Arkansas has signed men's basketball coach Eric Musselman to a new five-year contract with a $4 million annual average running through 2026, the school announced Wednesday. The agreement includes a pair of one-year automatic extensions that can extend it through 2028 based on the Razorbacks garnering NCAA Tournament bids.
“Coach Musselman earned this opportunity based on the tremendous progress that he and his coaching staff have made in the past two seasons, culminating with the most exciting season in the recent history of Razorback basketball," athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement.
Musselman, 56, led Arkansas to the Elite Eight for the first time in 25 years last month before falling to eventual champion Baylor. The Razorbacks are 45-19 in Musselman's two seasons at the helm. He previously went 110-34 across four seasons at Nevada, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2018.
What has made Musselman a good fit at Arkansas?
Brian Bennett, college basketball staff writer: Musselman is a really good coach who understood before many of his peers how valuable the transfer market could be in building a program. He would fit well at a lot of places.
At Arkansas, he found a fan base that is as passionate and hungry for success as he is. Despite having no real ties to the area before coming to Fayetteville, he has quickly endeared himself to Razorbacks fans by playing an entertaining style, not taking himself too seriously and — most importantly — getting the team to its first Elite Eight in a quarter-century.
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How high should expectations be for the Razorbacks moving forward?
Bennett: Arkansas fans’ biggest worry was that another school would poach Musselman; he has frequently been mentioned for high-profile openings in part because of his itinerant career and in part because he was one of the lowest-paid coaches in the SEC.
Now that he’s locked up for a while, Musselman should continue assembling competitive rosters through a mixture of transfers and high-school recruits. Arkansas looks like a preseason top-15 team next season on paper, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the program break through to a Final Four in the near future.
(Photo: Marc Lebryk / USA Today)