Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long was the guest speaker at the Northwest Arkansas Tip-Off Club meeting in Springdale earlier this afternoon.

Long spent several minutes reaffirming his support of Arkansas coach John Pelphrey and the issues the program has been facing on and off the court. A wide range of topics were covered. The suspensions, dwindling attendance, academic progress, and the potential for a practice facility, just to name a few.

But the most interesting topic? Pelphrey and his job security, of course.

In his speech, Long said he supported and believed in Pelphrey and what he is doing to build the program despite the tumultuous year. He said Pelphrey inherited some situations that weren’t exactly his fault and he needs time to correct them. Those aren’t exactly unusual comments. It’s something Long has expressed most of the season, which will continue with Thursday’s home game against Florida.

“There is not a quick fix,” Long said. “We’re going to take a reasonable amount of time to do what we need to do. Coach Pelphrey knows that. And again, I believe we will see success here in a reasonable amount of time. And we’re going to give coach that time to build his program and build it in the right way.”

But the term “reasonable amount of time” obviously struck a cord to everyone in the room. In fact, someone in the audience asked what that a “reasonable” amount of time would be for Pelphrey to turn the program around. His response was a little eye-opening.

“It’s not this year,” Long said. “And it’s not next year. That’s a reasonable amount of time. That would be four years.”

Does that mean Pelphrey doesn’t have to worry about his job at the end of the season? Or possibly even at the end of next? Clearly, it was something we tried to clear up at the conclusion of Long’s speech. He was asked by members of the media after the event what exactly he meant by that statement.

His answer wasn’t quite as definitive.

“What I’m saying is don’t try to tie me down to this year, next year, we’re going to continue to evaluate the program,” Long said. “Those people that have asked questions – I’ve referred to it earlier – where people have said are you going to change the coach in the middle of the season? Absolutely not. John has our commitment. He came here, accepted a program that had some issues that needed to be overcome. We’re working on those things. So he needs that time to build the program. I’m not saying it’s this year, next year. We evaluate the program after every year. But John has our support and he’s going to build it the right way.”

So Long was asked one more time: Will Pelphrey be Arkansas’ coach for awhile?

“I expect him to be here this year and well behind this year,” Long said.