After Years of Winning, Hatfield Worried About the Wording : Cotton Bowl: Arkansas coach fussing over contract before facing Tennessee in second consecutive trip to Dallas.

In six seasons as head football coach at the University of Arkansas, his alma mater, Ken Hatfield has compiled a record of 55-16-1, the best winning percentage (.771) of any coach in school history. What’s more, he has survived the ‘80s without the taint of NCAA probation, which, given the state of the Southwest Conference during the last decade, is practically a Man Bites Dog story.

Lou Holtz, Hatfield’s predecessor at Arkansas, took the Razorbacks to six different bowl games during his seven years at the school, but never got them to the Cotton Bowl. Today, under Hatfield, the 10th-ranked Razorbacks (10-1) will make their second consecutive Cotton Bowl appearance, meeting eighth-ranked Tennessee (10-1). The game marks the first time Arkansas has appeared in back-to-back Cotton Bowls since 1965-66.

But, even with these accomplishments, Hatfield doesn’t rest easy, and a new contract, offered to him a year ago, remains on his desk in Fayetteville, Ark., unsigned.

“There are a couple of little wording things in there that I don’t think are right,” he said, “and I’m not going to sign it as long as they’re wrong.

” . . . It’s a difference of opinion. At this point, we have not resolved it. But I love Arkansas. It’s my state. We’ve won there. We’re recruiting well there.”

But will they love him tomorrow?

When Hatfield replaced Holtz, ousted after a 6-5 season, the move was hailed as a native son returning to his roots. Hatfield, coming off a five-year run as head coach at Air Force, had grown up in Helena, Ark., and played defensive back for the Razorbacks. His 81-yard punt return for a touchdown helped Arkansas beat Texas, 14-13, in 1964, the year the Razorbacks went 11-0 and won the national championship. Razorback fans, weary of Holtz’s jokes and excuses, were ready for the change.

It wasn’t long, however, before the school’s fickle following turned on Hatfield. His offense, a wishbone derivative known as the flexbone, was roundly knocked for being unimaginative and boring. Hatfield’s personal style also drew criticism. He was said to be too preachy, too open with his religious beliefs.

The anti-Hatfield sentiment reached a crescendo in 1987 when the Razorbacks, picked to win the SWC, finished tied for second. And as that season wound down, Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, the man who had coached Hatfield and then hired him 19 years later, joined the chorus, saying publicly that Hatfield needed to open up personally--be more willing to explain his actions to Arkansas fans--and open up his offense as well.

Under these pressurized conditions, the Razorbacks won the ’88 SWC championship outright and earned the school’s first Cotton Bowl trip in 13 years.

At the end of that season, Hatfield was offered a new contract, but he declined to sign it. There was speculation before Arkansas’ Cotton Bowl meeting with UCLA that Hatfield was headed for Georgia to replace the retiring Vince Dooley. Hatfield did not dispel that speculation, then later said the talk linking him to the job was enough of a distraction to contribute to his team’s 17-3 loss to the Bruins.

Said Broyles: “As a reward for a great (‘88) season, he got a new five-year contract, a big raise and raises for his coaches. I did that way before the Cotton Bowl. Then he looks at it, and he wants a big . . . Well, his lawyer wants a big definitive contract rather than just what faculty and Holtz and (former Arkansas basketball Coach Eddie) Sutton and Broyles and others had. So we write up a big definitive contract for him.”

Definitive? “Meaning everything a lawyer can think of,” Broyles said. “Thirteen pages.”

Broyles says he is “totally confident” with Hatfield in charge of the football program, although they are not close personally.

Said Broyles: “We have nothing in common off the field, because he does certain things like . . . Well, I play golf. He plays tennis and other things. When I’m not at the office or at home, I’m playing golf. But I don’t think I would want to be personal friends with the people who work under me, as a rule. I just don’t think that’s wise. But Ken and I are professional friends.”

Hatfield on Broyles: “My relationship with him is something that’s been different ever since I’ve been back at the University of Arkansas. But, hey, he’s doing a good job. As an athletic director, he’s doing a tremendous job.”

Still, it’s plain that these two are on different pages philosophically.

According to Broyles, a college football coach nowadays has to do more than simply win. He must win with the sort of flair that will keep the stadium full and the contributions flowing.

Said Broyles: “The day Lou Holtz walked in, I said, ‘You’ve got to sell out the stadium, do whatever it takes to sell out the stadium.’ And he did. He knew that. I think any coach knows that.”

Hatfield may know it, but he doesn’t buy into it. He did dump his flexbone this season in favor of the I-formation. But Hatfield remains a ground-oriented coach. The Razorbacks actually threw the ball less in ’89 than they did in ’88.

Hatfield on offense: “Too many of the commentators doing football on television are pro-oriented or come from the pro ranks. They think you’ve got to throw the ball every down. . . . The game is changing a little bit, but the media people have made it like if you don’t pass, you’re no good. A fullback who carries the ball is not thought of as highly as a receiver who makes a splashy, spectacular catch. And yet I love that fullback who’s got a momma and daddy just like everybody else.”

So, what does Ken Hatfield want?

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I mean, I know what I want, but that’s something that the administration, myself and so forth are going to have to talk about after Jan. 1.”