UAPB has its own version of March Madness

By Jeremy Muck/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

Starring as Cinderella, Arkansas-Pine Bluff?

Depending on who the next head coach is at UAPB, Golden Lions fans have the right to dream about their team playing in the NCAA Tournament one day.

It has been 15 years since the Southwestern Athletic Conference had a team win a game in the NCAA Tournament. In 1993, Southern defeated Georgia Tech 93-78 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Tucson, Ariz. Southern was a No. 13 seed 15 years ago. Unfortunately for the SWAC, the conference’s basketball pedigree has slipped in recent years and it is common to see a SWAC team lined up against the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

But that doesn’t always have to be the case.

UAPB Athletic DIrector Louis “Skip” Perkins may only be 35 years old, but the man is as wise as they come among athletic directors in the SWAC. Perkins and UAPB recently received a $500,000 donation from Pine Bluff native and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Torii Hunter toward the construction of a new baseball facility for the baseball program. In addition, UAPB is refurbishing Old Pumphrey Stadium for the soccer program, which is led by second-year head coach Roberto Mazza.

The current search for the school’s next basketball coach is a longer one than the football search was back in November. Of course, Perkins didn’t have to go far in finding Mo Forte’s successor, as defensive coordinator Monte Coleman was more than ready to take the helm of the Golden Lions football program. The Golden Lions football program is only two years removed from an appearance in the SWAC Championship Game in Birmingham, Ala., and who knows, they could find themselves back in Birmingham once again this upcoming season, depending on injuries and whether the offensive line has jelled from a difficult 2007 season.

Perkins has called the pool of candidates for the basketball search “tremendous.” The pool of candidates include several current Division I head coaches and assistants as well as former head coaches. The most famous of those former head coaches to pop up in the search was former Arkansas State head coach Dickey Nutt.

Nutt was at ASU for 13 seasons and I had the pleasure of covering his program for two of those seasons while working for the student newspaper at ASU. I followed his teams to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for two consecutive seasons in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and Lafayette, La., respectively. In Murfreesboro in 2006, ASU had no answer for the hot long-distance shooting of Troy. In 2007, ASU came into the tournament as the champion of the Sun Belt West Division. The Indians (now Red Wolves, going into next season) defeated New Orleans and Western Kentucky before falling to North Texas in the SBC championship game.

So when I first heard about Nutt interviewing for the UAPB job, my mind was spinning a little bit. But you see, this is the type of thing that doesn’t surprise me about Perkins: He’s willing to go for it.

Perkins is not afraid of making his athletic department better. During his short tenure in Pine Bluff, the women’s cross country team won the SWAC championship, the school’s first conference title in over 40 years. The women’s basketball program is making strides under Danny Evans, who I’ve been able to relate to a little bit because of his days playing at Oregon State. (I’m originally from Pac-10 country, but you’ll have to go a little bit further north of Corvallis, Ore. to find my old stomping grounds.)

Point being, UAPB is not going to settle for anything but the best. Perkins is not going to allow that to happen for his athletic program. The best hire UAPB made this decade was getting Perkins to leave the state of North Carolina to come to Pine Bluff.

However, the next best hire for UAPB may be the man who will stroll the sidelines at H.O. Clemmons Arena next season. And at this time for the next couple of years, Golden Lion fans, you may get the opportunity to experience March Madness, but on the court instead of off the court.

But for now, UAPB’s shining moment can be the announcement of who will lead the Golden Lions on the hardwood for the foreseeable future.

Van Holt helped get the program back on track this decade. Now it’s up to the new head coach to finish the job.