FAYETTEVILLE — An ad that ran statewide Thursday in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has garnered much attention locally and some nationally.
Some want to know who placed the ad, but what they are missing is the message that was supported by almost 10,000 empty seats Wednesday night during Arkansas’ 88-78 loss to Mississippi State at Walton Arena.
If you were entrenched in cleaning out your attic and missed the ad, it is an open letter to Arkansas Razorbacks fans asking them, if they are concerned about their basketball program, to write the governor, the administration of the UA and the board of trustees.
Names and addresses were provided in the ad.
The ad and the empty seats scream for the basketball program to be scrutinized.
Which Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long has promised will be done when the season ends.
Chancellor Dave Gearhart and the board may not need to worry, but concern is a different matter.
In fact, anyone who serves on the board of trustees who isn’t concerned, or thinks everything is fine, should resign immediately and let Gov. Mike Beebe appoint someone who does care.
For now, forget how the Hogs disappeared during crunch time Wednesday night and look at something even more obvious - the empty seats.
The estimated actual attendance - translated that means an educated guess - was 10,253, or about 10,000 fewer than the Razorbacks once attracted for a red-white scrimmage.
Even if you take tickets sold (12,412), that is still approximately $200,000 of unsold tickets for a single game, which happened to be senior night and the final home game of this season.
It comes during a season with an estimated average attendance of 8,568 and a paid average of 11,328, both record lows for Walton Arena.
And, judging from direct comments, not everyone there Wednesday night is happy. Loyal, but not satisfied.
This all comes on the heels of the board approving a $35 million bond issue for athletics.
This is not a personal attack on John Pelphrey. He is a nice guy and a good family man, but where the program is today is on him.
No, he should not be fired for losing to Mississippi State, no more than beating Kentucky should have saved his job. But in his fourth season, these are his players.
Attendance may be affected by the economy, but the biggest problem is the team is not consistently competitive.
The question that needs to be asked of everyone listed in that ad except the governor - he really does have bigger fish to fry - is this: Is this team better than the one Stan Heath had in his final season, when he was terminated for a lack of success in the NCAA Tournament and dwindling crowds?
Heath’s last team, which went to the NCAA Tournament, was basically the one Pelphrey inherited, and they went back to the NCAA Tournament the next season, which is Pelphrey’s only appearance in March Madness during his time at Arkansas.
Yes, Pelphrey has a good recruiting class coming in, but this is not the first one that was heralded. His second recruiting class was highly regarded, but only Rotnei Clarke remains on the team.
By now, some of those incoming players may be concerned by the lack of success.
However, the UA powers should not make a change for the sake of making a change again.
The Razorbacks Nation deserves better than that.
The Hogs could still win the SEC Tournament, but that’s probably not going to change a lot of fans’ minds anymore.
Sports, Pages 19 on 03/04/2011