It’s been awhile since we’ve been real pains in the ass.
When was the last time Red Wolves fans wore the Monocle of Arrogance? I’d estimate we reached peak insufferablity at season’s end 2012, when Ryan Aplin won the coin flip against Middle Tennessee and announced that the game was already over. Furthermore, I estimate that we saw our last true burst of arrogance in summer of 2018, when Phil Steele added Arkansas State to his preseason Top 25.
When did hubris turn to humility? I’m no anthropologist, but I’d pin the exact date to Tuesday, October 9 2018, when the Appalachian State Mountaineers galloped into Jonesboro and destroyed head coach Blake Anderson on national television 35-9. It was the disastrous evening that slammed the lid on the Reign of the Red Wolves, with the Mountaineers defense forcing three turnovers and allowing only three third down conversions all night, sapping all nurrishing vanity from the Jonesboro faithful. The game that was supposed to cement A-State’s status as the Sun Belt Sheriff revealed an ugly truth – the conference had passed us by.
In truly arrogant fashion, our pretentiousness was without backup. There was no Plan B! After Nevada defeated Anderson’s Red Wolves at the Arizona Bowl 16-13 in overtime, Red Wolves fans were treated to a dispirited 13-win season from men’s basketball. Don’t even bother checking in with baseball. Indoor/outdoor track, soccer and bowling heroically shouldered the load as best they could, but our chest pounding days were over. A filmy veil of darkness and pessimism settled upon Jonesboro like a greasy sheet of Saran Wrap.
As Red Wolves fans floated in the tepid waters of their own saltless humility, a New Order of Arrogance took hold of the Sun Belt. We endured the strutting of Mountaineers and Chanticleers. We grit our teeth and curtsied to the Dukes and Cajuns and Trojans. We bore the slings-and-arrows of prancing Panthers and haughty Jaguars. Thank God for the Warhawks!
Our days of humble subjugation may have last come to an end.
Red Wolves football, picked to finish a modest fourth in the Sun Belt at this year’s SBC Media Days, are finally feeling it under head coach Butch Jones, boasting some of the best position groups in the conference and led by the supremely confident sophomore quarterback Jaylen Raynor. The excitement was enough to launch the most enthusiastic Red Wolves Kick Off Event of all time on Friday night, prompting Arkansas State Man ™ Corey Rucker to respond in awe.
The Arrogance Rises, y’all. And damn, it’s a fine blast of dopamine! Should Red Wolves football stumble, that’s not okay (per se), but we now have multiple vessels for which to pour our unbridled lordliness! Red Wolves men’s basketball not only enjoyed an 18 win season under new head coach Bryan Hodgson, the team looked dynamic during its run to the SBC Tournament Finals, minting stars that have electrified the fan base. Undergirding last year’s performance was a recruiting effort unseen in Jonesboro, landing what is currently the 49th best class in the nation. You think the fans are pumped? Check out the team:
Whether or not A-State Men’s Basketball or Football wins titles is immaterial; what matters is that expectations are elevated and we are here for it. How here for it are we? Red Wolves fans are even talking about baseball now that the program has hired Mike Silva for head coach and appear to be ready to pump some serious investment into staffing and facilities. Will Arkansas State ever become a baseball contender in the mighty Sun Belt? Who knows! It’s fun to actually see we’re trying, though.
This is a warning to the Sun Belt: Red Wolves Arrogance is returning. You think the 2014 Eagles were hard to deal with, you just wait until the Arkansas State gets rolling…whenever that might be. Probably soon, though. We’re already polishing our monocles.
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Howlraiser 