Posted at 12:40 p.m., Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Colleges: Pittsburgh's Long to become Arkansas AD
By Noah Trister
Associated Press
Broyles started at Arkansas in 1957 when he was hired as football coach and coached the Razorbacks until 1977, when Lou Holtz took over. Broyles retires at the end of the year.
"I will never try to replace Frank Broyles," Long said at a news conference.
Long, Pitt's AD since 2003, will serve as an adviser before taking over Jan. 1, chancellor John White said. Long will be paid a base salary of $450,000, with incentives for athletic and academic achievements.
Donna Sanft will be the interim AD at Pitt as the school searches for Long's successor. Sanft was the gymnastics coach at Pitt for 12 years (1974-86) and has been an athletic department administrator since.
At Pittsburgh, Long's most prominent hire was football coach Dave Wannstedt, who is in his third season. The Panthers haven't been to a bowl game since Wannstedt's arrival.
Long had previously served as associate AD at Oklahoma, and before that was the AD at Eastern Kentucky. He has also been an associate AD at Virginia Tech and Michigan.
He appears to have few ties to Arkansas, which could mean quite a transition for the Razorbacks after Broyles' long stay. The Razorbacks joined the Southeastern Conference in 1991, and although they have never won an SEC football title, Arkansas won a national championship in basketball in 1994 and is a national powerhouse in track and field.
The Razorbacks also have state-of-the-art facilities at their Fayetteville campus, not only in football and basketball but also less-prominent sports like baseball and track.
This has been a turbulent time for Arkansas sports.
Football coach Houston Nutt came under fire after the departure of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and a pair of top freshmen. Also, basketball coach Stan Heath was fired this year, and Broyles was heavily involved in the search for a replacement.
The school introduced Dana Altman as the new hire, then Altman changed his mind and went back to Creighton. It took another week for Arkansas to find a new coach in John Pelphrey.