According to those in attendance, Razorback basketball coach John Pelphrey gave quite the spirited presser this afternoon. Dudley Dawson of Hawgs Illustrated tweeted this during the event: "I would say that this is the first press conference that Coach Pelphrey has won in a long time - seems passionate and energetic."
Pelphrey stuck up for himself:
But I do think because I’m coaching from a couple of different knot-holes of what I’ve experienced, I do have great faith. I think I can turn fear into faith pretty quickly.
And his team:
They are very inspiring at times. They need to continue to work and get better, but they’ve shown they can compete, and I think we are getting better. The attitude the other day was an example of us being resilient and able to bounce back.
He also channeled the spirit of Casey Stengel by uncorking a bizarre rambling monologue or two. For instance, after being asked about his use of the term "overachieving":
"When I think of today being Valentine’s Day and when I think of Valentine’s Day, I think red, and when I think red I think of roses. My wife hasn’t got those red roses yet but she will. I’m certainly very blessed with my family and my kids there. I love my team. I like these guys. They’ve let us coach them. They’ve been resilient and they’ve hung together. When you think red you think of the Razorbacks and I love the Razorbacks – I am a razorback. I love this state, the passion and the energy I identify with. That’s another thing: when you think of red you think of passion. Today for me, there is a lot of red flowing around. Overachieving for me is important for life. You want to overachieve in what you do; you don’t want to be just another guy."
Um ... OK.
Pelphrey had a hard time getting Valentine's Day out of his mind, evoking it again in this slightly icky quote:
"The thing I would say is that with today being Valentine’s Day, the thing that comes to my mind is passion and those kinds of things. I’m very passionate about this team."
For a full transcript, visit Matt Jones' excellent Slophouse blog. Matt also has video of the conference.