Arkansas Fires Pelphrey

After an 18-13 season that ended with three consecutive losses, Arkansas has dismissed head coach John Pelphrey, according to ESPN.com.

Pelphrey is a former Kentucky star who came to Arkansas from South Alabama, where he was Sun Belt Conference coach of the year in 2006 and led the Jaguars to the NCAA Tournament that year.

Pelphrey was hired after a curious search in which the Razorbacks were rejected by Billy Gilllispie and Tom Crean, among others, and after Dana Altman accepted the job, went through an introductory press conference and then returned to his old job at Creighton.

Arkansas had a number of disciplinary issues within the program during Pelphrey’s time, but the 18 wins this season suggested some promise.

Most important, he had landed one of the nation’s top recruiting classes for 2011, including elite point guard B.J. Young of Florissant, Mo, and shooting guard Ky Madden of Lepanto, Ark.

It has become common in recent years for recruits to ask out of their letters of intent when the coach who recruited them was fired. It will be interesting to see if Arkansas’ five signed prospects follow that course.