Posted by: Chris Vannini on January 2, 2013

Jim Chaney sure is trying to endear himself to Arkansas fans.

The Hogs' new offensive coordinator was on SportsTalk with Bo Mattingly and was asked if it's hard to get Rocky Top out of his head from his previous stop in Tennessee.

"What is Rocky Top?" Chaney said. "I'm not following the line of questions here. That's past tense, I don't know any of that stuff."

That's got to sting Volunteer fans.

Perhaps the biggest question about Chaney's work in Arkansas will be his typically pass-heavy offense paired with Bret Bielema's run-first philosophy. Chaney said he will do whatever the head coach wants in terms of scheme.

"What people need to know about Jim Chaney is he's a dedicated assistant coach to the head coach's philosophy," he said. "Coach Bielema wants to run the football and be a balanced offensive attack, and that's exactly what I believe in to win in the SEC and that's what we'll be doing."

The most important thing for Chaney will be the trenches. He was asked about the biggest key to offensive success in the SEC, and it's Bielema's specialty: offensive line success

"Blocking those good defensive linemen, in my opinion," he said. "If you can't win the game at the line of the scrimmage or at least negate the playmakers on the other side, you're inevitably going to have trouble. You've got to have a good stout offensive line, they've got to be well-coached and be ready to play every week, because they're going to go up against some good football players."

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com