After a week fit to be tied, the Razorbacks now claim they are tied to who fits.

Fifth-year South Alabama coach John Pelphrey, 38, was announced at a press conference Monday by University of Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles and UA Chancellor Dr. John White as the Razorbacks’ next head basketball coach.

Pelphrey receives a fiveyear contract at $ 750, 000 per year.

At Arkansas, Pelphrey replaces longtime Creighton coach Dana Altman. Altman was announced the previous Monday as Arkansas’ head coach but then, citing pressure from his family and his 13 years at Creighton, resigned the following day to return Creighton in Omaha, Neb. Altman had replaced Stan Heath, now the head coach at the University of South Florida. Heath’s five Arkansas seasons ended with

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his firing on

March 26. “ I feel like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day, ” White confessed starting Monday’s press conference. “ But don’t count on coming to a press conference next Monday. Enough is enough. ”

Pelphrey, Broyles and White both say, fits Arkansas though he was bypassed the first goround even after some strong early recommendations.

Broyles even reached back two fired coaches ago to Nolan Richardson, whose unparalleled national championship success at Arkansas eventually ended with a bitter lawsuit, to describe how Pelphrey, 80-67 at South Alabama and 24-7 and 20-12 the past two seasons, fits Arkansas.

“ Nolan Richardson had a great quote the other day, ” Broyles said. “ He said, ‘ You don’t hire a coach and make him fit. You hire someone who fits the job. ’ He [Pelphrey ] fits the University of Arkansas. ”

Broyles and White said Pelphrey has more SEC experience than any Razorback head coach hired since Arkansas first moved from the Southwest Conference to the SEC in 1992.

At Kentucky, where he was the captain when Richardson’s Razorbacks won the 1992 SEC title, Pelphrey played both for Eddie Sutton (Arkansas’ coach from 1974-85 ) and Rick Pitino, the current Louisville coach. After playing professionally in Spain, Pelphrey was an assistant for one season under Sutton at Oklahoma State and then joined former Kentucky assistant Billy Donovan’s staff at Marshall for two years and came with Donovan as an assistant for six years at Florida. Donovan, the current consecutive national championship coach at Florida, Pitino and former Kentucky athletics director C. M. Newton all strongly recommended Pelphrey to Broyles and White.

“ He’s been there as a player under two great coaches, ” Broyles said. “ He’s coached with Eddie Sutton and Billy Donovan. He’s played in the SEC, coached in the SEC, recruited in the SEC. He’s been there. You can’t always hire a coach who has been there. ”

Pelphrey immediately won fan and team applause Monday by saying he plays the offensively uptempo, defensively pressing style that are Pitino and Donovan trademarks and was Richardson’s hallmark which for years jammed 19, 200-seat Walton Arena.

“ I played against Coach Richardson, ” Pelphrey said, “ and loved his 40 minutes of hell style. ”

Pelphrey differentiated his own style with a quip.

“ We want a mother-in-law defense, ” Pelphrey said, “ Constant pressure and harassment. We don’t want our opponent to be comfortable. ”

So far, Pelphrey inherits virtually intact a team that under Heath and triggered by SEC Freshman of the Year guard Patrick Beverley, did some running while going 21-14 and advancing to the first round of the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year.

“ I think these guys are capable of moving and getting out and doing different things. They did some good things last year — obviously — they won 21 games. ”

Though Broyles said Newton recommended Pelphrey before Broyles received a recommendation on anybody after Heath was discharged, Pelphrey did not meet the “ big-name ” criteria when Broyles first launched the search.

That search led to turndowns from Kansas coach Bill Self, Billy Gillispie, now the Kentucky coach but then at Texas A & M, John Calipari of Memphis, Southern California coach Tim Floyd and Marquette coach Tom Crean before Altman was hired.

Post Altman, the Parker Executive Search firm of Atlanta conducted the search, narrowing it to three candidatesinterviewed by Broyles and White.

“ We got so focused on getting — quote — the big name, ” White said, “ that it stood in the way of saying let’s step back and be very objective of where we are and who is available and assessing. That’s the dispassionate objectivity the firm brought to us. ”

The firm was paid $ 90, 000 plus expenses to hire a coach the Razorbacks already were checking out.

White said, “ We could have hired him [without the firm ] but I don’t know if we would have. ”

Parker Executive Search also was handling Kentucky’s search, and Broyles and White said Pelphrey wasn’t ready to talk until the Kentucky job was filled.

Calling the Hogs with vigor at Monday’s press conference, Pelphrey claims he’s all Arkansas now.

“ My whole life my blood ran blue, ” Pelphrey, a native of Paintsville, Ky. said. “ And I still love my alma mater. But today my blood runs Razorback red. ”

Pelphrey has contract incentives — both athletic and academic — that could reach $ 1 million with a national championship. Presently, he knows Razorback fans just want him still wanting to be the coach come Wednesday.

“ I’ve heard the first day is the hardest, ” Pelphrey quipped. “ This is a dream job for me. I’m not going anywhere. ”

Pelphrey already has hired Tom Ostrum, one of his South Alabama assistants, who also attended Monday’s press conference.