FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas assistant coach T.J. Cleveland has been mentioned by the Birmingham News as a possible candidate for Alabama-Birmingham’s vacant head coaching job.
Cleveland, a point guard for Arkansas in 1998-2002, is a Birmingham native and was a UAB assistant under Mike Anderson, who is now the Razorbacks’ coach.
Anderson said he believes Cleveland, who has nine seasons of coaching experience with Anderson at UAB, Missouri and Arkansas, is ready to be a head coach, noting his recruiting abilities and understanding of the uptempo system which he played as a Razorback and has taught as a coach.
“That appeals to a lot of universities,” Anderson said. “Not only that, but you’re talking about the kind of person he is. I think his reputation speaks for itself. He’s one of the hottest young assistants out there.”
Anderson, who is Cleveland’s uncle, said interest in Cleveland by another school reflects “the job that our programs have done, whether it be at UAB, Missouri and here at Arkansas. I think it speaks well of that in terms of people identifying and possibly wanting to talk tosome of the assistants on your staff.”
There have been media reports that UAB Athletic Director Brian Mackin has offered the job to Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy, who played for the Blazers.
But the Birmingham News cited a source calling such reports false.
Anderson, who had an 89-41 record in four seasons at UAB, said he has not talked to anyone at UAB to offer advice on its search.
Mike Davis was fired as the Blazers’ coach after this season despite having a 122-73 record, including 2-0 against Arkansas when John Pelphrey was the Razorbacks’ coach.
Seeking toughness
Assuming all eight underclassmen from this season’s team return to Arkansas and three November high school signees join the Razorbacks as expected, Coach Mike Anderson has two scholarships to offer recruits this spring.
Those scholarships could to go to big men, considering the Razorbacks are losing two 6-9 seniors in Michael Sanchez and Marvell Waithe.
Anderson has been at the National Junior College Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., scouting players, including 6-9 D.J. Bennett from Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College.
“We’ve got to continue to recruit guys with character,” Anderson said. “Obviously, you want talented players, but you’ve got to have some character, and we’ve got to get some toughness.
“I think that’s something that we lacked, especially going down the stretch.
Some things you don’t teach, you’ve got to recruit it.”
Anderson said Arkansas “may not stop” at signing two players this spring, but he added that no underclassman has expressed a desire to leave the program.
Talking with players about the future is part of the offseason evaluation process, Anderson said, which will begin next week when players return from spring break.
“We’ll get a chance to sit down and visit with our guys and find out where we are,” Anderson said. “But we’re full ahead in terms of recruiting and trying to get some more pieces.” SEC vacancies
Along with the addition of Missouri Coach Frank Haithe and Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy next season, the SEC also will have newcomers when Mississippi State and South Carolina fill vacancies after the departures of Rick Stansbury and Darrin Horn.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said he was “kind of shocked” by what happened to Stansbury and Horn, especially Stansbury stepping down after 14 seasons.
“It’s a tough business,” Anderson said.
Not the same
Arkansas went 2-8 in its last 10 games to finish 18-14 in Mike Anderson’s first season as coach, but he was quick to note it wasn’t the same as the Razorbacks closing 1-11, 1-7 and 4-7 the previous three seasons under John Pelphrey.
“Let me preface that by saying, what we did this year ain’t got nothing to do with what took place last year,” Anderson said when asked what needs to be done to stop the lateseason slides. “Obviously,we had some of the pieces that were there last year.
We didn’t have a chance to bring in any particular players.
“If you look at this team and what they did throughout the year, I thought a big part of that was because of the numbers that we had.”
Arkansas began the season with 10 scholarship players and at times was down to eight because of injuries.
“In terms of what took place, a lot of it had to do with inexperience, confidence,” Anderson said of the depleted roster wearing down. “Hopefully, we tackled some of those issues this year.”
Anderson said the Razorbacks “hit the wall” late in the season.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a full roster and have some guys that get better as players, and bring in some guys that are better players,” Anderson said.
“That’s how you ward that off. You get better players.”
Exempt tourney
Mike Anderson said the Razorbacks, who will play in the Maui Invitational in November of 2013, are working to play in an exempt tournament next season, which will allow the team to schedule three additional games.
Anderson said next season’s tournament likely will include games in Fayetteville, as well as one at another site.
Back to work
Coach Mike Anderson said Arkansas’ offseason workouts will begin next week when the Razorbacks will be lifting weights and going through two hours of individual drills per week allowed by NCAA rules.
Sports, Pages 25 on 03/23/2012