FAYETTEVILLE — To say Eric Musselman was excited about the opportunity to coach the Razorbacks would be an understatement.

After ending his initial phone call with Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek last Monday, Musselman told his wife he was going on a five-mile run and sprinted out of his house in Nevada.

When he returned, he locked himself in a room and watched about 20 hours worth of film from last year’s team to prepare for the in-person meeting with Yurachek and deputy A.D. Jon Fagg at his home the following day.

“When Hunter and Jon came, I thought it was really important that I convey to them my feelings on the team and I wanted them to feel how excited I was about the job,” Musselman told reporters Monday afternoon. “It’s kind of easy just to go into an interview and talk philosophy, but I wanted Hunter to know that I am really invested in this from the moment he made the first phone call.”

However, Yurachek was still in the process of whittling down his list of candidates. In his first major coaching search with the Razorbacks, he had a list of about 12 coaches with mutual interest before zeroing in on four or five to interview and compare.

That left Musselman waiting for a few days filled with uncertainty, wondering if he would be offered the job or not.

“The thing that was so exciting is that more I talked to Hunter, the more I was like, ‘I really want to work for him,’” Musselman said. “And so the wait, a day seems like a week, a week seems like a month.”

Three days after their interview in Reno, Nev., the wait ended. Yurachek called to offer him the job Friday, an agreement was reached and signed Saturday and the official announcement came Sunday afternoon.

“My ear was shaking he was yelling so loud,” Yurachek said about Friday’s call. “That’s what you want when you offer somebody a job. He was about ready to jump through the phone if he could have.”

Since Sunday’s announcement, Musselman said he has talked to - via phone call and text messages - several former Razorbacks, including Tony Brown, Patrick Beverley, Corey Beck and Corliss Williamson.

He also had the chance to tour all of the facilities at Arkansas, something he wasn’t able to do when he came to Fayetteville as an assistant coach at LSU in 2015. He does remember, though, the Bud Walton Arena crowd - which was 18,966 for that game - being loud.

“The reputation of being one of the hardest places in the country to win is one of the things that makes this job so, so attractive,” Musselman said. “I was blown away going through the facilities. I had never seen a college institution that has such incredible facilities… It’s kind of mind-boggling.”

The whirlwind continued Sunday evening at Yurachek’s house, where they had a cookout for the players to give them an opportunity to meet their new head coach.

Usually the setting for those kind of meetings is in the locker room, but Yurachek wanted to shake things up and create a more relaxed atmosphere. In between eating, playing ping pong and other games, and watching WrestleMania, Musselman introduced himself and gave about a seven-minute overview of his plan for them.

“As of right now, I am shocked how happy and excited our guys are,” Musselman said. “I think they are happy and I think they are looking forward to us starting out on the court as soon as sometime later this week. I don’t anticipate anybody leaving.”

In addition to filling out the 2019 recruiting class, which includes just one player (Justice Hill) at the moment and has what will likely be at least three spots available, Musselman said his first priority is getting into the gym with the current players.

Even before he completes his coaching staff, he wants to see what they look like on the court, whether it’s individually, in groups or as a team. Off of that, they’ll create individual player development plans and go from there.

“I remember Chuck Daly saying that you never know a player until you actually coach him,” Musselman said. “We’ve watched all this film, but I’ve got to kind of figure out how the pieces fit together.”

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