficult than the Atlantic when Wake is winning ACC titles. And second that RAWFS.
Agreed RBC, if this is true, I hope they sink back to their lowness. I’m so tired of losing to them. It was nice back when we could at least count two sure wins on the schedule, dook and wake!
That’s a huge blow to Wake and the ACC if this happens. I’ve always like Grobe.
I don’t really want to see Wake sink, I’d rather us rise above. There are about ten other teams in the ACC that I hate losing to worse than I do Wake Forest.
I am not buying this yet. The Arkansas plane is still at RDU with no flight plan filed. Could possibly be negotiating with Butch’s henchmen. After all, Greensboro has a perfectly good airport last I checked.
Watching the Florists heap hissing venom on Grobe is quite revealing (check their message board). If this proves to be more bushwah, I will enjoy pasting those posts each time we play Wake Forest in anything.
Folks, this is all FAR from over at this point.
from espn (who doesn’t have a great track record with these things, but…)
LITTLE ROCK — A University of Arkansas private fundraising arm approved a salary supplement Wednesday for Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, a strong indication that Grobe will replace Houston Nutt as the Razorbacks’ coach.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3143465
I just don’t see PJ going to Wake.
PJ is paid $1.5 m now’ Grobe is paid $1.1. Wake would have to pay $1.7 m or more. Will they do that?
Agree waxhaw. Why wouldn’t PJ want to go to GT instead? Much better recruiting there and I would think more money.
I thought Grobe would either go to Michigan or Arkansas. His style is better suited to Arkansas. Both could give him a much better athlete base. I suspect his money will slightly improve as well. If Tommy Bowden can get a 1 MILLION dollar raise for NOTHING and ‘ol Butch-slap can get up to 2 MILLION for looking pathetic all year can you imagine what Grobe is worth with a BCS appearance and ACC Championship?
This sounded like a sure thing, but I am not going to believe it until Wake confirms. If this is really happening, then my guess is that Grobe will meet with his players this morning and then fly to F’ville.
Losing Grobe is a terrible loss for Wake and for the ACC. As the conference continues to spiral downward, we need to hold onto all the great coaches that we have.
The real question for Grobe is whether his offensive scheme will translate well to the SEC — where there are near-NFL caliber defenses game after game. Arkansas was an up-and-comer under Nutt, and he had the benefit of a Heisman-caliber running back. Grobe won’t have that initially.
He will also be stepping into an absolutely insane fanbase that takes the worst elements of all three area schools and combines them into one large and lately very unhappy group — despite their success. For example, their fans and local papers are fond of filing Freedom of Information access papers for the coaches’ cell phone, text messages and email records — something *we* could do too (and it would be fun to read Lee Fowler’s emails) but it’s also something that is rarely if ever done here at least by State’s fans.
Good luck to Grobe, and if he wants a new challenge, I hope he realizes what it is he’s getting into. They will certainly not have the patience that Wake fans had while he build their program.
The ACC is guaranteed of two things: Clemson will win 7-9 games next season and Wake will go back to being Wake (but will probably beat State).
This means 10-15 years of mediocrity for wake.
“For example, their fans and local papers are fond of filing Freedom of Information access papers for the coaches’ cell phone, text messages and email records — something we could do too (and it would be fun to read Lee Fowler’s emails) but it’s also something that is rarely if ever done here at least by State’s fans.”
Yeah, people have a tendency to do that when you’re having an affair on the public’s dime. See: Giuliani, Rudolph.