Kenny Payne dives deep into player relationships, buy-in at Arkansas
Arkansas associate head coach Kenny Payne — also known as the "Big Man Whisperer" — has instructed his fair share of talented players in 20 years of coaching. Names like Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns didn't reach the NBA on skill alone, but because they bought into what Payne was selling: honesty and buy-in.
In a college basketball world where even the best teams are littered with new faces and personalities every season due to the transfer portal, ensuring cohesiveness amongst teammates is as important as teaching technique.
This holds especially true for the Razorbacks, whose scholarship roster is entirely comprised of players who have never donned an Arkansas uniform. Though chemistry is a concern, Payne and head coach John Calipari have a proven reputation for bringing athletes together with love.
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“When you coach with love, it’s different," Payne said during a Hogs+ interview on Wednesday. "It transcends coaching basketball. When you’re coaching someone with love, it’s timeless. Meaning, when you know that you love them, why you’re in their life and you’re not just there for today or tomorrow, you’re there for the rest of their lives. The indicator of that is when a Coach Cal leaves Kentucky and comes here, the support from his former players. It says a lot about what he’s doing."
Fans of the Razorbacks have seen what happens when a team built from the transfer portal fails to gel together. The 2023-24 campaign was one with high expectations under former head coach Eric Musselman, but even he — the portal "guru" — could never stabilize the roster en route to a 16-17 overall season.
That's why Payne and the rest of the new Arkansas coaching staff find it so important to mold a team together with players who understand their roles and know what's expected of them.
“If these are transactional relationships, they’re not going to work," Payne said. "They’re not. These have to be genuine, honest, forthcoming, truth-telling relationships built on love. If it’s one-sided, just for Arkansas to win and the kid not to reach his dreams, then it’s one-sided.
"If it’s just for the kids to reach his dreams and Arkansas not to win, then it’s one-sided. It has to be a mutual respect and combination of both people getting what they want and a commitment from both sides.”
But how does that process actually work? How does Payne — or any coach for that matter — successfully convince young adults to buy in to the process so they exceed when the lights are brightest?
“In order to get young people to buy into being prepared for those moments, you have to fall in love with the process," Payne said. "If it’s just about the game, you’ll get overwhelmed. If it’s about the process… I’m training today knowing that when we play Alabama, it’s going to be full. They’re going to be yelling and screaming.
"You have to be locked into your job and doing your job. So the process of how we train, the process of how we think, the process of doing it together in hostile environments, and especially here’s the last piece to it — when there is adversity, when they go on a run and there’s four minutes to go in the game, are we going to panic? Or are we going to come together and be close?"
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The next few months are vital for the Arkansas basketball program. Getting off to a hot start under Calipari's new regime in Fayetteville will go a long way in legitimizing the Razorbacks as a powerhouse contender year in and year out, and it all starts with Payne's process of honesty, bonding and buy-in.
"Those things we teach early, and you have to teach them early because in some cases with new teams and with new players, they’ve never seen it before," Payne said. "A lot of this game is built on your mental approach. Not just about your skill and your talent, but how you mentally digest hard things at hard times.”