There was absolutely no surprise in the announcement that the University of Arkansas at Little Rock would not pursue football.
There were 24 million reasons why, and that was just the first year. The costs didn't exactly drop drastically for the second year.
What was encouraging was Chancellor Andrew Rogerson listened to his students. When more than 2,000 students signed a petition asking for a feasibility study about starting football, Rogerson listened and acted.
This is a leader with very little athletic background, but he's a fast learner and he helped find the money to do the study, which obviously revealed it was way too expensive. So the money allocated for athletics will continue to help all the programs already in existence.
The women's basketball program is proof that winning on a consistent level is possible.
The men's basketball program is building a new foundation one block at a time.
When Darrell Walker was hired as the men's head basketball coach the team was coming off a two-year, 22-42 record, and the memory of what Chris Beard did in his one season was still burning hot.
Beard led the Trojans to a 30-5 record and a NCAA Tournament first-round win over No. 5 seed Purdue.
That season the last few home games at the Jack Stephens Center were sold out or very close to it. That was proof central Arkansas will support a team that wins, but winning is the single biggest marketing tool any team has.
Walker and the Trojans were 7-15 going into Thursday night but have had some close losses that showed they have the potential to get on a run. They lost at Memphis 99-89 and at Georgetown 102-94 in overtime.
Before Walker was officially hired there were some financially and politically influential people wanting him for the job, and there were some financially and politically influential people who weren't in his corner.
Rogerson personally interviewed Walker and decided he was definitely worth a shot. You have to like a guy who is not afraid to make a decision at UALR.
Walker and his staff have worked hard since the day he was hired and this season is just a start.
Mike Anderson and the University of Arkansas Razorbacks appear to be getting on a roll just in time to be in the mix for March Madness.
At LSU and again at home against Vanderbilt the Hogs found a way to win in the final seconds rather than lose, and that's a big corner to turn.
They have a huge challenge coming up Saturday when they travel to South Carolina, who is 6-3 in SEC play and coming off an ugly 76-48 loss at Kentucky.
The Gamecocks are a physical team that started slow but since SEC play began are 3-1 at home and their only home loss was to No. 1 Tennessee.
The Razorbacks have won three in a row since a 67-64 loss at Texas Tech in the Big 12-SEC challenge.
Arkansas football ended up signing 25 players, 11 four-star recruits, and was the No. 23 ranked class, but that is deceptive because Ole Miss was No. 22 because it signed 31 players.
One thing is obvious, with what the Razorbacks have coming back and nine recruits enrolled at semester the most important person in the program between now and August is strength and training coach Trumain Carroll. He has to get a bunch of offensive and defensive linemen bigger and stronger.
Success does breed success. The Razorbacks baseball season ticket sales are up over 400 from a year ago with 6,350 sold before the fist pitch.
Dave Van Horn continues to prove you can win at the highest level at the UA.
Sports on 02/08/2019