Phillips hires offensive line coach

Staff, Wire Reports

Arkansas offensive line coach Mike Summers is leaving the Razorbacks to take a similar job at Kentucky.

Head coach Bobby Petrino confirmed Summers' departure Saturday in a statement.

"Mike and I have had a great seven-year run together and I appreciate all his hard work and dedication through that time," Petrino said. "He's got an opportunity to go home and be with his family, which is a priority I can understand. I want to thank him and wish Mike and his family the best."

Summers had been with Petrino since he began coaching at Louisville in 2003.

But Summers has strong UK ties. A Lexington native and Georgetown graduate, he was an assistant at Kentucky from 1979-81, the last year of which was the freshman year of new UK coach Joker Phillips. He and Phillips have remained close, and he's also the son-in-law of former UK basketball coach Joe B. Hall.

Summers is regarded as one of the top offensive line coaches in the country and a standout recruiter.

"It's always been a dream of his to come home," Hall said last week. "Lexington has always been home to him. I think it would be great. He's a Christian man of high character, doesn't drink, he relates well to kids and can recruit and evaluate talent."