Muss At Arkansas, A Look Back at the Last Five Seasons

Fayetteville, AR (KNWA)- Hunter Yurachek announced his first big hire as Arkansas’ Director of Athletics on April 7, 2019 when he introduced Eric Musselman a day after he was officially named to replace Mike Anderson as the school’s 13th head basketball coach. Musselman faced a huge challenge beginning in the 2019-2020 season. In the 15 years after Nolan Richardson was fired, Arkansas’ record in NCAA Basketball Tournament games was miserable. Muss was brought in to change that.

The former Nevada head coach, who had an extensive background in both professional and college basketball coaching, didn’t disappoint. The Razorbacks won their first eight games and stood 11-1 going into Musselman’s first SEC season.

Adding Jimmy Whitt Jr. to a roster that included Isaiah Joe, Mason Jones and Desi Sills, Muss’ first Arkansas team ended up with four players in double figures led by Jones at 22 p.p.g., Joe with 16.9 p.p.g., Whitt Jr. at 14 p.p.g. and Sills with 10.6 p.p.g. Even though the season was cut short by COVID, the Razorbacks finished at 20-12 compared to 18-16 the year before.

Year two under Muss saw the first use of what would become his signature portal transfer approach to restocking a roster. Bringing in Justin Smith, Jalen Tate and J.D. Notae, Muss added Montverde Academy 4-star freshmen Moses Moody to produce a winning combination on the court. The Razorbacks jumped to 25-7 on the season with a 13-4 SEC record. In a thrilling end to the season Muss guided the Hogs into the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, equaling in one season the total number of NCAA Tournament wins for Arkansas in the previous 15.

Moody became Arkansas first ever one and done player after going 14th overall to Golden State in the 2021 NBA draft. During his rookie season with the team, the Warriors won an NBA Championship. Eric P. Musselman now had a recruiting hook. Come and play for Arkansas. With my background as a professional coach and my ability to get my players into the NBA you have a path to a career in professional basketball.

Year three saw Muss add Stanley Umude, Trey Wade and Au’Diese Toney out of the portal. In his second season at Arkansas, sophomore Jaylin Williams would become an inside factor on the team. Arkansas went from 25-7 to 28-9 on the season, finishing 13-5 in conference play and once again reaching the Elite Eight, this time by knocking off the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Arkansas’ 74-68 win over Gonzaga brought back memories of the Nolan Richardson era on the Hill.

Muss changed his recruiting strategy for 2023, signing the highest rated freshman class in school history highlighted by three 5-star rookies. Nick Smith Jr. was rated the No. 2 high school point guard in the country. Jordan Walsh was the No. 2 small forward, Anthony Black, the number 15 overall recruit in the nation.

The season started with lofty expectations but Smith Jr. was quickly sidelined with tendonitis in one knee and missed a big part of the regular season. Black and Walsh were promising players but Arkansas fans discovered that even a 5-star freshmen is still just a freshman.

It started out well enough. Arkansas won its first four games, lost to No. 10 Creighton in the Maui Classic but was an impressive 11-1 heading into SEC play. But with Smith Jr. sidelined the Hogs dropped five of their first six conference games and limped into post season play with a 19-12 overall record, 8-11 in the SEC.

A disappointing season was saved with two more NCAA Tournament wins giving Musselman 8 in three years. Once again Arkansas knocked off a 1 seed, beating Kansas 72-71 in the round of 32.

Muss’ final season at Arkansas was a bust. With a team largely crafted out of the portal the Hogs finished below .500 at 16-17 with a dismal 6-12 SEC record. A loss to South Carolina in the second round of the SEC Tournament ended Arkansas long shot hopes of making the NCAA Tournament for a fourth straight season. After that game Musselman spoke of being more motivated than ever but after that he never publicly spoke again as Arkansas’ head coach. More than two weeks of rumors that he was looking elsewhere was confirmed with word that he was interviewing for the vacant head coaching position at USC. This came a day after Yurachek said in an online interview that, “he’s still our basketball coach. Now, this may change tomorrow – you’ll have to ask Coach Musselman that.”

Musselman finished his time at Arkansas with 111 wins and 59 losses coming out on top in 65% of his games, 5th best among the 13 who have coached at the school.

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