Thirty-three years after he hired Eddie Sutton from Creighton University, Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles has gone to the Creighton well again to hire a Razorback head basketball coach.

Creighton’s Dana Altman officially became Arkansas’ head coach at a Monday late afternoon press conference at Walton Arena.

Both on the court and public relations, Sutton brought Arkansas basketball to life during nearly all of his 11-year tenure. Altman’s 13-year record at Creighton, a private Omaha, Neb. based school of the Missouri Valley Conference, bears optimism for the same, Broyles said. Altman is 260-141 at Creighton including a minimum 20

wins the last

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nine seasons. For 18 head coaching years, including one at Marshall and four at Kansas State, Altman is 343-208. Perhaps just as importantly, since Arkansas’ 26 seasons of sellouts under Sutton and Nolan Richardson began slipping Richard- son’s final two years and continued to erode the past five years under former coach Stan Heath, Broyles said, Altman’s Blue Jays attracted an average 15, 909 to Creighton’s Qwest Center this season.

“ Two peas in a pod, ” Broyles said of hiring Altman now to hiring Sutton back then. “ We hit a home run. He can coach. He can recruit. He’s sustained academics. He’s sustained a winning program. He’s built relationships. He’s done it all. ”

Pat Foster knows the Sutton-Altman comparison even more vividly.

The former Arkansas player and former Arkansas assistant coach later the head coach at Lamar, Houston and University of Nevada, Foster directly assisted Sutton for Sutton’s first six Arkansas seasons and says he has coached against Altman.

“ I know him well, ” Foster said. “ A good coach and a good guy. In demeanor, he’ll remind you of Eddie when Eddie first got here. He’s everything they need. His offensive and defensive schemes are solid as a rock. He’s recruited good talent everywhere he’s been. And he’ll win friends and influence people. He’ll bring people together. ”

Only hours on the job, and Altman already seems to have won his biggest immediate recruiting battle.

Arkansas SEC Freshman of the Year guard Patrick Beverley, who publicly pondered transferring after Heath was dismissed, said he’s staying at Arkansas after the team met Altman.

“ I think he’s a good, genuine kind of guy, ” Beverley said. “ And I’m excited to play for him and this type of offense that he provides. I like what he has to offer and I’m going to stick around however long it takes for me to graduate and go to the next level. ”

Altman said he was pleased to begin with Beverley as part of the beginning.

“ I think he just wanted to be assured that the new coaching staff wanted him here, ” Altman said. “ and wanted him to be a big part of the program. I think all the players want that. They want an opportunity and I let them all know that we want him here and we think they all have something that they can contribute to our team. ”

A Nebraska native who took Creighton seven times to the NCAA Tournament and three times to the NIT, Altman has turned down several offers while at Creighton, including Tennessee, Arizona State, Missouri, Miami, Fla, Penn State and Georiga. Iowa was also in pursuit of his services before Arkansas snatched him away.

Altman said he wanted the Arkansas job because of the tradition established by Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson including the 1994 national championship won by Richardson’s Razorbacks.

“ I plan to call Coach Sutton and Coach Richardson, ” Altman said, “ and let them know I sure would like to talk about their experiences here. I talked to several coaches and they all talked about Arkansas’ tradition and fan support and opportunity. Charlie Spoonhour [a native of Rogers and former coach at Southwest Missouri State. St. Louis and UNLV ] was very excited about it. I’m very excited about it. ”

Altman told fans attending the press conference, “ I’m 48 years old, and with your permission, I want to end my career here. ”

University of Arkansas Chancellor John White, who had the final approval of Broyles’ hire, said “ Not only were we very selective choosing him, he was very selective. He wants the opportunity to win a national championship and obviously he believes it can be done at Arkansas. ”

Altman said he had no apprehensions about taking the Arkansas job even knowing Broyles is retiring as athletics director effective Dec. 31.

While Altman has a solid reputation among his peers, many Razorback fans have expressed disenchantment that Broyles couldn’t land some of the allegedly flashier big name coaches he talked the job. Those coaches among others included Texas A & M’s Billy Gillispie, Kansas’ Bill Self, Memphis’ John Calipari and Southern California’s Tim Floyd.

Broyles said it’s very difficult to get a successful, highly-paid coach to switch from one major BCS school to another.

“ I talked to Bill Self, ” Broyles said. “ And he said, ‘ Why am I going to leave the best job in America ? ’ You aren’t going to get a top coach already making the top limit of what he can make to move. The people who have been promoted are like Billy Donovan [from Marshall to Florida ] or Bruce Pearl [from Wisconsin-Milwaukee to Tennessee ]. You don’t see many go from one BCS school to another. ”

Foster, noting the fan infatuation vs. the realities of successfully entrenched major college coaches’ lack of inclination to switch schools, said, “ Frank did as good as you could do. It’s not easy dealing with all these guys making a million and a million and a half a year. They seem to hold all the cards. I think they got the right guy. ”

As for coaching style, though acknowledging it’s not the all-out press that made Richardson’s Razorbacks famous in their vintage years, Altman said his teams “ press 40 minutes a game. We may back up to threequarters and trap or modify it and change defense, but we do press all the time. We play uptempo. ”

Altman said he wants quickly to assemble a staff and start individual workouts and hit the ground running in recruiting with the nationally attracting Real Deal On The Hill AAU Tournament set for this weekend throughout Fayetteville and Springdale.