Arkansas! Razorbacks!

[spurly]

Dana Altman snubbed Arkansas and returned to Creighton.  He said that his heart is there, it kind of makes me wonder if an alumni promised him a lot of money in addition to his salary.

[twd]

Yeah, the cynical side of me leans that way.  Arkansas Chancellor John White wished him the best, and said he looked forward to Arkansas beating the socks off him in the future.  And John Calipari says he isn't interested, and that he had only been speaking with Arkansas in an advisory capacity.

[spurly]

Gillespie isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  He's got a great situation in Aggie Land.  Why would he ever want to leave?

Well, it looks like I may have been wrong in the above statement.  I don't know how anyone would want to leave Aggieland for Kentucky, but sources say that is what is going to happen today.  I wish him the best, but I look forward to beating him if the Aggies meet him in the NCAA tournament.

[Cross-titled]

Gillespie isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  He's got a great situation in Aggie Land.  Why would he ever want to leave?

I heard this morning that he never signed the contract extension that was offered him to stay a few days ago.  It just laid on his desk until he found out wht would happen about the KY job.

[twd]

Just heard that Arkansas has hired the basketball coach Pelfrey (sp?) from Southern Alabama.

[spurly]

Just heard that Arkansas has hired the basketball coach Pelfrey (sp?) from Southern Alabama.

It was going to be hard for them to hire a good coach.  Broyles was leaving so the coach didn't know who his future boss would be, and they are having serious problems with some of their players.  This may have been the best they could find. 

[marc]

John Pelphrey (I think that's the spelling) is highly thought of around here.  He was an assistant coach at Marshall under Donovan, and of course played for Kentucky.  The danger would seem to be that if he does well at Arkansas and UK's new coach is a disappointment, he might jump at the chance to coach at his alma mater in a few years.

Not as quickly as Huggins left K-state most likely. 

[coachk]

It was going to be hard for them to hire a good coach.  Broyles was leaving so the coach didn't know who his future boss would be, and they are having serious problems with some of their players.  This may have been the best they could find. 

Actually, Pelphrey is a great choice - better than Dana Altman (who they hired last week before he backed out.) 

Pelphrey has a great pedigree:

* Played at Kentucky under Eddie Sutton and Rick Pitino.
* Coached under Sutton at OSU.
* Coached under Florida'a Billy Donovan both at Marshall and Florida.
* As head coach at USA, turned around a bad program and has won the conference two years in a row.
* Comes highly recommended by Rick Pitino, (former KY A.D.) C.M Newton, Billy Donovan and Florida A.D Jeremy Foley.

There aren't many out there with that kind of background who were going to be available for hire.  I already believed Pelphrey was destined to be a great coach (before Arkansas hired him),  and he would have been at a major conference school very soon - probably by next year at the latest.  Arkansas got a great hire here.

In fact, Florida A.D. Jeremy Foley called Frank Broyles to recommend Pelphrey - but only AFTER Billy Donovan committed to stay at Florida last week.  That seems to indicate he would have been on Florida's short list if Donovan had left for Kentucky. 

He was also on Kentucky's list, although a little further down because of guys like Donovan, Gillespie and Texas' Rick Barnes being at the top.

So, all in all, I think Arkansas came out very good with this hire.  He's not the "name" people wanted and expected, but I don't think Arkansas was in a position to get the kind of "name" coach they wanted.  Despite not being the "name" fans wanted, I think he'll be the coach people wanted.  Hopefully, the morons around here will give him a chance.

[Bon Voyage]

I think Arkansas screwed up big time.  They should have shot for the moon.  They coulda offered Nick Saban 5 million bucks to become the new basketball coach.

[Weeble]

 

Manna for you my brother!

[Arkstfan]

Dana Altman snubbed Arkansas and returned to Creighton.  He said that his heart is there, it kind of makes me wonder if an alumni promised him a lot of money in addition to his salary.

Looks like it had more to do with being a Nebraska guy at a Nebraska school coupled with some academic issues and failed drug tests.

That said, Pelphrey is potentially a better fit.

You just have to wonder though about the bizarre finish to South Alabama's season. 13-2 in the Sun Belt, on a 13 game winning streak and then dropping the final five games including three to teams with losing records in the conference.

[saved]

things on the hill have become a melodrama on the scale of general hospital.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=2885334

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2885523&sportCat=ncb

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2886706&sportCat=ncf

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=2888729