Jekyll and Hyde personalities probably mean double money to the psychologists who treat them because they can drive those coaching them to the shrink’s couch, too.

Just look at John Pelphrey, the Arkansas coach driven crazy by his schizoid roadsick, homebody Hogs. Pelphrey acted as exasperated with the Razorbacks’ last Saturday’s success over Vanderbilt in Fayetteville as he was exasperated with last Wednesday’s washout at Alabama.

At Bud Walton Arena, the Razorbacks with tough, smart play down the stretch beat 78-73 the nation’s 14 thranked team while that Vandy team shot and played well and its best player, Shan Foster, played magnificently.

Last Wednesday before empty seats at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the Razorbacks lost, 59-56 to an Alabama team playing worse than its 4-10 SEC record.

Pelphrey couldn’t forget that Tuscaloosa tumble. Or that that Arkansas is 2-5 on the SEC road compared to 6-1 in Fayetteville. Heck, back in December the Hogs even lost a nonconference home game to Appalachian State at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock. Apparently Central Arkansas is just too far from familiar Fayetteville and Walton for these Hogs.

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So while Arkansas, 19-9, and 8-6 for an assured second seed in the SEC Tournament behind West champion Mississippi State, had just climbed back on the NCAA Tournament bubble, Pelphrey could only muse how this team would be contending for an SEC crown and assured of a Big Dance ticket had they packed their Walton ways on the road.

They’ve got one more chance to show they can play like Walton South on the road. They visit Ole Miss on ESPN Tuesday night in Oxford before finishing the regular-season hosting Auburn in a Saturday 5 p. m. game on ESPN Classic at Walton.

So the first-year coach wasn’t going to miss a trick, publicly goading the Hogs for this last road game even while fans deliriously celebrated Arkansas’ season’s biggest win to date. Call it calculated crazy.

“ I don’t’ know quite how to say this, ” Pelphrey said in postgame summation. “ I’m happy that we won, but I’m not happy with this team. Today I felt like you saw some courage, some heart, some toughness... I want to see what when we have to pack up our stuff and go on the road. ”

And no, he had not seen that on road, Pelphrey asserted.

“ Nobody loves playing at Bud Walton arena more than I do, ” Pelphrey said. “ It’s electric. Maybe that’s why we do some of the things at home that we don’t do on the road. But we’ve got to have a little more resolve, a little more character. ”

Then he really called the Hogs, not with a Hog call, but calling them out.

“ We don’t need Mommy cutting the corners off our bread all the time, ” Pelphrey said. “ We don’t need our chicken nuggets cut up for us so we can eat them in small pieces. Be men, and go play that way. ”

It’s debatable logic, to be sure, belittling your team’s past when they just prevailed in the present.

But one can see the method to Pelphrey’s madness. Coaching is a combination of nurturing and demanding, but with this team, Pelphrey has found way more need for a kick in the pants than warming their hearts.

It’s the exact opposite, what Pelphrey inherited from Stan Heath, than what former Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt inherited from Danny Ford back in 1998.

Nutt inherited a team that was built Ford tough but had felt beaten down as Ford harped on them through successive 4-7 tough times.

Later, Nutt sometimes paid a price for being too much a player’s coach, but in 1998 Nutt skillfully relaxed the reins, gave the Hogs a pat on the back and filled them with hope.

They responded with a 9-3 season just a fluke fumble away from beating eventual national champion Tennessee in Knoxville.

To Heath’s credit, he left Pelphrey with a talented, senior-laden team that achieved successive NCAA Tournament appearances.

But it’s often been a fragile crew for the long haul, particularly on the road. These Hogs never were perceived as pushed to their limit with Heath’s understated demeanor.

They are under a meaner demeanor now. That’s obvious when a win at Walton gets mentioned with Mommy cutting bread crusts.

Bet Pelphrey won’t be so crusty, though, if these Hogs exit Oxford victoriously.

Nate Allen covers the Razorbacks for the Northwest Arkansas Times.