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…