Pittsburgh's Jeff Long Named As Arkansas Athletic Director

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) _ Pittsburgh's Jeff Long will replace Arkansas' longtime athletic director Frank Broyles, who's spent a half-century with the Razorbacks, Chancellor John White announced

Tuesday, September 11th 2007, 9:02 am

By: News On 6

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) _ Pittsburgh's Jeff Long will replace Arkansas' longtime athletic director Frank Broyles, who's spent a half-century with the Razorbacks, Chancellor John White announced Tuesday.

Long, the athletic director at Pittsburgh since 2003, emerged recently as a top candidate to replace Broyles, who has dominated Arkansas athletics for decades. Broyles is in his 50th year at Arkansas _ he started there in December 1957 when he was hired as the football coach. Broyles coached the Razorbacks until the 1977 season, when Lou Holtz took over.

``I will never try to replace Frank Broyles,'' Long said after he was introduced at a news conference Tuesday.

Broyles retires at the end of the year. White said Long would serve as an adviser before taking over as athletic director Jan. 1.

Long's most prominent hire at Pitt was football coach Dave Wannstedt, who is in his third season there. The Panthers haven't been to a bowl game since Wannstedt's arrival.

Long had previously served as associate athletic director at Oklahoma, and before that, he was the athletic director at Eastern Kentucky. He has also been an associate athletic director at Virginia Tech and Michigan.

He appears to have few ties to Arkansas, which could mean quite a transition for the Razorbacks after Broyles' lengthy tenure. 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.

Arkansas has not been without controversy lately. 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.