Arkansas

Calipari getting players creating big expectations

Published

2 years ago

June 5, 2024

Calipari getting players creating big expectations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Expectations for Arkansas in John Calipari’s first year are going to be off the charts compared to what Hog fans are used to seeing. They have been high the last few years under Eric Musselman, but this is going to keep climbing, apparently.

Another preseason ranking came out Wednesday and Gary Parrish of CBS Sports has the Razorbacks on a track to be close to the Top 10. Yes, the team that had nobody when Calipari came to town in April is now at No. 13. That’s up a couple of spots after Trevon Brazile decided to come back. That likely played a huge role.

At Utah State last year, Parrish pointed out, Danny Sprinkle took over the program and rocketed them to a big season. He was named coach of the year. The question was asked if Calipari could do the same thing this year.

Razorback fans know all the details. Musselman bolted for USC and the Hogs shocked the basketball world by landing Calipari from a 15-year run at Kentucky where he had the Wildcats at this level every year. Now expectations may start to grow every year at Arkansas.

Brazile started 23 times last year, but only average 8.6 points a game and 5.9 rebounds. That was not what fans (or Musselman) had projected for him. It was part of a dysfunctional season for the Hogs that just kept spiraling downhill amid one wild bit of speculation after another all season. For whatever reason, Brazile hasn’t appeared to be the same since suffering a torn ACL against UNC-Greensboro in December 2022.

Whether they can stay at that level is going to depend on how they fare in an SEC that has seven teams ranked in the Top 25 with Alabama at No. 2. The Crimson Tide will come to Bud Walton Arena at some point (we don’t know when that’s going to be yet) and that will probably be a three-ring circus atmosphere under a couple of big tops.

Now Calipari has to round up the talent to match those expectations. He didn’t inherit anything, but it didn’t seem to particularly bother him as he’d already been recruiting a top-ranked class for the Wildcats and just talked them into following his program to a different town.

“Arkansas is still building, but has already done enough to crack the Top 15 of these rankings,” Parrish wrote.

He’s probably not done, either after getting Johnell Davis (FAU), DJ Wagner (Kentucky), Jonas Aidoo (Tennessee), Adou Thiero (Kentucky) and Zvonimir Ivisic (Kentucky), and heralded freshmen Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond.

Other SEC teams in the rankings include Auburn (10), Texas A&M (11), Tennessee (14), Florida (21) and Texas (22). I’ll save you some searching because that’s now five league teams in the Top 15 of the rankings. It’s no longer just a football and baseball league.

Razorback fans’ expectations are only going higher now. Calipari isn’t complaining or dodging it. Nobody among the fans expected anything less.

HOGS FEED:

• Razorbacks book rematch with John Calipari’s familiar foe

• It’s Not Really Hard to Figure Out Razorback Coach’s Worst Off-Season

• How games turn out doesn’t affect appeal of sports for many Hogs’ fans

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Arkansas

Effort to cut former Arkansas corrections secretary’s position as adviser to governor fails – Arkansas Times

Published

4 hours ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

Effort to cut former Arkansas corrections secretary’s position as adviser to governor fails – Arkansas Times

A legislative panel rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have eliminated former Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri’s job as an adviser to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

A top lawmaker also suggested that Profiri may return to his job overseeing the state prison system, two years after he was fired by the state Board of Corrections as part of a dispute with Sanders.

The proposal rejected by the Joint Budget Committee’s personnel subcommittee would have written into the appropriation for Sanders’ office language eliminating Profiri’s position from the Republican governor’s staff. Subcommittee members voted 9-6 against the amendment, with Rep. Lane Jean not casting a vote.

Republican Sen. Terry Rice introduced the proposal last week, a little over six months after Profiri didn’t appear at a hearing on the now-stalled Franklin County prison project before a committee that Rice co-chairs.

Rice called this a “major trust-breaker.”

“The Board of Corrections members asked Mr. Profiri to share his intended plans as secretary, and they would work with him. He ignored multiple attempts,” Rice said. “I was told during that meeting, he was in the Capitol, had been seen in the hall at the same time. He didn’t even reply and chose to snub legislators’ questions.”

Profiri was fired by the Arkansas Board of Corrections as the leader of the state’s prison agency in 2024, following months of increasing tensions between the constitutionally-independent board and Sanders over opening new beds when the Department of Corrections already struggled to find sufficient staffing. Those tensions eventually resulted in lawsuits, which are still unresolved, and Profiri’s firing.

After he was fired, the Republican governor hired Profiri as a senior advisor, making him the highest paid staffer in her office. Profiri is paid $183,699.98 a year, according to the Arkansas transparency portal.

Jean, a Republican from Magnolia who co-chairs the Joint Budget Committee, asked Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson and Board of Corrections member Lee Watson “what the timeline was” for Sanders to rehire Profiri as corrections secretary, pointing to the new makeup of the board.

“I don’t think there’s any objection to the board, or certainly a majority of the board, to hire him (again). What are we waiting on?” Jean asked.

“What I can say is Secretary (Lindsay) Wallace, she is the secretary, and she will continue as secretary until the governor decides she’s not secretary,” Hudson said. “In the interim, (Profiri) continues to do his job as an adviser to the governor.”

The ongoing lawsuit between the Board of Corrections and Sanders centers on who has the authority to fire the corrections secretary. A Pulaski County Circuit Court judge ruled last year that the board does. Sanders appealed the ruling.

The board’s new Sanders-appointed majority voted to accept a settlement agreement accepting her position that she is the one with firing authority earlier this month, though the lower court order remains in force until the Arkansas Supreme Court rules on the matter.

Sam Dubke, Sanders’ spokesperson, referred the Advocate to Hudson’s remarks when asked for comment on whether Profiri would be rehired as corrections secretary.

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Arkansas

TST Images: Tulsa Drillers defeat the Arkansas Travelers, 11-3, in Tulsa

Published

17 hours ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

TST Images: Tulsa Drillers defeat the Arkansas Travelers, 11-3, in Tulsa

TULSA, Okla –The Tulsa Drillers defeat the Arkansas Travelers, 11-3, on April 19, 2026 at ONEOK Field and The Sporting Tribune’s Robert Sloter was there to capture the following TST Images.

Luke Fox #15 of the Tulsa Drillers throws a pitch during a game against the Arkansas Travelers at ONEOK Field on April 19, 2026 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.