TAT: Malzahn's Climb Began in Arkansas

This article originally appeared on October 31, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

Most people would see no connection between a famous rapper and a Southeastern Conference head football coach.

However, Drake’s line, “Started from the bottom now we’re here,” is a perfect way to describe Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn’s ascent to the top of the coaching mountain.

Just 30 years ago, Malzahn played his senior season at Fort Smith Christian High School and decided to walk-on at Arkansas.

Being a walk-on and a wide receiver in UA head coach Ken Hatfield’s run-heavy triple-option offense, he didn’t get much playing time, so he transferred to Henderson State in Arkadelphia, Ark.

With the Reddies, he caught 24 passes for 288 yards. Malzahn also punted at Henderson State, averaging 35.3 yards per punt in 1988 and 37.7 yards per punt in 1989.

Ironically, the offensive wizard actually started his coaching career as a defensive coordinator at Hughes High School in 1991.

Hughes, a small town in the Arkansas Delta with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, played in Class 2A. The highest classification in the state at the time was 4A.

A year later, in 1992, Malzahn was hired as the head coach at Hughes and led the Blue Devils to a 4-6 record. It proved to be the first and last losing season of his career.

After a 6-4 record in 1993, the Blue Devils reached the state championship game in 1994, but fell to Lonoke 17-13 when their final drive stalled inside the 10-yard line. Some accounts say a dropped pass in the end zone kept Malzahn from his first state title.

Hughes averaged only 21.5 points per game in Malzahn’s first three seasons as a head coach, but that spiked to 27.4 in 1995, helping him land the head coaching job at Shiloh Christian High School in Springdale, Ark. In four seasons, he led the Blue Devils to a 28-17 record.

Similar to his first season at Hughes, Malzahn’s first season at Shiloh saw its fair share of struggles. The Saints went 6-6 while averaging only 19.1 points per game. The low point of the 1996 season came in a Sept. 13 loss to Murfreesboro in which the Saints were shut out 14-0.

That was the last time a Malzahn-coached team failed to score in a game.

Shiloh roared back in 1997, finishing 14-1, but lost to Barton 54-30 in the state championship game. They also more than doubled their scoring, averaging 40.7 points per game.

Over the next two seasons, Malzahn led the Saints to a perfect 29-0 record and two state championships, the first of his career. During those seasons, his offenses averaged 44.9 and 46.8 points per game while breaking several national high school records.

In 2000, Shiloh went 13-1-1 and finished runner-up in the state championship game. Also during that season, the Class 2A Saints tied Class 5A-power and cross-town rival Springdale High School 7-7.

Following that season, legendary Springdale head coach Jarrell Williams retired after 36 years and four state titles. Despite Malzahn’s high-flying spread offense being completely different than Williams’ three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust system, the Bulldogs hired him.

It took Malzahn just two seasons to reach the state championship game, but Springdale lost to Fort Smith Southside 17-10. In 2005, though, the Bulldogs wouldn’t be denied.

Springdale won every game by at least 28 points on its way to a 14-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking by USA Today.

With several high-profile recruits on that team, Malzahn was hired as the offensive coordinator for Arkansas. In 2006, his only season with the Razorbacks, Arkansas went 10-4 and averaged 28.9 points per game.

Here is a map of everywhere Malzahn has coached.
1- Hughes High, 2- Shiloh Christian High, 3- Springdale
High, 4- University of Arkansas, 5- University of Tulsa,
6- Auburn University, 7- Arkansas State University, 8-
Auburn University

Drama with head coach Houston Nutt ensued, so Malzahn left for Tulsa in 2007. Both seasons as the offensive coordinator at Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane finished in the top 10 in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 41.1 points per game in 2007 and 47.1 in 2008.

These highly productive seasons helped land him back in the SEC, this time as the offensive coordinator at Auburn. In his first season with the Tigers, Auburn’s scoring more than doubled.

The next season, Malzahn’s offense put up 41.2 points per game, as the Tigers finished 14-0 and won the BCS National Championship. His quarterback, Cam Newton, won the Heisman Trophy and Malzahn won the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the country.

He returned to the state in 2012 as the head coach of Arkansas State. Under Malzahn, the Red Wolves finished 9-3, averaged 36.4 points per game and won the Sun Belt Conference.

His stay in Arkansas was short-lived because Auburn fired head coach Gene Chizik, a spot that Malzahn quickly filled.

This season, he has Auburn back on the national scene. The Tigers are No. 11 in the BCS standings with a 6-1 record. Offensively, they’re 28th in the NCAA with 37 points per game.

Malzahn will coach against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville for the fourth time Saturday. He is 0-3 in these games and his offenses have managed only 20 points per game.

Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the game will air nationally on ESPN2.

Here is a graph showing how many points per game Malzahn's teams have scored over the years. (Click to enlarge)
1992-95: Hughes High (HC)
1996-2000: Shiloh Christian High (HC)
2001-05: Springdale High (HC)
2006: University of Arkansas (OC)
2007-08: University of Tulsa (OC)
2009-11: Auburn University (OC)
2012: Arkansas State University (HC)
2013: Auburn University (HC)

TAT: Practice Facility Crucial to Basketball Success

This article originally appeared on October 30, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

Just before the Arkansas men’s and women’s basketball teams were about to begin practice, a leak in Bud Walton Arena forced both teams out of the facility.

The players and coaches had to find alternative places to workout and practice. Some practiced in the HPER and the men’s team even held a workout in Barnhill Arena, the basketball teams’ home until the 1993-’94 season.

Ultimately, the water was cleaned off of the court in Bud Walton and the floor was repaired so both teams could resume practicing in their current home.

This does not, however, take away from the fact that Arkansas has a glaring problem in its basketball program: it doesn’t have a practice facility. In fact, Arkansas is the only program in the Southeastern Conference without a basketball practice facility.

This is inexcusable.

Head coaches Mike Anderson and Tom Collen cannot be expected to lure the top recruits from across the country to Fayetteville if they can’t even tell them that they’ll always have a place to shoot hoops.

When Rutgers point guard Jerome Seagears decided to transfer, Anderson and the Razorbacks recruited him to come to Arkansas. Instead, he decided to go to Auburn.

Seagears’ decision shocked many people. The Razorbacks desperately needed a point guard, so he would get a lot of playing time, and they have a rich basketball tradition, which the Tigers don’t have.

The only reason why he would choose Auburn over Arkansas would have to be the facilities, or lack thereof in Arkansas’ case.

The men’s and women’s teams have to share Bud Walton, which means that when one team is practicing, the other team has no where to go.

Finding a time to practice around 12-15 players’ class schedules is hard enough for Anderson and Collen; worrying about the other team’s practice schedule further complicates this process.

Luckily, the people in charge of these things, mainly athletic director Jeff Long, are aware of this need.

In October, Long tweeted that he and Anderson were going to Fort Smith “to talk to an interested group of Razorback Foundation members” about a practice facility. Based on his tweets and comments to the media, it is clear that it is one of his top priorities.

Long has said that the project would cost between $20 and $25 million, which has caused some of the Arkansas fan base to be less supportive than Long would have guessed.

However, if Razorback fans want to return to the Final Four like the men have six times before and the women did in 1998, then they need to make it possible for Long to give Anderson and Collen what they need.

TAT: Remembering the 1999 WNIT Champions

This article originally appeared on October 30, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

Coming off their first Final Four trip in program history in 1998, the Lady‘Backs, as they were known until 2008, expected to make another deep run in the 1999 NCAA Tournament.

However, this is not how it played out for the Hogs 15 years ago.

They entered the 1998-99 season ranked No. 18 in the preseason polls and knocked off No. 19 Stanford in their first game. Despite losing to No. 3 UConn by 36 points the following day, they won their next five games and rose as high as No. 13 in the polls.

After back-to-back road losses to Memphis and No. 22 George Washington, they dropped out of the rankings all together and started the season-long struggle to remain over .500.

Wendi Willits Wells, a sophomore guard on the ’98-’99 team and current head girls’ basketball coach at Shawnee High School in Oklahoma, remembered how challenging the Southeastern Conference was that season.

“Each year is never going to be the same as the year before,” Wells said. “You don’t really know what’s going to happen from game to game because the SEC was so deep.”

In SEC play, the Razorbacks had a record of 5-9 to finish 11th out of 12 teams in the conference, but their overall record of 15-14 was good enough to earn them a spot in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

While it was not the NCAA Tournament berth they had hoped for, Sytia Messer, a senior guard on the ’98-’99 team and current assistant coach at Baylor, said the team was excited to be selected for the WNIT.

“We were the type of team to perform our best no matter what,” Messer said. “We were honored to have a shot at the WNIT.”

Wells’ mindset was similar, as she remembered telling her teammates, “Let’s go win this thing.”

Making the task more difficult for Arkansas was the fact that they’d be without Karyn Karlin, who tore her ACL after only 18 games. Karlin led the team with 16 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game.

“We felt bad for Karyn because she helped carry us throughout the year,” Messer said. “She was a tremendous part of the team and we wanted to play for her.”

In the first round of the WNIT, Arkansas defeated Northwestern State 78-60 at Bud Walton Arena to set up a second round matchup with Oklahoma.

Although the Arkansas’ average home attendance was over 4,000, only 890 fans came to the Oklahoma game because of a large snowstorm.

“We actually expected not to play the game,” Wells said. “There was so much snow. We got to the game and the only people in the stands were ushers and a few fans. The band wasn’t even there.”

Even with the low attendance, Arkansas found a way to beat the Sooners 97-93 in overtime.

Back-to-back wins over Rice and Drake clinched a spot in the WNIT Championship game for the Hogs.

The championship game against Wisconsin was on a Tuesday night. On Monday, Messer’s mother suffered a heart attack. Messer did not play in the game Tuesday, as she went to Little Rock to be with her mother, who passed away that day.

Wells said that she remembered Messer’s mother being at the game just a few days before and it was hard to believe what had happened.

“You grow so close to your teammates in college that you’re basically sisters,” Wells said. “To see one of them go through the loss of a mom, everyone was up that night and reevaluating everything.”

Without Messer, who averaged 12.2 points per game and was the team’s third-leading scorer, the Hogs played with “a lot of emotion,” Wells said.

“We wanted to win it for Sytia. She had been there with us all along and we knew how much she wanted to be there,” Wells said. “We really wanted to come up with the win for her.”

Playing with this emotion and in front of a record-setting 14,161 fans at Bud Walton Arena, Arkansas stormed to a 10-point halftime lead and increased their lead to 14 points in the second half before Wisconsin made a run.

The Badgers cut the deficit to one point with 7:44 left in the game and only trailed by three when head coach Gary Blair called Wells’ number.

“Coach Blair was the master of offensive plays,” Wells said. “He called my play and I was able to knock down the three. (The ball) bounced around a few times, but when it went in, the place went crazy and Wisconsin couldn’t dig out of the hole.”

The final score was 76-64, as Wells and Kamara Stancle, who started in Messer’s place, each scored a team-high 15 points.

Even though she didn’t play in the championship game, Messer was named to the all-tournament team.

“That meant a lot,” Messer said. “I’ve always been proud to be a part of the Lady’Back family and I was proud to be able to go out with a championship.”

TAT: By the Numbers - The Bye Week and More

These stats were originally compiled for the October 30, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

214 - Total points scored in the men’s basketball team’s Red-White game Sunday. Of the 15 players who saw action, 10 scored in double figures, while five scored more than 20 points.

28 - Combined points scored by the three Arkansas freshmen. Bobby Portis scored 18 points, while Moses Kingsley and Manuale Watkins chipped in six and four points, respectively.

4 - Times an Arkansas athlete has been named the Southeastern Conference cross country runner of the week. Senior Kemoy Campbell won the award after winning the Wisconsin adidas Invitational Oct. 19.

13 - Games decided by one goal for the Arkansas soccer team. The Razorbacks are 11-7 overall and 8-5 in one-goal games.

4 - Event sweeps of the top three places by the Arkansas swimming and diving team in their dual meet against Nebraska. They finished first, second and third in the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200 freestyle, 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke.

2 - Double-doubles by junior Meredith Hayes over the weekend for the Arkansas volleyball team. She had 21 kills and 14 digs against Texas A&M and 22 kills and 11 digs against LSU.

1 - Loss by Bret Bielema following a bye week during his seven-year tenure as head coach at Wisconsin. He is 4-1 in games following bye weeks.

43.4-12.2 - Average score of the five games following bye weeks that Bret Bielema coached at Wisconsin. That is an average margin of 31.2 points.

10 - Teams in the FBS, including Arkansas, that played a game in each of the first eight weeks of the season without a bye week. The only other SEC team that did this was LSU. There are 126 teams in the FBS.

.425 - Combined winning percentage, through eight games, of those 10 teams. Only two teams had winning records: LSU at 6-2 and Ball State at 7-1.

50.7 - Points per game scored by No. 11 Auburn in its last three games. The Tigers scored 62 points against Western Carolina and have scored 45 points in back-to-back games, against No. 7 Texas A&M and Florida International.

0 - Times Arkansas has allowed 50 or more points in three consecutive games in its 119 year history. No. 14 South Carolina and No. 1 Alabama each scored 52 points against the Razorbacks in their last two games.

TAT: Hogs in the Pros (Oct. 30)

These stats were originally compiled for the October 30, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

NFL

Week 8

Knile Davis, Kansas City Chiefs

• W 23-17, vs. Cleveland Browns
• 3 carries, 13 yards, 1 reception, 12 yards

Peyton Hillis, New York Giants

• W 15-7, @ Philadelphia Eagles

• 20 carries, 70 yards, 3 receptions, 15 yards

Chris Houston, Detroit Lions

• W 31-30, vs. Dallas Cowboys

• 2 solo tackles, 1 pass defended

Felix Jones, Pittsburgh Steelers

• L 21-18, @ Oakland Raiders

• 1 carry, negative-1 yard, 2 receptions, 20 yards

Darren McFadden, Oakland Raiders

• W 21-18, vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
• 24 carries, 73 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 receptions, 5 yards

NBA

Preseason: 10/22-10/28

Patrick Beverley, Houston Rockets

• 2 games, 2 starts

• Averages: 23.5 min., 7.5 pts., 4.5 reb., 1 ast., 0.5 stl.

Ronnie Brewer, Houston Rockets

• 2 games, 0 starts

• Averages: 16.5 min., 3 pts., 3 reb., 3 ast., 1 stl.

Joe Johnson, Brooklyn Nets

• 1 game, 1 start

• Averages: 23 min., 11 pts., 2 reb., 4 ast., 2 stl.

Jannero Pargo, Charlotte Bobcats

• Did not play 10/24 or 10/25 (coach’s decision)

TAT: Malzahn Returns to Fayetteville

This article originally appeared on October 28, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

The Arkansas football team placed a large emphasis on fundamentals during its first bye week after playing in each of the first eight weeks of the college football season, head coach Bret Bielema said at his weekly Monday press conference.

He also said that several players were able to get healthy and would see expanded roles against No. 11 Auburn Saturday.

“D’Arthur Cowan has had a great week,” Bielema said. “He had his best practice on Thursday.”

Cowan, who missed the first six games of the season with a broken foot, has played in the last two games. The sophomore wide receiver has only one reception for nine yards, but Bielema said he would see action in the punt and kickoff return game, as well as receiver, Saturday.

Sophomore offensive tackle Grady Ollison, sophomore wide receiver Keon Hatcher and junior linebacker Martrell Spaight are completely healthy and will receive more playing time, too, Bielema said.

The Tigers coming to Fayetteville means Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn will be back in the state where he made a name for himself in the high school coaching ranks. He was also the offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2006 and head coach at Arkansas State in 2012.

“I really don’t know Gus,” Bielema said. “I know the history. I might have shaken his hand on two different occasions.”

Although Malzahn and Bielema don’t know each other very well, they have made the headlines together during their first seasons as head coaches in the Southeastern Conference.

About a week and a half ago, members of Bielema’s coaching staff noticed that the Auburn film sent to Arkansas did not match the television tape.

They noticed the Tigers lining up in the swinging gate formation on extra points on the television tape, but that was not in the tape sent from the Auburn staff.

“The SEC office will handle it,” Bielema said. “I’m sure it’s just a glitch. Gus stands for everything right.”

During SEC media days, Malzahn and Bielema fired verbal shots at each other, with Malzahn defending his hurry-up spread offense and Bielema speaking out against it.

Bielema clarified his argument Monday and said that his complaint isn’t about the spread offensive, but that his problem was with the “pace of the game” affecting player health.

Despite these conflicts, Bielema said that this game isn’t about the coaches. Instead, he said it is completely about how the players perform on the field.

However, Bielema said that he knows how Malzahn will feel. In his first year as head coach at Wisconsin, his Badgers were 9-1 heading into their Big Ten finale against Iowa, Bielema’s alma mater.

“A lot of things were built up in the media,” Bielema said, “but it’s been my experience, as a head coach, that it really lessens as game time gets closer. It’s right after the game that it means a lot.”

The game is scheduled to kickoff at 5 p.m. and will air nationally on ESPN2.