Arkansas State hires Gus Malzahn

[Arkstfan]

Having been working on this since the first leaks, I can give you some of the background.

There are only three names in coaching the average non-fan in Arkansas knows. Petrino, Houston Nutt, and Gus Malzahn. Malzahn utterly dominanted in high school. At Shiloh Christian he won two state titles for the classification and they ended up playing up a class because schools in their assigned conference refused to play them after several years of repeated beatings. He then moved to Springdale in the highest classification. His last year they outscored opponents 664–118 and won the state title game 54–20.

He was named offensive coordinator at Arkansas for the next season. Nutt didn't like his offense and as the season wore on Nutt began over-riding more and more of his play calls. The Hogs dropped their final three games to finish 10-4.

Malzahn quit and took a cut in pay to be offensive coordinator at Tulsa. Terrible time for ArkSt as Tulsa began killing us in recruiting in west and central Arkansas. Tulsa became the first team in NCAA history to have a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers in a single season. They finished 1st in offense his first year and his second year they were second in the nation in scoring... ALL-TIME, not that season but in the history of I-A football.

First year at Auburn broke the Auburn single season total offense record previously set by the undefeated 2004 team. 2010 Auburn gained Newton and a national title.

From what I was told Chizik has been insisting on a stronger running game and over-riding play calls leading to a strained relationship (38th in rushing near the bottom in passing this year). The relationship broke last week.

Malzahn called Freeze and Freeze encouraged him to apply giving him full details on support, committment, recruiting, facilities, and roster. Malzahn called Arkansas State, expressed interest and named his price. ASU raised the money in short-order.

[All About UNT]

Having been working on this since the first leaks, I can give you some of the background.

There are only three names in coaching the average non-fan in Arkansas knows. Petrino, Houston Nutt, and Gus Malzahn. Malzahn utterly dominanted in high school. At Shiloh Christian he won two state titles for the classification and they ended up playing up a class because schools in their assigned conference refused to play them after several years of repeated beatings. He then moved to Springdale in the highest classification. His last year they outscored opponents 664–118 and won the state title game 54–20.

He was named offensive coordinator at Arkansas for the next season. Nutt didn't like his offense and as the season wore on Nutt began over-riding more and more of his play calls. The Hogs dropped their final three games to finish 10-4.

Malzahn quit and took a cut in pay to be offensive coordinator at Tulsa. Terrible time for ArkSt as Tulsa began killing us in recruiting in west and central Arkansas. Tulsa became the first team in NCAA history to have a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers in a single season. They finished 1st in offense his first year and his second year they were second in the nation in scoring... ALL-TIME, not that season but in the history of I-A football.

First year at Auburn broke the Auburn single season total offense record previously set by the undefeated 2004 team. 2010 Auburn gained Newton and a national title.

From what I was told Chizik has been insisting on a stronger running game and over-riding play calls leading to a strained relationship (38th in rushing near the bottom in passing this year). The relationship broke last week.

Malzahn called Freeze and Freeze encouraged him to apply giving him full details on support, committment, recruiting, facilities, and roster. Malzahn called Arkansas State, expressed interest and named his price. ASU raised the money in short-order.

Thanks for the insight ArkStFan! I am sure he will do just fine in Jonesboro and he has plenty to work with and help him shine next year.

[ADLER]

Where did they get that kind of money in Jonesboro???? Talk about upping the ante. They are serious!

Wow, incredible hire for Arkansas State. They have made quite an investment and hopefully it works out for them exactly as they want.

[WinstonTheWolf]

Don't.....he will still have his chance. From Ark St.'s perspective they had to hire a "name". They recently were mentioned all over the sports newscasts due to the success of Freeze and now they are keeping the ball rolling by bringing in a guy they can't possibly pay for. At 850k a year that is what... around a 300% increase in Coaching Salary? Rather impressive for a school with a 30 Million dollar endowment. Alas...from Ark. State's perspective they felt dissed by Hugh and wanted to show everyone that they were a "player" so they went for a name. A name that couldn't land a job at Houston, Texas A&M, Kansas and so on. Is this a splash hire and ultimately good for the Belt? Yes. However... history may well prove that it was as big of a slam dunk as FIU bringing Isiah Thomas into the fold.

Isaiah Thomas? Really?

We hired a guy that can energize Arkansans. Sell tickets. And run Hugh Freeze's offense. Please understand stAte's plight. Statewide media ignores us. Not tonight. The former golden child of the Razorbacks ( and Hugh Freeze's mentor ), got us the lead story on 2 Little Rock newscasts at 10. Not sportscasts - newscasts. I know it seems like it isn't a big deal - but hell we struggle to get scores mentioned in Little Rock TV - not to mention highlights.

This hire is a BIG deal in Arkansas. And a 14K enrollment school stepped up and paid the biggest SBC football contract EVER. How about some props for advancing our league.

[WinstonTheWolf]

Yes, I also feel for Chico; I love the way he got the players motivated when he took over as interim. I'm just not sure Arkansas State would have really been the place for him, and I'm sure he will still have other shots at being an FBS head coach. The problem that he, and North Texas overall last year, was that we had trouble coming up with a consistently good offense. Losing Dunbar hurts, but we may have a more balanced offense next year, with the new and returning receivers, as well as what looks like a very good crop of running backs.

And yes, Malzahn is good, and his offense made us look bad when he was at Tulsa. We STILL haven't solved Tulsa, but I am saying that we can put together a team that can solve Arkansas State next year. The real problem is that they still have Aplin, who should make Gus look good in his first year there. I still like our chances given an improving offensive line.

I really wanted Canales to be stAte's coach. We just couldn't pass up Malzahn.

[Arkstfan]

I was fully for Chico until I saw the Malzahn story had legs. Wild day

[LongJim]

Great for State and great for the Belt. Hopefully GM is as good a program builder as an OC. Congrats.

[Green Mean]

Good for ASU. Honestly I don't see why ASU can't be our biggest rival in the conference...they're close enough and with this hiring this greatly improves our league and the perception to outsiders especially to guys in CUSA, MWC etc.

[Dr. Seuss]

I really think a lot of yall dont know who Gus Malzahn is. This guy wrote the book on the hurry up offense Heres the book. The man is an offensive genius, he uses the refs as screens in his plays...

He was a HS coach back in 2001, its not like he came right out of HS like Dodge

This is an absolute great hire for stAte, but I dont know how long he'll be there... I dont know if hes committed to the program like Mac or if hes using this as a stepping stone.. Interesting to see who had a better first year with all there Sr. leaving, Mac or Malzahn

[MeanGreenTexan]

I really think a lot of yall dont know who Gus Malzahn is. This guy wrote the book on the hurry up offense Heres the book. The man is an offensive genius, he uses the refs as screens in his plays...

He was a HS coach back in 2001, its not like he came right out of HS like Dodge

This is an absolute great hire for stAte, but I dont know how long he'll be there... I dont know if hes committed to the program like Mac or if hes using this as a stepping stone.. Interesting to see who had a better first year with all there Sr. leaving, Mac or Malzahn

AR is home for Malzahn. I don't think he'd leave unless the Razorbacks came calling... look at the Vandy offer. If it were about money/prestige, he'd be building Vandy into an SEC contender.

Very Nice Hire for ARSt. The belt is getting better.

[UNT90]

He was a HS coach back in 2001, its not like he came right out of HS like Dodge

Yep. And people need to remember that Ark. St's last head coach (Freeze) also had no head coaching experience above the high school level, and all he did was go undefeated in the Belt and land an SEC job.. IN ONE YEAR while UNT has a legacy of underhiring and then firing coaches for poor performance (got to go back 30 years to find a coach that left for a better job.... that tells you all you need to know).

People need to understand that we were the only university foolish enough to hire a high school coach STRAIGHT FROM HIGH SCHOOL THAT HAD NEVER BUILT A WINNER ON HIS OWN. Stop comparing proven college assistants to Todd Dodge. It's an insult to the proven college assistant.

[untbowler]

AR is home for Malzahn. I don't think he'd leave unless the Razorbacks came calling... look at the Vandy offer. If it were about money/prestige, he'd be building Vandy into an SEC contender.

Very Nice Hire for ARSt. The belt is getting better.

Malzhan was also much more popular than Houston Nutt, which also led to his move to Tulsa.

[Mean Green Matt]

(Insert random comment drooling over ASU coaching hire).

[Dr. Seuss]

AR is home for Malzahn. I don't think he'd leave unless the Razorbacks came calling... look at the Vandy offer. If it were about money/prestige, he'd be building Vandy into an SEC contender.

Very Nice Hire for ARSt. The belt is getting better.

Vandy isnt a good job, yes 3 mill is a ton of money but Malzahn was in the middle of winning a national championship... Those dont happen to every year.. To him having a shot at winning a national championship was worth more than the job at a bottom tier SEC program

[MeanGreenTexan]

Vandy isnt a good job, yes 3 mill is a ton of money but Malzahn was in the middle of winning a national championship... Those dont happen to every year.. To him having a shot at winning a national championship was worth more than the job at a bottom tier SEC program

And he achieved this by taking the HC job at ARSt.?

[Dr. Seuss]

And he achieved this by taking the HC job at ARSt.?

The sentence before stated that the offer was right in the middle of winning a national championship, not with stAte but with Auburn... I dont see Malzahn at stAte for a long time, 2 years max... Hes a young coach with a lot of talent.. He'll get offers to a bigger program that has a winning tradition and hell jump right on it

[TIgreen01]

Great hire by ASU. Question: How much of the Ark St. front 7 returns next year?

[Eagle1855]

Glad for A-S-U,

Still happy with our hire, too

His wife's a nutter.

[CaliMeanGreen]

Good hire for the conference, will bring more attention to the SBC. Which is great for the Mean Green Nation!

One positive we have, we have the best facilities in the conference.

Interesting thought...

Gus turns down Vandy a year ago.

This year interview process w/UNC & KU, both offer others.

Interesting video arises during interview process. An SEC program cant have a video floating around, not a good year in college football to raise any eyebrows.

2011 Auburn: 7-5 season.

Gus leave 40% paycut and is now at stAte and is now in Jonesboro a year after winning the National Championship and coaching a player to win the Heisman

UNT will win the conference next year and go bowling for sure.

I look forward to a packed house for stAte at Apogee and we welcome him to the SBC with a L.

That game is definitely circled in my book, and look forward to coming to the game.

Go Mean Green!

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Malzhan is very popular in ARkansas from his HS Coaching Days and then his days at UA before Nutt ran him off, he did very well at Tulsa as well prior to Auburn, so this is a big time hire, especially in Arkansas

Big hire for sure. Its great for ASU and great for the conference. I loved watching call plays for 8-9 games under Nutt. Too bad Nutt ran him off. Ultimately probably was the final straw for Nutt.

Say what you want but God Bless Chico. Who would have ever thought Gus would pass on 15 million from Vandy to take the Ark State job...

I am going to say it... I like Gus, he is unique and I like guys that go against the grain. Gus is an offensive genius. Say what you want about the Sun Belt but we have some damn good coaches in this league.

Agree. Great for the conference.

AR is home for Malzahn. I don't think he'd leave unless the Razorbacks came calling... look at the Vandy offer. If it were about money/prestige, he'd be building Vandy into an SEC contender.

Very Nice Hire for ARSt. The belt is getting better.

If so, he may be at ASU for a while since Petrino is probably going to be a Hog for a while.

[Eagle1855]

Let's go ahead and get the annual Ark State and UNT game moved to the last game of the season. That way, when it's played for a BCS spot in 2014, we'll garner maximum exposure. #drinkingbefore5pmdontjudgeme

[Mean Green Matt]

If so, he may be at ASU for a while since Petrino is probably going to be a Hog for a while.

If he is successful, he will be gone pretty quick because ASU won't be able to pay him enough to keep him. It sounds like the situation at Auburn was deteriorating and he wanted out. Success will bring better job offers than Vandy.

If he is not successful, it will be funny watching ASU try and scrounge up the money to buy out the contract.

[forevereagle]

I don't think that he will be interested in staying at ASU long term if he is successful. He is looking to move up. This provides him an opportunity to do so.

[MeanGreenTexan]

I don't think that he will be interested in staying at ASU long term if he is successful. He is looking to move up. This provides him an opportunity to do so.

I guess I'm just missing why being the HC at ARSt. is MORE of an opportunity than being the Offensive Coordinator of Auburn or the HC of Vanderbilt?

[Mean Green Matt]

I guess I'm just missing why being the HC at ARSt. is MORE of an opportunity than being the Offensive Coordinator of Auburn or the HC of Vanderbilt?

It's not. His situation at Auburn was deteriorating, and he got out while he could. The other HC offers were not there for Mahlzahn this year. That doesn't make it a bad hire, although if it turns out mediocre, it will be funny.