My Two Cents
By Ron Sitton

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 24 - I've told everyone I know that Dr. Terry Don Phillips, the athletic director at Clemson University, would be the next A.D. at the University of Arkansas. After all, he's family.

The former Razorback played against the Southeastern Conference's best when the Hogs beat Georgia 16-2 in the 35th Sugar Bowl, then lost to Archie Manning's Mississippi squad the next year, 27-22.

After earning his bachelor's, Phillips studied under Frank Broyles as a graduate assistant in football from 1970-71 and as associate athletic director from 1988-94. During his second stint, Phillips helped Broyles upgrade Arkansas' facilities and served as president of the Razorback Foundation.

The Razorback Nation read back then that Terry Don would someday come home after he left to take the Oklahoma State job. In 13 years, Phillips molded OSU into a replica of Broyles' success with winning teams in multiple sports, improved facilities and increased expectations both on and off the fields. During his tenure, the red-headed stepchild of Oklahoma athletics had the upper hand on its arch-nemesis, the Oklahoma Sooners.

Everybody figured Phillips was just biding time waiting for Broyles to retire. But Broyles kept hanging on and time kept dragging on. You have to figure Phillips got tired of waiting. So he changed jobs from an orange team in the Big 12 to the orange team in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2002. Within four years, he's reinvigorated an entire program and people have noticed. GeneralSports Turf Systems named Phillips as Athletic Director-of-the-Year for the Southeast Region of Division I-A for 2006.

That probably made the Tiger nation a bit jittery when rumors indicated Mama wanted him home. Maybe so much that he felt compelled to post this rebuttal on Clemson's athletic Web site.

I don't blame Dr. Phillips. He moved from a land-locked state to a coastal state. Water accounts for about 70 percent of the human body and over 72 percent of the earth. We're almost all happier by the water. But I digress.

With Phillips removing his name from consideration, I hope Arkansas looks at another former Hog with Clemson ties. Coach Ken Hatfield left Arkansas with the record for best winning percentage and went to Clemson, where Danny Ford once led the Tigers to the National Championship (Ironically, Ford became Arkansas' coach a few years later). Hatfield left Clemson to finish his career at Rice, but always professed his undying love for Arkansas.

I saw Hatfield at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Dinner last spring and got the opportunity to shake his hand. It's one of the few times in my life that the cat nearly caught my tongue because I have a lot of respect for Coach Hatfield. I told him then that I hoped he'd get back on the Hill.

I didn't think it could happen. I knew Terry Don would finally take Frank's place. Good thing I didn't place a bet. ;)

Hatfield makes sense. He's been seen watching Houston Nutt getting the Hogs ready for this season. So he's on campus already. Why not have Frank make amends for running Coach Hatfield off?

Of course, it's not Frank's move anymore and the chancellor's not talking. But for a Razorback fan who longs to return to the days when 10-win seasons were the norm instead of an anomaly, I believe we could do much worse than the University's all-time winningest coach.