And It's Not Just Because He's the Boss

Today, Arkansas announced a new men's track coach. It was not the current assistant that a group of Razorback athletes started an on-line petition to support. Nor was it the person that board posters were pushing, using the student-athlete petition as underpinning support.

Jeff Long got asked earlier in the week by one of the local papers about the athlete's on-line effort. He stepped right up, and answered. Today, the other local paper took its turn.

"My decision out there was to hire the best coach for those student-athletes," Long said. "Was I concerned they started a Web site? No, I wasn't concerned as long as they represented their thoughts and feelings in an appropriate way. And they did."

Long's been consistent on this, and the key thought is right there -- as long as they represented their thoughts and feelings in an appropriate way. That's a welcome, forward approach to the brave new Web 2.0 world we live in.

Whole stories from today's hiring in the Morning News and the earlier story about the petition from the Northwest Arkansas Times.