Posted at 6:58 a.m., Monday, April 9, 2007
Arkansas to hire Pelphrey as basketball coach
Associated Press
Arkansas hired South Alabama's John Pelphrey as its new basketball coach today, a South Alabama athletic department official told The Associated Press.The official spoke on the condition of anonymity pending Arkansas' announcement at an afternoon news conference.
The Razorbacks have been without a coach since Stan Heath was fired March 26. They hired Dana Altman last Monday, but Altman changed his mind and returned to Creighton the next day.
Athletic directors Frank Broyles of Arkansas and Joe Gottfried of South Alabama did not immediately return calls from the AP.
The hiring was first reported Sunday by FoxSports.com and CBS Sportsline.com, citing unidentified sources.
Altman's startling reversal led Arkansas to enlist a search firm to help find a coach. Arkansas eyed Billy Gillispie, who later left Texas A&M to take over at Kentucky. The Razorbacks also received permission to talk to Memphis coach John Calipari.
The Razorbacks went 21-14 last season and made the NCAA tournament for the second straight year, but they lost in the first round both seasons. Heath was fired and took the South Florida job.
Pelphrey went 80-67 in five seasons at South Alabama, including 44-19 the last two seasons. The Jaguars made the NCAA tournament in 2006.
The 38-year-old Pelphrey has plenty of Southeastern Conference experience. He was an assistant at Florida from 1996-02 and played at Kentucky.
His college playing career ended on one of the most memorable shots in NCAA tournament history. Pelphrey was standing a few feet from Christian Laettner when the Duke star made his famous buzzer-beater against Kentucky in the 1992 round of eight.
After that, Pelphrey became an assistant at Oklahoma State and Marshall before heading to Florida.
