A.D. voices support for Pelphrey

Of course, Billy Gillispie isn’t the only coach facing speculation about his job security. Another has been Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey.

However, Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long dampened such speculation on Thursday when he voiced support for Pelphrey after the Razorbacks endured the program’s worst conference record in 38 years.

“John Pelphrey is our basketball coach,” Long said. “We have to give him time to build this program, and we’re going to do that.

“We want to build the program the right way for the long term.”

Pelphrey, a standout for Kentucky in the early 1990s, has a two-year record at Arkansas of 37-28 overall and 11-21 in the SEC.

Pelphrey inherited a veteran team and guided it to a 23-12 record capped by the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory in nine years.

But after losing six seniors, plus star guard Patrick Beverley, Arkansas struggled to a 14-16 overall record (2-1 in the SEC).

Expectations rose after Arkansas beat then No. 4 Oklahoma and then No. 7 Texas before SEC play began.

“Other than the excitement that was generated when we knocked off Oklahoma and Texas, I think we saw a season that we kind of expected,” Long said. “Although we all got our hopes up high when we had those two big victories and thought the possibility of doing well in the conference was certainly there, if you go back and look at the beginning, we knew we were rebuilding. I know coaches don’t like to use that word, but we were.”