What’s next, locusts?

Pelphrey set to cure Hogs of what is plaguing them

By Bob Holt

Posted: November 8, 2009 at 4:25 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said his father often has told him he’s led a blessed life in basketball.

“My dad tells me I was born under a star, that I’m the luckiest guy on the planet,” Pelphrey said recently. “I got a chance to play at Kentucky and got my jersey retired, got to play for Rick Pitino and coach with Billy Donovan, and now I’m coaching Arkansas.

“I would say I’ve been pretty lucky.”

The basketball gods haven’t smiled on Pelphrey the past 15 months, since he led his first Arkansas team to a 23-12 record and a victory over Indiana in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Instead of a star, there seems to be a storm cloud hanging over Pelphrey and the Razorbacks, and it keeps raining down bad news.

The latest problem to rock the program was revealed in September, when media outlets reported three players had been accused of rape by a female student during a fraternity house party. No charges were filed after a police investigation, but the players will face regular-season game suspensions, according to an announcement from Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long and Pelphrey.

Sophomore guard Courtney Fortson wasn’t directly involved in the fraternity house incident, but a crass message posted on his Twitter account created more negative news and will result in his being suspended for games as well, Long said.

There also could be other player suspensions unrelated to the fraternity house incident, according to Long. Pelphrey has said he’ll be more specific about which players will be suspended for games before the start of the regular season against Alcorn State on Nov. 13.

Even before the rape allegation,the program had endured its share of negative news.

Going back to Arkansas’ announcement Aug. 8, 2008, that star guard Patrick Beverley wouldn’t be eligible to play - he later admitted he cheated on a class paper - the Razorbacks seemingly have been hit by one off-court calamity after another.

It’s as if Pelphrey and the team have had to survive a tornado, a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake, a tidal wave and a swarm of locusts.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

At least Walton Arena hasn’t burned to the ground.

The Razorbacks had the place on fire midway through last season, when despite the loss of Beverley and six seniors they raced to a 12-1 start that included victories over No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas.

Then Arkansas staggered to a 2-14 SEC record and a first-round loss to Florida in the conference tournament.

Several players were suspended for various disciplinary reasons, including Fortson missing the Kentucky game.

Montrell McDonald was dismissed from the team in early December, and Jason Henry was dismissed in July after being suspended three times during the season.

Andre Clark and Brandon Moore transferred after the season. Moore and Marcus Britt were arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.

Former football star Marcus Monk joined the basketball team in November and provided a major lift, then in January was declared ineligible for NCAA violations involving a loan from a family friend.

In the spring, the basketball team posted an 888 score on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report. It was the lowest score among SEC basketball teams andmeans the Razorbacks may lose a scholarship next year.

Beverley, who is playing professionally in Greece, told an NBA draft web site the reason he left Arkansas was because someone else did a class paper for him and that other Razorbacks might have had class papers written for them, too.

Beverley later changed his story and said he didn’t know about any cheating by teammates, but his comments already had created more damage for the program.

Then came the fraternity house incident.

“You look at everything that’s happened and you wonder, ‘What else could go wrong?’ ” said Pat Bradley, a former Razorbacks guard who co-hosts a radio show in Little Rock. “At times like these you think about those quotes - when it rains it pours, all sickness is not death, it’s always darkest right before the dawn.

“I think we’ve seen the worst of it, and now hopefully things are going to get better.”

Bradley said he continues to support Pelphrey and believes he can get the program turned around.

“I think we’re going to bounce back, because he’s making the right decisions with discipline,” Bradley said. “I think right now he’s doing the things he needs to do to take care of the problems.”

SOLVABLE PROBLEMS

It is apparent now, with four of last season’s six newcomers gone from the roster, that Pelphreymight have been reaching a bit with his first full recruiting class.

“I know he had to take some chances on some kids, but if you’re looking for a positive out of this, when a coach is able to adjust to these issues early on, I think you get the administration behind you, you get the fans behind you, and you get the players behind you if you react the right way,” Bradley said. “Coach Pelphrey is still a young guy, and to go through these bumps in the road makes him a lot more knowledgeable.”

Former Razorback Jimmy Dykes, an ESPN analyst who lives in Northwest Arkansas, said the first thing he looks at when a program is struggling is the quality of leadership. He said he likes what he sees in that regardfrom Pelphrey.

“In my mind, there is zero question about the character, the integrity and the kind of person that John Pelphrey is,” said Dykes, who was a Kentucky assistant during Pelphrey’s first two seasons with the Wildcats. “I know John Pelphrey is equipped to handle this because I know what he’s made of. I know his DNA.”

So do Donovan, who has won two national championships in his 13 seasons as Florida’s coach, and Alabama Coach Anthony Grant.

Donovan has known Pelphrey since his playing days at Kentucky - where Donovan was an assistant for Pitino - and he then hired Pelphrey as an assistant at Marshall and Florida.

Grant was an assistant with Pelphrey at Marshall and Florida.

“No one wants to go through any of that stuff,” Donovan said when asked about the problems Pelphrey has encountered at Arkansas. “But it is part of the territory that comes with coaching, and something you sometimes have to deal with.”

Donovan noted that Pelphrey went through NCAA probation at Kentucky and helped resurrect the program, and was successful with rebuilding projects at Marshall, Florida and SouthAlabama, where he was head coach for five seasons before landing the Arkansas job.

“John’s been through some different situations both as a player and as a coach that I think will help him get [Arkansas] turned in the direction he wants,” Donovan said. “I’m sure it hasn’t been easy on him. I’m sure John wishes he could change some of those situations, but they are what they are, and he’s dealing with them as best he can.”

Grant said he knows Pelphrey is excited about his returning players and the newcomers.

“What John’s been dealing with there, that’s part of life,” Grant said. “There are some things you can’t control when you’re dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds.

“I think John has handled himself and handled his program extremely well, and I think he’ll continue to do so.”

Arkansas sophomore guard Rotnei Clarke said the past few months have been tough on the players, but he said he believes adversity has brought the team closer together.

“We’ve bonded with all the stuff that’s gone on,” Clarke said. “Now we’re trying to put it in the past and look forward, and hopefully make a lot of people happy by the way we play this year. I think we’regoing to be able to do some special things.”

VOTES OF CONFIDENCE

Long and Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart have offered public support for Pelphrey and said they are convinced he’s the coach for the Razorbacks for the long haul.

“We’re standing behind Coach Pelphrey,” Gearhart said earlier this year. “I think he’s an excellent coach. I think he’s a good leader and a good man.

“I just think we’re going through some pretty serious growing pains, growing the program and changing the program, and that would have happened regardless of who the coach would be. I think he’s got to be given time, and then the problems we’re seeing will be taken care of.”

Dykes said Pelphrey “probably had some misses in evaluation in the recruiting process, maybe not only in talent, but ultimately character,” related to losing players fromlast year’s team.

“But the character thing is an area that every coach out there struggles with, and they eventually have to make an educated guess at it,” Dykes said. “I think John’s had some bad luck in that area.”

Dykes said the next stepfor Arkansas to restore the program to national respect is having success not only with victories but “how the players carry themselves off the court” in the wake of so many recent problems.

“Their margin of error as far as off the court stuff now has to be zero,” Dykes said. “I don’t think anyone understands that any better than John Pelphrey.”

FANS CAN’T WAIT

Pelphrey also understands that fans’ patience can wear thin, that five-year rebuilding plans are a thing of the past and that results - on and off the court - need to get better in a hurry.

“Coach Pitino always talks to us about how we live in a microwave society and everybody wants things right now,” Pelphrey said. “There’s a sense of entitlement that everybody wants to be able to throw it in a microwave and 15 seconds later have whatever it is.

“It just doesn’t work that way. If you’re going to go out and start a company, if you don’t have a long-term commitment to making it work, you’re not going to last very long. Maybe you can slap some Band-Aids on it and do well in the short run, but it’s not going to last.

“Wherever I’ve been, we’ve always tried to build it from the ground up so it will be something that can withstand the storms and compete for championships.

“That’s what Arkansas has done for such a long period of time to be great, and that’s what we want to be again - great.”

Pelphrey might not have seen any locusts buzzing through Walton Arena, but he acknowledged the program has been through a tough several months.

“I am smart enough to understand that with anybody’s program, whether it be college basketball or pro football or somebody’s corporation outthere, we’ve all got to deal with stuff,” he said. “Nobody is immune.”

But the sheer volume of woe heaped on Arkansas basketball since word that Beverley was ineligible? Isn’t it wearing Pelphrey out?

“I would say we’ve all been challenged,” Pelphrey said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. But I think it’s just going to make the rewards that much sweeter.”

Special, Pages 120 on 11/08/2009

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