LOWELL — LOWELL - Arkansas State men's basketball Coach John Brady feels more comfortable in Razorback territory and much more comfortable with his Red Wolves basketball team.
Brady, 13-17 in his first year at Arkansas State, was in Northwest Arkansas at Fast Lane Entertainment on Thursday to speak to an Arkansas State Alumni meeting. About 50 people showed up to hear Chancellor Robert Potts, Athletic Director Dean Lee and Brady talk about the university.
Brady smiled when asked how he felt being back near Arkansas' campus, where he was a popular target for Razorbacks fans when he was coaching at LSU from 1997-2008.
"The state has been great to me," Brady said. "I've had a lot of people tell me, 'We used to hate you. Now we like you because you're kind of one of us now.' I imagine there are still some Razorback fans who may never warm up to me."
The Red Wolves struggled in Brady's first year. Arkansas State started 9-2 but faded during Sun Belt Conference play, finishing 5-13 in conference play and losing its last 10 games of the season.
Brady said the Red Wolves struggled with disciplinary and academic problems throughout the year. The lack of chemistry and outside distractions were major reasons the Red Wolves couldn't win close games, Brady said.
"We just broke down," Brady said. "There were three straight weekends where I suspended a player. The talent was just OKand we weren't good enough to have any distractions. We had some discipline problems that I took care of.
"I had to go through some of that to get where I wanted to be. If you don't discipline and get ahold of it early, you'll never get ahold of it. We sacrificed probably three or four more wins to get the program. We've cleaned it up even more by not bringing some players back."
Brady said this year's team will have eight newcomers, including five freshmen. Only two players remain who were recruited by Dickey Nutt, who resigned in February 2008.
"I think with this group we're going to stabilize the program and not have this much changeover and transition as they've had in the past," Brady said. "I always thought the way to build a program was with a good solid freshman class.
"I think from a talent standpoint we're better, and I think from a character standpoint we're better. You try to recruit good talent but you also try to recruit and eliminate distractions. We got a better collection of talent and people and that's going to make ourselves into a better team."
Lee said he was impressed with how Brady handled a trying year. He said Brady's experience as a coach was evident in the way he kept the team in games while managing the offcourt issues ably.
"He brings a tremendous amount of knowledge, maturity," Lee said. "He has been there. You don't get to the Final Four by sheer luck. He is definitely a proven bench coach."
Sports, Pages 25 on 08/28/2009