With every passing hour there is no announcement that Houston’s Kelvin Sampson is the new Arkansas coach, you have to wonder if there’s a different focus and if the focus is on Nevada coach Eric Musselman.
After the Cougars were eliminated by Kentucky in the Sweet 16 last week, every Razorback fan started the clock, watching intently for an announcement.
One that hasn’t come from anyone official.
Musselman is a name that’s been whispered by numerous people for nearly a week now.
After a couple of stints in the NBA that were rather unremarkable, he worked first at Arizona State, then LSU before going to Nevada as the head coach in 2015 and in four years he’s won at a 76.4 percent clip.
He’s had the Wolfpack in the NCAA Tournament for three of his four years. The first year he had a 24-14 record and won the CBI Tournament. Okay, that’s not even the NIT, but it’s in the record and with that record in a major conference they would have been in the NCAA.
The Hogs likely weren’t going to look at a Rick Pitino, for a variety of reasons … pick one. Chris Beard isn’t leaving Texas Tech for Arkansas. He’s a Texas guy and might go to the Longhorns, but that’s a big question mark, too.
Because of Hogs athletics director Hunter Yurachek’s relationship with Sampson, everyone assumed that was a deal done months before the firing of Mike Anderson last week.
If there was a deal — and no one has any evidence I’ve seen there was one — for whatever reason it fell completely apart. Probably because Houston has some boosters who can pony up the financial resources to make the Cougars an attractive job.
All of that leads to Musselman, who is 54 years old, has worked in the NBA and as an assistant at the top college levels. Reportedly he was one of the keys to LSU landing Ben Simmons.
He’s won everywhere he’s been … except in the NBA.
Like I said, that’s not a negative from this corner. Pitino and Calipari didn’t win in their trials in the NBA, either.
You can see on his resume why he might be an attractive choice.
Whether he’s the first choice or not.
