John Daly thrilled with state of Arkansas athletics: 'We've got it going on there'

Former Arkansas great John Daly has always kept a watchful eye on the Razorbacks’ athletics program, proud to be a part of one of the SEC’s most well-rounded athletics departments.

He follows things pretty closely. On Monday on the Paul Finebaum Show, he opened up on the state of the program.

“We’ve got it going on there,” John Daly said. “I mean the new hire of coach (John Calipari), I let him kind of just do his thing and I texted him a couple days ago, ‘Are you set, here’s my son’s number, go play golf with him if you need a break.’

“We’re so happy. (Hunter) Yuracheck‘s done a hell of a job there. Getting Bobby Petrino in there with (Sam) Pittman, little offense and let Pittman get that line doing what they need to do like we’ve always done. I’m just excited. Baseball, softball, our golf team, I mean everything’s so good at Arkansas right now.”

The entirety of the Razorback Nation is excited about the prospect of what Calipari can do on the hardwood, especially since he’s already had a hand in pulling some elite players over to follow him.

The Hogs are coming off a nice run of success under Eric Musselman, though the past season proved to be challenging and couldn’t replicate the NCAA Tournament second-weekend success the previous three years provided.

But the football team also has some positive mojo, even after it appeared coach Sam Pittman might be on the outs at the end of last year. Hiring Bobby Petrino was a huge part of creating some positive momentum.

“Well we’ve got an offensive coordinator that’s been there, that’s coached there, took us to our first BCS game against Ohio State,” John Daly explained. “The quarterbacks, the offense, loves Bobby Petrino. I don’t care where he’s been or where he’s coached, he’s just one hell of a genius when it comes to offense. It gives Pittman a chance to get that line together, get his backs together.”

That’s not to say Daly is a sunshine-pumper only, without any concerns for the program going forward.

He outlined one potential concern he has.

“The only thing I don’t know about’s our defense,” John Daly said. “We’ve got a few kids coming back, but the defense was really good the last two years when the offense wasn’t so great. But we get them two together and I just hope our defense can hold up.”