Donovan: Firing Pelphrey simply wrong move

Florida Coach Billy Donovan (right) said Arkansas “set themselves back” by firing John Pelphrey on Sunday. “When you’ve got a top recruiting class coming in and the majority of your team coming back, to me, I don’t understand that,” Donovan said.

— Florida Coach Billy Donovan doesn’t understand why Arkansas keeps firing basketball coaches, especially his good friend John Pelphrey.

Pelphrey, who was Donovan’s assistant at Marshall and Florida, became the third Razorbacks coach fired in the past 10 years when he was dismissed on Sunday after a meeting with Athletic Director Jeff Long.

Nolan Richardson, who in 17 seasons won a school-record 389 games with 13 NCAA Tournament appearances highlighted by the 1994 national title, was fired as Arkansas’ coach with one game left in the 2001-2002 season.

Stan Heath, Richardson’s replacement, was fired after the 2006-2007 season despite leading the Razorbacks to back to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.

Pelphrey, who led Arkansas to its first NCAA Tournament victory in nine years when the Razorbacks beat Indiana in 2008, was fired after the Razorbacks missed the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. The Razorbacks improved to 18-13 this season after going 14-16 and 14-18 the previous two years, and Pelphrey signed a highly-rated recruiting class in November.

Decreasing attendance was a factor cited in both the firing of Heath and Pelphrey.

“I understand fan bases, I understand enthusiasm, excitement and passion. But at some point, if you look at their program the last 10 years, it’s not because of the coaches,” Donovan said. “Nolan Richardson is a great coach. Stan Heath is a very, very good coach and John Pelphrey is a very, very good coach.

“I hope at some point they realize that whoever is in that position, you need to be given time. You’re not taking over a top-10 program. And as much as they think they are, they’re not.

“And it’s going to take them some time, and whoever is in the position now going forward, I hope for their sake that they give that person the legitimate enough [opportunity] to get their own players in there and build the program the right way.”

Donovan, who led Florida to national titles in 2006 and 2007 and has the Gators in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in the past 13 years, predicted Arkansas will regret firing Pelphrey.

“I can say this because I’ve been around him enough, that John Pelphrey is a heck of a coach, he’s a heck of a person, and I think that Arkansas just lost out on a great, great opportunity for him to build [the program],” Donovan said. “I really think Arkansas may have set themselves back even further with the decision on John.

“When you’ve got a top recruiting class coming in and the majority of your team coming back, to me, I don’t understand that.”

Donovan was among several SEC coaches, including Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, Alabama’s Anthony Grant, Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings,and Georgia’s Mark Fox, who expressed disappointment that Arkansas fired Pelphrey.

“Obviously, I think John has done a very good job rebuilding that program at Arkansas, and trying to do it the right way,” said Grant, who was an assistant alongside Pelphrey at Marshall and Florida.

Pelphrey, 42, was 69-59 at Arkansas, including 27-43 against SEC teams in regular season and tournament play. He was 80-67 in five seasons at South Alabama, with one NCAA Tournament appearance, before coming to Arkansas.

“I do think John Pelphrey being a young, young guy, there will be a point in time in the future that Arkansas will say, ‘Wow, we had this guy as a coach and look at what he’s doing now,’ ” Donovan said. “I think sometimes when these situations arise, sometimes something turns out to be maybe better for John than where he was at.”

Sports, Pages 22 on 03/16/2011