FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Stan Heath flopped down in an office chair and let out a deep sigh.
The good ship Razorback seems about one spark away from taking off, just the way the new Arkansas basketball coach dreamed it might. But that doesn't make hectic, frantic hours such as the ones transpiring Saturday afternoon any less stressful, any less worrisome.
One of Heath's prize recruits, Olu Famutini, and his family were down at one end of the hall meeting with chancellor John White. Another target, Ronnie Brewer, was down the other end playing video games with assistant Darren Sorenson. A third, Julius Lamptey, a 6-foot-11 center from Oklahoma City, had just left town after giving Heath a significant verbal commitment earlier in the afternoon.
This is all coming after a late night where 9,500 fans showed up in Bud Walton Arena to watch Heath's first Midnight Madness. And it was coming in the brief hours between two long Saturday practice sessions where Heath was finally able to begin setting the on-court tone for his new team.
"Everything is going good, but still it's a process," said Heath. "It's going to take time. I just want to figure out a way to speed the process up because we have an opportunity to do something special here."
Coaching careers don't move any faster than Heath's the past 18 months, so you can't blame him for lacking patience or an inability to watch the pot come to boil right now. You didn't have to be the head coach to feel the momentum of this program building Saturday.
A year and a half ago Heath was a relatively obscure Michigan State assistant. Then he took over at Kent State, won 30 games and was in the Elite Eight. Then he was named head coach of Arkansas, a program that just eight seasons before was NCAA champion.
Snap, snap, snap. It almost was that quick.
The 37-year-old went from assistant's salary to a multimillion-dollar, long-term deal. He went from doing recruiting grunt work to having a private plane at his disposal. He went from big city, industrial Midwest, to not only trying to figure out what "calling a hog" is, but knowing how to do it.
"I can call a hog now," the Detroit native laughs.
He thinks he can do just about everything here at Arkansas, a place he has quickly made his own. He took over a program that was rocked by the controversial firing of Nolan Richardson, seemed to get everyone on the same page and now has it poised to make a complete 180.
"When I came down here (to interview) and something just clicked," he said. "I realized this was the right place for me.
"I believe we can win it all here," he continued. "You have everything you need here, great facilities, great support from fans and the people at the university. We have a good recruiting base because we are the dominant school in the state and thus have a very good chance to keep top players at home."
That would include the video-game-playing Brewer, a brilliant guard from right here in Fayetteville whose father, Ron, starred with the Hogs in the 1970s. It's probably not a coincidence that a huge painting of the elder Brewer hitting a floating jumper at the 1978 Final Four now hangs in the basketball office lobby.
"Tom Izzo really prepared me well to be a head coach," Heath said.
There is nothing the new guy has done better here than heal some of the wounds left over from the final days of the Richardson era. The old coach went down swinging last spring, still has a lawsuit pending against the school and divided much of this state on loyalties and racial lines.
But Heath has managed to make much of that seem like ancient history. He has been appropriately respectful of Richardson and built the foundation of a relationship with the coach that delivered the program's only national title. Richardson has been an absolute pro about it, supporting Heath while still battling his former bosses.
"I don't think anybody was happy with the way things ended with coach Richardson because he did so many wonderful things here," Heath said. "But I think people said, 'Hey, we're all Razorbacks, let's move forward and support whoever the coach is here.'"
Go reread that quote. A team full of White House spokesmen couldn't have written it better. Heath delivered it off the top of his head with the program's future swirling around him, practice about to start and he on about four hours' sleep.
"That's one of the things that really appealed to me," said White, the chancellor that fired Richardson and hired Heath. "I was watching him closely. I liked the way he handled himself in the game and how he handled himself with the media.
"He has a smile that can disarm anyone. Once he came to campus and met with our search committee it was over."
White was so certain he had his guy the chancellor spent two days recruiting Heath, not interviewing him.
"He recruited my wife, then me. He knew to go right to the source," Heath laughed.
Heath wouldn't mind if White is as effective with Famutini and his family. The smooth, 6-5 wing is a top 10 national talent from Flint, Mich. Heath is using all of his old recruiting ties to get this one done because a commitment from Famutini would not just bolster the Arkansas roster, it would send a signal to every kid in the nation that the Hogs are back.
Heath can't speak about specific recruits but it's clear he senses how close the dominoes are to falling. Lamptey's commitment that afternoon was huge in its own right. Maybe it will spark a trend. But maybe he should try this tactic. Or maybe he should go over the practice plan again. Or maybe ...
"Sometimes you want things to happen so quick. I think things are falling into place and not just with recruiting. I like the attitude of my team, their growth and development. But you have to hold back."
He paused.
"Everything will work out right in its own time frame."
He says that like he wants to believe it but for once isn't very convincing. The man who has ridden a professional bullet train is in the middle of one of the most important weekends of his new program's future.
He is confident he is going to get it done here, eventually. But eventually would feel a lot better if it would just get here.
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