Hog Calls

Dykes just getting started at Arkansas

Arkansas head coach Jimmy Dykes cheers on his team during a women's college basketball game against Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday, March 20, 2015, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Arkansas head coach Jimmy Dykes cheers on his team during a women's college basketball game against Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday, March 20, 2015, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Although his 10th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks were drummed out of the second round of the NCAA Women's Tournament by Kim Mulkey's prohibitively favored Baylor Lady Bears on Sunday in Waco, Texas, Jimmy Dykes counter-punched Mulkey's punchline to drum into recruits and Arkansas fans that he is Arkansas' coach for the long haul and totally an ex-ESPN sportscaster.

Mulkey, the veteran women's coach who has led Baylor to two national championships, and Dykes had NCAA news conferences Saturday in Waco following their opening round victories in Friday's first round.

Dykes quipped that he "had done everything at the NCAA Tournament but officiate it" while noting that he was a former walk-on in the 1980s for Eddie Sutton's Arkansas teams, served as an assistant for Sutton at Kentucky and Oklahoma State and had served as a commentator for NCAA men's and women's tournaments for ESPN before leading Arkansas women's team into this year's tournament in his first season as the Razorbacks' coach.

Complimenting his news conference schtick, Dykes said Mulkey joked: "You know, if this coaching thing doesn't work out you could always get back into broadcasting."

"I told her I ain't getting back into broadcasting," Dykes said. "This coaching thing is going to work out."

Dykes touted his future at Arkansas during Monday's season wrap-up with media in Fayetteville.

"For anyone out there that thinks this is just something I am going to try for a couple of years, they are wrong," Dykes said. "I am bound and determined."

If every year was this enjoyable, Dykes might still coach if he reached 100.

Starting with the five recruits signed in November and others he seeks to sign in April, Dykes banks on every Arkansas team being more talented than his 18-14 first one.

"They make us faster, they make us quicker, they make us more explosive," Dykes said of the five who have signed.

But no team he coaches is apt to be more cherished by their coach than his first one.

The "I'm fine with nine" roster survived a nonconference gauntlet so tough that just playing it helped secure a NCAA Tournament bid. Arkansas dug out of a 1-6 SEC start to finish 6-10 in the league, then it advanced two rounds into the SEC Tournament before going two rounds deep in just its second NCAA Tournament appearance since Gary Blair last coached Arkansas in 2003.

Whatever Dykes imparted to his team, his team imparted more to him, Dykes said.

"I really don't believe we could have gotten any more out of the nine players than we did this year," Dykes said of a group that was led by graduating seniors Calli Berna and Jhasmin Bowen. "That's not anything we did, that's the inspiration they have given to me. They have completely given everything they possibly could from the very first practice.

"This year's team was about toughness, tenacity and a will to win that never wavered. The first thing I expect for next year's team is to completely understand what this team was about. They have to grasp that before anything else."

Sports on 03/25/2015

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