Hiring Anderson Gives UA Biggest Bang for its Bucks (Opinion)

There was no arguing the fact Arkansas won the press conference when Mike Anderson was introduced as its new basketball coach on March 27.

Winning a press conference is a relatively new term in the world of sports. It essentially boils down to hiring and introducing a coach that will generate a favorable buzz among fans, recruits, media, etc. In other words, it’s avoiding a Dana Altman experience.

Winning a press conference, of course, isn’t nearly as important as winning basketball games. John Pelphrey taught us that.

Lest anyone forget, a lot of Hog fans predicted greatness following Pelphrey’s introduction. His performance as the anti-Altman won him a lot of brownie points among Hog-callers. That goodwill evaporated as the losses piled up. By the time he was fired, few Arkansas fans remembered what a good fit Pelphrey seemed initially.

Anderson, meanwhile, is being touted by most as the perfect fit. His history here and preferred style of play have the Razorback faithful more excited about basketball than they’ve been since the days before the unraveling of Nolan Richardson’s run.

It’s hard to believe any of the 30 Division I schools who had introduced new basketball coaches as of this writing won their press conference in more of a rout than Arkansas. Texas Tech seemed happy with Billy Gillispie and North Carolina State with Mark Gottfried, but the buzz emanating from most schools was minimal.

Again, though, a jacked-up crowd at a press conference doesn’t guarantee success on the court. Ask Texas Tech, which stirred the pot by hiring Bobby Knight in 2001.

None of Knight’s teams at Texas Tech flourished. In seven seasons, the Red Raiders never finished higher than third in the Big 12 and made it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament just twice.

That’s not meant to compare Anderson to Knight. Putting them in the same sentence in terms of coaching success is foolish.

Perhaps a more fair comparison, when looking at the coaches hired this year, is Lon Kruger. Kruger is 479-304 in 25 seasons, while Anderson is 200-97 in nine seasons. As far as his NCAA Tournament resume, Kruger has taken 13 teams. He took Florida to the Final Four and went to the Sweet 16 (UNLV) and Elite Eight (Kansas State) in two other seasons.

Anderson has taken seven teams to the NCAA Tournament. He led Alabama-Birmingham to the Sweet 16 and Missouri to the Elite Eight.

So, while Kruger’s hiring didn’t generate the national headlines Anderson’s did, he might be just as good a fit. Time will tell.

Back to Anderson, reports indicate he has kept Arkansas’ ballyhooed recruiting class intact. He’s also apparently calmed the nerves of Rotnei Clark.

Throw in the expected spike in ticket sales, and Arkansas just might have gotten quite a bang for its $15.4 million bucks.