FAYETTEVILLE — With Arkansas football struggling financially and on the field, UA athletic director Hunter Yurachek has been raked over the coals by Razorback fans since hiring Ryan Silverfield. That criticism only increased when it was revealed that Arkansas' roster is the cheapest in the SEC.
Despite the 2-4 start to the football season generating plenty of criticism for the tenured AD, John Calipari has been among Yurachek's most vocal supporters, going to bat for him publically multiple times. He was once again asked about Yurachek during SEC Basketball media days on Wednesday.
"The best thing for this program: we're not in debt," Calipari said. "Now, there are not many programs around the country that can say they're not in debt. We're not in debt. He's been great for me. Part of the reason I took the job is, I sat down with him and I was comfortable. Everything he said he would do, he did. I'm looking around the room, saying, 'What? Are we losing our minds here?'
"He has kept us to where we can now figure out how we're going to go forward. But I understand you got ADs being fired around the country. You know why? Because their programs are in debt: 200 million, 100 million, 150 million, and so they're firing ADs now, but he's going to do fine. I wish we'd have won that football game for our football players, our coach, and Hunter. But you don't know what's in the cards. I just know he's a good man."
Not being in debt is admirable for the UA athletic department, given that 94 percent of Division I athletic departments across the United States spend more money than they generate.
But fans don't care about the finances of the athletic department. They care about winning, and the reality is that the Razorback football program hasn't done enough of that during Yurachek's tenure. Since 2018, Arkansas is 38-65 and could be headed towards its fourth 2-10 season in nine years.
It makes sense that Calipari, who has all the resources at his disposal to win basketball games, likes Yurachek, and there's no reason to doubt his assessment of Yurachek's character. But football is still king in Arkansas, and there's little evidence to suggest Razorback football will have sustained success so long as Yurachek is in charge of the athletic department.