Eric Musselman had a somewhat clouded future in Fayetteville at the end of this season amidst interest from other programs. The outcome became clear a few days ago, though, with a video from Hunter Yurachek, the Razorbacks’ athletic director, indicating a return by Musselman to Arkansas next season.
Yurachek has now explained that video, as well as Musselman’s tenure with the ‘Hogs, on the ‘1 Star Recruits Podcast’. He said the clip came from a previously recorded video that he had some of his staff cut down. He meant it to be a joke toward those who thought Musselman would be leaving to be anywhere but Arkansas.
“You guys are exactly right. That was a video that was recorded a few years ago. That video was probably 30 or 40 seconds in length. Then we edited that down,” said Yurachek. “I had our communications staff edit that down.”
“That video was nothing more than an athletic director trying to have a little bit of fun with some fanbases and naysayers that are saying Coach Musselman is leaving,” Yurachek. “Well, he may be leaving but, right now, he’s still here. He’s still our basketball coach and he’s still driving the bus.”
Yurachek added that this didn’t associate Musselman at all either. This was his idea and him as the leader of Arkansas’ athletic department choosing to have some fun. He also hoped that it would conclude this conversation altogether to end the month of March.
“That is my sense of humor coming across. That was not something that was a coordinated or collaborated effort between myself and Coach Musselman,” Yurachek explained. “My communications team did a great job kind of cutting, splicing that video together from a previous video we had put out a few years ago. Just kind of reused that as we headed into the Easter weekend.”
Arkansas is coming off by far their worst finish under Musselman at 16-17 as they missed the NCAA Tournament. Still, there’s no questioning his success there as their head coach. In total, he has a record of 111-59 (.653) in his five-year tenure. That included a mark of 99-42 (.702) in his four years prior to this season’s losing finish. The program had made three straight second weekends in the three years prior. That tun featured a pair of consecutive Elite Eights in 2021 and 2022.
That resume and this most recent poor finish led some schools to consider poaching Musselman from Fayetteville. However, as of this very moment, he remains the head coach at Arkansas. He will also do so on his current contract rather than on a new deal.
“Coach Musselman, much to his success, has been rumored for multiple jobs that have been open here in this offseason. He’s still the basketball coach, as we sit here today and record this podcast, at the University of Arkansas,” said Yurachek. “He has been well taken care of in his past contracts for where he has had a couple of extensions in the past few years in six-figure increases. There’s not a new contract in place for him this year but that video was just to kind of spell some of the rumors that he’s still our basketball coach.”
Musselman may eventually elect to leave the position for another at some point and that would be his choice. For now, though, Yurachek believes they are paying him handsomely enough to keep him and what he has done at Arkansas going for the foreseeable future.
“Now, this may change tomorrow. You’ll have to ask Coach Musselman that,” Yurachek said. “We very much want him to be an Arkansas Razorback. We feel like, where his contract currently sits, he’s compensated in the Top-12 to 15 coaches in the country. He has earned that compensation and done a great job.”
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