FAYETTEVILLE -- Prior to being named Arkansas' eighth women's basketball coach March 30, Jimmy Dykes was thinking of how to emphasize the importance of keeping the top talent inside the state.
"I've stayed up on it enough over the years to know some of the best high school talent has left Arkansas over the years go to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Rutgers," Dykes said.
Dykes worked as a commentator for ESPN from 1995 until landing the Arkansas job. He last coached college basketball in 1991, when he served as an assistant to Eddie Sutton. During the interview process, he told Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long that landing the top in-state talent would be a priority.
He eventually came up with "Be Arkansas" when he often uses it his speeches, recruiting pitches and most notably in his Twitter posts.
Dykes came up with the slogan on a whim during the middle of his speech while being introduced as Arkansas' coach.
"As I was speaking, I remember saying how important this state is and if you're good enough to be a Razorback and you're from the state of Arkansas, don't be from Arkansas, be Arkansas," Dykes said. "Right then it just stuck. I knew that was going to resonate."
A few hours later, his wife Tiffany confirmed his initial feeling about the slogan.
"She said people were going to remember that," Dykes said.
The slogan isn't only used within the women's basketball program, it's being used by others on campus.
"Bret Bielema called me the next day and said, 'Hey, I took some notes from your press conference, some things we're going to to start using, ' " Dykes said. "It's become a popular deal."
It was after talking to Bielema and seeing chatter on Twitter that Dykes realized "Be Arkansas" was a hit. He said his speech was aimed at rising ninth-, 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders in the state who have the ability to be a Razorback.
"I was speaking directly at them," he said.
Arkansas is also using the phrase and the Razorback mascot to sell its program to recruits from outside the state.
"We are different. We are special. There's only one Razorback," Dykes said. "There's a whole world of Tigers and Lions, but there's only one Razorback."
Arkansas has won national championships in football, men's basketball and track and field, and Dykes sees no reason why the school can't eventually win a women's national title with homegrown prospects.
"Corliss Williamson from Russellville, Darren McFadden in football, just keep keep on going down line," Dykes said. "When Eddie Sutton put Arkansas basketball on the map, it was [Sidney] Moncrief, [Ron] Brewer and [Marvin] Delph -- Arkansas guys that chose to be Arkansas."
Dykes has secured five oral commitments for the 2015 class: North Little Rock point guard Malica Monk, forward Keiryn Swenson of Wichita (Kan.) Maize, Conway point guard Jordan Danberry and forward Briunna Freeman of Pelham, Ga., and guard Bailey Zimmerman of Wonderview.
He said looking for prospects who excel in the classroom and on the court and exhibit good character.
"I don't want them to be good, I want them to be great," Dykes said. "I want somebody that wants to be great as a student. I want them to be great as a player, and I want them to be great as a person."
Dykes said he has eliminated some highly regarded prospects because of concerns about their character.
"You have to build this program with character," he said. "That word gets tossed out a lot. I know that, but that's really important to me because I'm going to ask so much."
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Sports on 09/14/2014