John Daly has apparently been working the Arkansas angle on Urban Meyer for years, and he’s not letting up.
Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast that Daly has spent the last 15 years trying to lure him to Fayetteville to coach the Razorbacks. The two are friends, and Meyer said Daly brought it up again during a recent golf outing.
“I was paired up with John Daly yesterday in a pro-am [tournament]. That's been my dude for a long time; he's been trying to get me to be the coach at Arkansas [for] 15 years.
He had a few cocktails one night and started screaming at me on the phone to become the next [Arkansas] coach. Obviously, that's not going to happen. "
Meyer made the comments while hosting the podcast with former Alabama running back Mark Ingram II and sports commentator Rob Stone. He didn’t spend long on the idea of coaching at Arkansas, but the story was enough to turn heads.
If Meyer’s timeline is right, Daly’s campaign stretches back to 2012, the year Bobby Petrino was fired. That would mean Daly has been at it through five different Arkansas head coaches: John L. Smith, Brett Bielema, Chad Morris, Sam Pittman, and Ryan Silverfield.
Meyer’s closing line - “Obviously, that's not going to happen.” - is the one that will stick with Arkansas fans, though it sounds more like a reaction to Silverfield’s hire than a shot at the program itself.
At 62, Meyer is a long way from a Razorbacks sideline, and the idea of him coaching at Razorback Stadium feels far-fetched. Still, Daly’s persistence makes for a pretty good offseason story, and for now the Ryan Silverfield era is underway.
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