Grobe makes wise call turning down Arkansas

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Jim Grobe is a triple threat.He can coach, he can model rumpled sweatshirts and he can cause irregular heartbeats faster than lightning.When Wake Forest fans discovered that Grobe was weighing Arkansas' $2.2 million offer, the common reactions included arrhythmia and a real sense of football doom. His name had been attached to other coaching searches, from Baylor to Nebraska and beyond the swaying wheat, but this time Razorbacks backers assumed they had their man. Boosters approved the necessary financial supplement, declared the deal almost done and conveyed the virtual certainty to reporters.While Arkansas fans debated the wisdom of hiring a largely unfamiliar character from the unimposing ACC, Grobe churned through his night of decision. He reached a conclusion -- no, but thanks -- before sunrise and eventually phoned Wake AD Ron Wellman, who started spreading the news that calmed erratic Deacon hearts.You can only imagine the Ozark outrage. Half those folks don't know Jim Grobe from Garlic Clove, and the other half figure that money will buy whichever coach they want (and buy him out when they get fed up, which commonly takes about two years around the hog trough).If Grobe needed a reason to reject big dough in college football's biggest league, the Arkansas track record fit the description.These people never got over Frank Broyles retiring his whistle and running the entire athletics department for 30 more years. They tolerated Lou Holtz (60-21-2) but waved good-bye to Ken Hatfield (55-17-1) after six seasons. They barely introduced the next two guys before hiring Danny Ford, gone five years later with a losing record.Houston Nutt, Broyles' last scholarship recruit, won regularly for six years, then hit a two-year speed bump. Nutt recovered with the SEC West title and a 10-4 record in 2006, but the insurrection had already trampled the chicken coop.Enemies within the so-called Razorback family obtained records of the coach's phone calls and text messages, trying to document an alleged affair that Nutt and his wife disavowed in bizarre public statements. Fans argued over a quarterback's transfer and an assistant's departure.Three early losses this season fueled the discord and triggered the underground campaign for alumnus Butch Davis, working his first North Carolina season. Led by Heisman candidate Darren McFadden, Arkansas won eight games and upset No. 1 LSU, but Nutt grew weary of disrespect and civil war. He fled for Mississippi and a contract that will pay $7.4 million over four seasons, with three option years.Savior Davis pulled out, after using Arkansas as leverage in his campaign for stadium renovations. Carolina blinked reflexively and pushed Davis' package over $2 million with a raise of nearly $300,000, quite a reward for going 4-8 and dodging a wild Duke chip shot.The next savior, Tommy Bowden, inspired the Razorback Foundation to approve salary supplements and declare the deal almost done. It wasn't, naturally, and Bowden used the leverage for a sweeter Clemson extension.That episode reminded jilted Razorbacks of their most recent basketball fiasco. Creighton's Dana Altman stirred up the money pot and actually did the deal.... for 25 hours. After Altman pulled out, Arkansas hired John Pelphrey.Detect a pattern? Informed people following the Grobe story suspected that Arkansas money didn't necessarily mean an Arkansas contract. Sam Walton is dead. Bill Clinton is gone. When the boy from Hope left the White House, he rode off in the other direction, toward New York.Grobe often calls himself an old hillbilly, but there's a difference between West Virginia hills and Arkansas hills.As a coach, Grobe wants control over the program, including the power to retain his entire staff and to keep assistants regardless of what meddling boosters say. He wants a boss who makes him feel comfortable by sharing the same goals, not by sharing some idiotic booster's fortune.Grobe prefers mutual respect and the rule of reason, which explains why he would turn down Arkansas and why he would consider leaving Wake Forest with a 45-39 record and two straight bowls. Only months removed from the school's first major bowl and a contract extension, Grobe experienced symptoms of an imperfect marriage this season.It had nothing to do with conniving fans looking through his phone records, but it probably had a lot to do with sharp criticism after the Virginia loss. Some Deacon fans ripped Grobe for his conservatism and his reliance on kicker Sam Swank, who missed the potential winning field goal. Some resumed frying offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke, a target the past two seasons because Wake Forest intentionally tries to minimize turnover risks and win close games by making fewer mistakes.Grobe didn't tell the ingrates to shut up, but the backbiting clearly got under his skin. When his name wound up on speculation lists at Nebraska and elsewhere, Grobe looked everyone in the eye and said that he loved Wake Forest but would listen to any offer. That's the American football way.Folks can interpret these developments as they choose. A reasonable translation: If fans don't fully appreciate what Grobe and his stable staff have accomplished, he might listen a little more closely when the next waves of yahoos come calling with riches in tow.He is a smart, warm fellow with a surprisingly volcanic competitive core, visible mainly when refs make questionable fourth-quarter calls or outsiders question his methods. He is down to earth and genuinely engaging, and sometimes he reacts with an old hillbilly's genuine candor.At 55, the ripe age for one more career move, if he wants to chase the championship ring or double his estimated $1 million package or hear a different fight song on the way to retirement's first tee. The current market has two such jobs still unclaimed, Michigan and UCLA, with more to follow next season.Conditions change. Relationships change. Grobe might leave Wake Forest one day, but it won't be today, and it certainly won't be for Arkansas.(Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)