Williamson hired

Just six days after the dismissal of Rand Chappell, athletic director Brad Teague has chosen Corliss Williamson to head the Bears.

He’s a well-known name in Arkansas, but in case you didn’t know:

• 36 years old, married to Michelle, father of three sons – Chasen Cole age 12, Creed Matthew age 4, and Corliss Mondari (CJ) age 2.
• Graduate of Russellville High School, was Gatorade National POTY
• Played college basketball from 92-94 at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, winning the 94 national championship
• Drafted #13 in the 95 draft
• Played 12 years in the NBA
  • Won most-improved award
  • Won sixth-man award
  • Won NBA championship
• Retired from playing Sept. 07, became assistant coach at Arkansas Baptist
• Became the head coach before the 09-10 season. AB finished with a 5-12 record against other JCs (there were several games against “non-member” schools that aren’t showing scores).

But after all that, he’s tasked with turning around a program that’s really struggled during the D1 transition. His name-recognition could certainly be a help to recruiting, which likely will be the most important piece of the puzzle to gaining ground on the rest of the conference. And a lot of ground must be gained when taking over a team that’s gone 10-38 in SLC play to date.

The hire is sure to get some interesting responses. The media will be all over it for a few days, but mostly because of his name. Some will make comparisons to the Sidney Moncrief era at UALR. Others will point at his lack of coaching experience. Some will say he’s never recruited and others will say he’s going to be great at it because he brings instant name recognition and a player’s mentality. It should be fun to read about.

Be sure and let us know what you think with the poll on the home page.

Chappell’s comments

Well, for those of us without an ADG subscription and who haven’t seen this yet, Coach Chappell was re-quoted by a Springfield newspaper:

“I feel like they made a bad decision, an unnecessary decision,” Chappell told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. “For the past four years, this has been a bottom-30 job — because of the limitation of no postseason play.

“The second the buzzer sounded (following the final game) it became a great job. Just for somebody else,” Chappell added.

If you read the full ADG article and want to recap anything of importance, leave it in the comments…

Football Spring Practice Begins Monday

12 practices, 2 scrimmages, 1 spring game and 1 week off for spring break. That’s the schedule for the upcoming spring for the youthful Bears football squad.

UCA returns 40 lettermen and 10 starters, with another 12 players who have started at least one game during their career. . .
The Bears will have two quarterbacks battling to replace the graduated Robbie Park (Nathan Dick and Wynrick Smothers. . .
Sophomore quarterback Trae Cook has been suspended for spring practice.

PRACTICE DATES (3:40 p.m.)
March 15, 16, 18, 19, 31
April 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15

SCRIMMAGES (3 p.m.)
April 3, 10

SPRING GAME (6 p.m.)
April 16

The UCASports story also touches on a list of players that are out for the spring due to surgeries and who coach is looking to as the leaders after losing so many seniors off last year’s team.

Also, a quick look at the updated roster shows a lot of new names with no numbers. If I counted correctly, there are 78 guys listed, 15 of those are numberless.

SB Bball offseason begins

It’s been just three days since the end of the season, but DMc is already shedding some light on the future of Sugar Bear basketball.

Daniel said he plans to sign one to three new recruits, including a junior college transfer or two to “add some maturity to our roster.” He will add one assistant coach and possibly two.

Signee Courtney Duever was spotted at the game Saturday along with what appeared to be one or two other possible additions to the roster next season. And, for the record, she does have some pink hair.

Others thoughts on Chappell

I don’t know who these people are, but Google has alerted me to their thoughts on the dismissal of Rand Chappell and his staff. (Please disregard the poor grammar/spelling.)

Central Arkansas fired their coach Rand Chappell after completing their transition to D1. Coach Chappell took the team to their first D2 tournament before they decided to go D1. Seems to rough to fire the dude after he endured the transition. LINK

Ouch. Rand Chappell lost his job after seven years at the helm, with three years left on his contract. . .
Thanks for your service, coach. By the way: It’s a business. The press release announcing the firing noted that the rest of Chappell’s contract would be paid from “private funds.” LINK

Be sure to also notice the comment at the bottom of that second link.

Herbert somehow NOT POTY

So, it wasn’t all that unexpected, but it still doesn’t mean that it makes sense. Somehow Megan Herbert was passed over for player of the year. Let’s just see what the numbers say, shall we?

Things to remember:

• Herbert is a freshman. Plumley is a junior.
• Herbert played one fewer game this season.
• Herbert is a 5-11 forward. Plumley is a 5-4 guard.
• Lamar is elligible to compete in conference tournament and won the West Division. The Sugar Bears are obviously not elligible and came in second in the East.