Jon Teitel's Coaching Greats Series: Former UALR Head Coach Mike Newell

JT: In 2010 you resigned as coach at Arkansas-Monticello. Why did you resign and what do you hope to do in the future?

MN: I had been at UAM for nine years, and even though I had the winningest decade in the program's history, I had no full-time assistants and a horrendous budget. Down there they care about deer hunting first and football second, while basketball is even farther down the line. You just get tired of beating your head against the wall. I did not get the support I needed. We were ranked as high as 5th in the country at one point. I have not told anyone this before, but I turned down an offer from Marquette because I loved Little Rock. I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers. I recently finished up my summer camps and am giving some private lessons, but in 2011 I will see if I can get an assistant or head job at a Division I program.

Coach Newell is also on Jon's list of best coach

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JT: In 2010 you resigned as coach at Arkansas-Monticello. Why did you resign and what do you hope to do in the future?

MN: I had been at UAM for nine years, and even though I had the winningest decade in the program's history, I had no full-time assistants and a horrendous budget. Down there they care about deer hunting first and football second, while basketball is even farther down the line. You just get tired of beating your head against the wall. I did not get the support I needed. We were ranked as high as 5th in the country at one point. I have not told anyone this before, but I turned down an offer from Marquette because I loved Little Rock. I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers. I recently finished up my summer camps and am giving some private lessons, but in 2011 I will see if I can get an assistant or head job at a Division I program.


Coach Newell is also on Jon's list of best coaches in Sun Belt history.

So I guess you don't have to have coached in the Sun Belt to make that list. Makes sense to me.

I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers.

Say what?

(12-27-2010 09:00 PM)mjs Wrote:  I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers.

Say what?

Obviously a misprint. I heard Newell say many times that he wanted UALR to be the next UAB. He was on the right track. We had the wrong budget and facilities. Now we have the right facilities and presumably the right budget, and that is exactly the program that we should try to be like.

(12-27-2010 10:12 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-27-2010 09:00 PM)mjs Wrote:  I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers.

Say what?

Obviously a misprint. I heard Newell say many times that he wanted UALR to be the next UAB. He was on the right track. We had the wrong budget and facilities. Now we have the right facilities and presumably the right budget, and that is exactly the program that we should try to be like.

but in 2011 I will see if I can get an assistant or head job at a Division I program.

He's not really that delusional, is he? That ship sailed a long time ago.

It's hard not to feel sorry for Mike. He really was one of the hottest names in DI coaching 25 years ago. I believe he really did want to make UALR a big time program. If only the community had really gotten behind him and UALR back then, and built him an arena, who knows where this program could have gone. But unfortunately too many folks only viewed him and UALR as a threat to the program in Fayetteville. That couldn't be tolerated. Being new to Little Rock I didn't understand it back then. I do now. We can have our "nice" little midmajor program in Little Rock in our 5000 seat arena. Just don't rock the boat.

I believe he really did want to make UALR a big time program.

Back then I honestly believed it when Newell said he could make UALR a bigtime program. I think some folks in Fayetteville did as well and that's why they tried to shut us down. They definitely succeeded in making it clear what UALR's place in the State was.

When Alltel Arena was built I once again began to believe it was possible for UALR to have a big time program. Why not? We now had a big time arena in a major metropolitan area. Why not Memphis, Louisville, Cincinatti, or UAB (which is really small potatoes compared to those other 3 programs). I guess I finally realized that the "why not" was the culture in this State that I just don't believe will ever change. We have our core of fans, but most folks here simply see UALR as a nice "diversion" when the Chickenhawgs aren't playing and will pull for UALR unless we get to big for our own britches and pose a threat to THEIR team's dominance in the State. Newell really didn't understand what he was up against. Back then, neither did I.

(12-28-2010 12:25 AM)mjs Wrote:  

(12-27-2010 10:12 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-27-2010 09:00 PM)mjs Wrote:  I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers.

Say what?

Obviously a misprint. I heard Newell say many times that he wanted UALR to be the next UAB. He was on the right track. We had the wrong budget and facilities. Now we have the right facilities and presumably the right budget, and that is exactly the program that we should try to be like.

but in 2011 I will see if I can get an assistant or head job at a Division I program.

He's not really that delusional, is he? That ship sailed a long time ago.

It's hard not to feel sorry for Mike. He really was one of the hottest names in DI coaching 25 years ago. I believe he really did want to make UALR a big time program. If only the community had really gotten behind him and UALR back then, and built him an arena, who knows where this program could have gone. But unfortunately too many folks only viewed him and UALR as a threat to the program in Fayetteville. That couldn't be tolerated. Being new to Little Rock I didn't understand it back then. I do now. We can have our "nice" little midmajor program in Little Rock in our 5000 seat arena. Just don't rock the boat.

I not only feel sorry for Mike, I feel sorry for our program. We had everything heading in the right direction, but Mike didn't know what to do with it. He had pissed off Fayetteville true, but he had backed it up with success on the floor. But, he spent like a drunken sailor in his role as AD for his basketball team, which finally caused the joke of a Chancellor at the time who had given him Carte Blanche, to overreact with the "shut down the program" crap that you referred to earlier.

Like most things associated with our program over the last 30 years of Division I exisitance, like Shakespearean characters, our leaders always have a fatal flaw. It was true in Newell's day, and it continues today. Sad but true.

Geez mjs, so now lack of support, which apparently is UAF's doing (sure, whatever), is what is keeping UALR from both scheduling and beating quality teams, and therefore becoming relevant and launching the program to the next level.

The irony is a trained professional can't see how delusional that really is. Just win the big games and the fans (and better players) will come. Beating 23 nobodies is the problem, not some voodoo-type spell cast by UAF.

And this has to be one of your favorite threads ever. A chance to take shots at both Coach Newell and the Razorbacks at the same time. Merry Christmas..!

(12-27-2010 09:00 PM)mjs Wrote:  I told Bartow that we could make UAM into another UAB, so I kept turning down job offers.

Say what?

I think he meant UALR, not UAM.

(12-27-2010 08:06 PM)TroJams Wrote:  Jon Teitel's Coaching Greats Series: Former UALR Head Coach Mike Newell

I love one comment Mike made about Billy Tubbs. He said Tubbs never put anyone on the floor who wasn't a good shooter. If we followed that formula throughout the years, we'd probably be playing from one to three players at a time most games.

Geez mjs, so now lack of support, which apparently is UAF's doing.

Yes, I do believe lack of support is what prevented us from becoming a big time program. If we had built Alltel, when Newell was here, who know's what could have happened. Once we got Alltel, if we were selling 12,000 seats every game, who knows where this program could have gone. Money drives everything in college athletics and, for the most part, we don't have it.

Yes, I indirectly blame UAF for creating the culture in the State that nothing but the pigs matter. But I understand they do what's best for them. I do directly blame them for the fact that our program almost got shut down. No I can't prove it. But I believe that Fayetteville became threatened by Newell's success and took steps to make sure we didn't get "too big for our britches". Why did UALR's budget deficits suddently come under Statewide scrutiny when every other State school in Arkansas (UCA, ASU, Henderson, UAM, etc.) had been running deficits for years? I just don't believe it was a coincidence that UALR's budget came under fire only after we started going to the NCAA tournament. It's not paranoia when someone is really out to get you.

(12-28-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  It's not paranoia when someone is really out to get you.

But isn't that what most say that suffer from paranoid tendencies..?

(12-28-2010 01:36 PM)Scotto Wrote:  

(12-28-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  It's not paranoia when someone is really out to get you.

But isn't that what most say that suffer from paranoid tendencies..?

Like it or not Scotto, MJS speaks the truth.

You too..!?!

(12-28-2010 02:26 PM)Scotto Wrote:  You too..!?!

Scotto, as good as a fan as you are now, I don't think you were following UALR back in those days, or at least I don't remember seeing you around at the time. And you are a guy I would have taken note of. But MJS is neither paranoid nor incorrect in his facts. King Frank was quite upset about Newell and the attention he was getting, at the same time Broyles was taking heat about Richardson. King Frank made sure pressure was brought to bear. And you and I both know that King Frank had the power to do it back in those days!

(12-28-2010 02:26 PM)Scotto Wrote:  You too..!?!

Me III. It's been a concerted effort to monopolize the fans, recruits, attention, and most of all, the $$$ in this state. ASU has done a little better because they're not in the system. When we got a little attention, all the **** started rolling down the hill.