In 2021, I wrote an article titled “Former Memphis AD Tom Bowen is now the current Arkansas State AD which is quite interesting” because hiring Bowen was a weird choice, given that he was 1) a former employee of Memphis, our unofficial hated rival, and 2) Bowen had “parted ways” with the Tigers beneath a strange, dark cloud. Still, Bowen had something that most A-State Athletic hires lacked, which is deep experience for the job. That made Bowen, along with his good taste in shoes, intriguing to me.

The first thing (and maybe the last thing) Bowen did was install a new basketball court in F’N Bank Arena. What will Chris Pezman’s first official act as athletic director  Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics? Pezman enters the role with fewer emergency mandates than his predecessor, Jeff Purinton, but in the age of NIL, the needs remain many – most of which involve fat stacks of cash. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Pezman, who had served as the University of California’s senior associate athletic director and chief operating officer. was named Houston’s athletic director vice president for intercollegiate athletics in 2017, replacing Hunter Yurachek (which could be the link between Pezman and A-State Chancellor Todd Shields or just a bizarre coincidence). Pezman, who lettered with the Cougars as a football player in the early 1990s, was the first graduate of the University of Houston to be named the school’s top athletic official.

Pezman was on hand when Houston opened the program’s new basketball arena, Fertitta Center, in 2018. The men’s team would see five Sweet 16s during his tenure. Pezman also shepherded the Cougars from the AAC to the BIG 12. He is known for firing Major Applewhite, hiring Dana Holgorsen, firing Dana Holgorsen and hiring Georgia Southern/Tulane head coach Willie Fritz. Under his watch, the Cougars won two bowl games and lost three. In 2021, men’s basketball made an NCAA Final Four. In 2022-23, the team achieved a #1 ranking for the first time since 1983. Before he was dismissed, Pezman signed up legendary hoops coach Kelvin Sampson to another five years in Houston.

And yet, those achievements didn’t prevent Pezman from acquiring critics and enemies. The glaring issue that stuck in booster’s craw? Money. Though Houston was a newly minted member of the BIG 12, the program wasn’t bringing in BIG 12 bucks. According to the Houston Chronicle, “UH’s operating budget was $81.5 million in 2022-23, which ranked last among teams in the four major conferences, according to the data tracking website Sportico. At the same time, UH remains one of the most subsidized athletic departments in the nation, with 58% of 2023 revenue coming from direct institutional support and student fees.”

It isn’t as if Pezman can’t raise money. Case in point, construction is currently underway on the $130 million Memorial Hermann Football Operations Center. That money likely wasn’t found in a Houston truck stop. Still, it didn’t help that Pezman was slow to firing Holgorsom, signing him to an extension that would result in nearly $15M owed to Holgorsom. Flirting with the University of Washington was also viewed dimly by the Cougar elite. Seven years is enough time to see yourself become the villain.

How does Arkansas State parse all this data? On the one side, Arkansas State receives a well-practiced hand who has elevated a program in a state laden with monied, Power Five enemies. On the other hand, we have a former citizen of a power conference now looking to reinvent himself in the far quieter town of Jonesboro. Can a man accustomed to PAC 12 and BIG 12 spotlight find glorious purpose in guiding a program from the Group of Five – a group of conferences the SEC and BIG 10 have openly marked for extinction? Has he enough charm to make friends out of northeast Arkansas strangers? Can he even convince me to chip in more than $20 a month into the program’s NIL fund?

When Jeff Purinton arrived to A-State, he said he wasn’t here to drink wine with the boosters. Pezman may have to serve a few glasses with his own hand, in which case, my own hand is welcome to receive. We’ll certainly learn more on Wednesday, when Pezman is introduced as Arkansas State Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics.

IMAGE: a weird thing AI came up with