LITTLE ROCK — Gary Blair wasn’t familiar with Tom Collen in 1993, but knew his reputation well.
When Blair was named women’s head coach at Arkansas, he reached out to hire Collen, then an assistant at Purdue. It proved to be a successful marriage as Blair credited Collen with recruiting the players who formed the nucleus of Arkansas’ 1998 Final Four team.
“He was the best national recruiter,” said Blair, now the head coach at Texas A&M. “I fell in love with his personality. He’s very laid-back, but he was a bulldog in recruiting.”
After four years with Blair, Collen left Arkansas for head coaching positions at Colorado State and Louisville before returning to Fayetteville in 2007. Blair and Collen meet for the first time as head coaches when sixth-seeded Arkansas (24-8) plays No. 3 Texas A&M (23-10) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 8:30 tonight at the Aggies’ Reed Arena.
Both coaches have been questioned frequently about facing each other tonight. Collen said coaches generally don’t like playing their good friends in games, especially in the postseason.
“There’s always a winner and a loser, and we hate that,” Collen said. “It’s not really me against Gary Blair. It’s not anything special to me. When it comes down to me, I haven’t put any extra thought into it. It’s just another basketball game.”
But it’s a game against the reigning national champions on their home court. Texas A&M is 95-10 the past seven years at Reed Arena and drew more 6,400 fans for its first-round game against Albany.
“It’s another great opportunity,” Collen said. “The pressure is all on them. It’s a chance for us to showcase how far we’ve come. It’s a win-win situation for us. We want to show we can play with the upper-echelon teams.”
When the NCAA bracket was released, there was immediate attention given to the possible second-round game between the two former colleagues. Collen said he understands the questions and fan interest, but said it’s a nonissue with his players.
“My players only know who Gary Blair is because they’ve been asked 20 times in the past 48 hours,” Collen said. “After the game, we’ll still be close friends, and we’ll play each other next year and the year after that. Hopefully, we’ve got the Gary Blair stuff out of the way.”
Blair said he knew of Collen’s recruiting talents, and Collen proved to have coaching skill as well.
Collen became Blair’s defensive coordinator after one year and was his top assistant the last two years.
Collen, 58, had an impressive head coaching resume before he returned to Arkansas. He led Colorado State and Louisville to seven NCAA tournaments in nine seasons.
“You have to look at the history of Tom, not just at Arkansas,” Blair, 65, said. “Arkansas had been back down at the bottom.”
The turnaround at Arkansas took time, but the Razorbacks are back in the NCAA in Collen’s fifth season. Arkansas’ last appearance was in 2003, Blair’s last season before leaving for Texas A&M.
Blair agreed with Collen that the pressure is on the Aggies in tonight’s game because Texas A&M is the higher seed, higher ranked and is at home as the defending national champion. The Aggies have a hounding pressure defense and a pronounced size advantage over Arkansas.
“Collectively, we didn’t bring our best effort against Dayton,” Collen said. “We need everybody stepping up to beat a team like A&M.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 03/19/2012