HawgBeat Decade in Review: Arkansas' best coaches of the 2010s

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December is flying by, which means another year has nearly come and gone. With the end of this year also comes the end of a decade: the 2010s.

It was a decade that began with promise - Bobby Petrino taking the football team to new heights, Mike Anderson returning to Arkansas and Dave Van Horn coming off his second trip to the College World Series - and had plenty of low points along the way before now trending back up, with new football and basketball coaches and the baseball team rolling at a historic rate.

Before we say goodbye to the 2010s and enter the 2020s, HawgBeat is taking a look back at the past 10 years with a series of lists that will remember the best players, games, coaches and moments that defined the decade.

Next up is our countdown of the 10 best coaches of the last 10 years…

10. Mike Anderson - men’s basketball

Perhaps no hire during the decade was met with as much fanfare as the Razorbacks bringing back Anderson, who was a longtime assistant for Nolan Richardson, as their men’s basketball coach in 2011. He had taken UAB to a Sweet 16 and Missouri to an Elite Eight, so many figured he’d help bring Arkansas back into college basketball relevance.

It may not have gone as well as fans had hoped, but Anderson still had a nice eight-year run in Fayetteville and stabilized the program. He didn’t have a losing record in any of his seasons, led the Razorbacks to three NCAA Tournament appearances and got them on solid ground from an APR standpoint.

Unfortunately, Arkansas’ Sweet 16 drought continued because he could never get over the hump. Anderson came close in 2017, only to see a late lead over eventual national champion North Carolina erased with a few controversial calls.

Despite him not living up to lofty expectations, Anderson is still almost universally loved in Arkansas - even if most of them agreed with Hunter Yurachek’s decision to fire him after last season. That was evident when he returned to Bud Walton Arena for the Nolan Richardson Court ceremony less than seven months later and received a standing ovation.

9. Brad McMakin - men’s golf

The men’s golf team at Arkansas has enjoyed consistent success the last several years, with McMakin leading the Razorbacks to four top-15 finishes in the past 10 seasons.

The highlights of the 2010s include Mason Overstreet finishing runner-up nationally in 2017 and the team capturing the 2019 SEC championship. McMakin also helped the Razorbacks reach the postseason each year of the decade.

8. Colby Hale - women’s soccer

Inheriting a program that went just 9-25-3 in the two seasons prior to his arrival, Hale needed just two years to get the women’s soccer program into the NCAA Tournament.

In his eight seasons at the helm, he’s led the Razorbacks to the postseason six times - including a Round of 16 appearance in 2013 - and ended the decade with four straight runner-up finishes in the SEC Tournament.

The 2019 season was the high point, as Arkansas was ranked in the top 10 most of the year, earned its highest ranking in school history, captured the regular-season SEC title, dominated the SEC postseason awards and earned a national seed for the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

The previous few seasons seemed to be building to that point, as the Razorbacks knocked off No. 2 Duke, No. 4 Florida and No. 11 Auburn in 2016, No. 2 Texas A&M in 2018 and No. 22 Baylor, No. 15 Vanderbilt and No. 18 Texas A&M this season. The biggest upset, though, was a 2-0 victory over No. 1 North Carolina - the eventual national runner-up and a perennial powerhouse.

7. Mark Cook - women’s gymnastics

Arkansas drew national attention when it hired former Olympian Jordyn Weiber as its next gymnastics coach, but the man she’s replacing was a pretty good coach.

Before retiring after this season, Cook - who has been with the program since co-founding it - led the Razorbacks to the NCAA Championships five times this decade, highlighted by a Super Six appearance in 2012.

He also coached an individual all-around NCAA champion in Katherine Grable in 2014 and was a two-time SEC Coach of the Year.

6. Chris Bucknam - men’s track and field, cross country

In the past 10 years, the men’s track and field/cross country programs have combined to win 18 of 30 possible SEC Championships and captured the 2013 indoor national title.

At a lot of schools, that’d be enough to make Bucknam a legend. At Arkansas, however, it causes fans to say, “He won only one national title?” That’s because he followed in the footsteps of the most successful coach in NCAA history, regardless of sport: John McDonnell.

Bucknam enjoyed quite a bit of success from an SEC standpoint during the decade, but tapered off the last few years and failed to replicate the national success of his legendary predecessor. That said, 18 conference titles and a national title is worthy of inclusion on this list.

5. Courtney Deifel - softball

One of the most incredible turnarounds in Arkansas history was led by Deifel. She took over arguably the worst program on campus, as the softball team went 16-37 with just one win in 24 SEC games, and followed it up with another 1-23 mark in her first season.

By Year 2, though, Deifel had the Razorbacks competitive, going 31-24 with seven SEC victories to earn a trip to the 2017 NCAA Tournament - where they lost a couple of close games. In her third season, Arkansas was a nationally ranked program that hosted a regional for the first time. It also won that regional to earn its first trip to the super regionals.

The Razorbacks had a similar season in 2019, going 38-20 overall and 12-12 in conference play while consistently being ranked in the top 25. The key to Deifel’s success was recruiting, as the turnaround was mostly keyed by freshmen and transfers she brought to Fayetteville.

4. Shauna Taylor - women’s golf

Among the women’s sports, Taylor is probably the most likely to become the next national championship-winning coach. Her squad has been ranked No. 1 nationally multiple times and has four top-10 finishes at the NCAA championships in seven appearances in the past decade.

The Razorbacks also won the 2018 SEC Championship and, playing on her home course, Maria Fassi captured the individual national title in 2019.

3. Bobby Petrino - football

Before he - literally - drove the program into a ditch, Petrino had Arkansas football rolling on a level it hadn’t experienced in at least two decades.

The 2010s featured his final two seasons with the Razorbacks, in which they went 21-5 with trips to the Sugar and Cotton Bowls. They were consistently a top-10 team, even reaching No. 3 in the BCS ranking before losing the 2011 season-finale at LSU - a game that likely would have sent them to the national championship.

With Tyler Wilson, Knile Davis, Cobi Hamilton and other players returning, Arkansas was a preseason top-10 team and dark horse national title contender heading into the 2012 season. But then Petrino wrecked his motorcycle with his mistress on the back and then lied about it to his boss, leading to his firing and the subsequent appointment of John L. Smith as the interim head coach and…well, you know the rest.

2. Dave Van Horn - baseball

It’s hard to imagine a coaching being closer to winning a national title but still coming up just short than what Van Horn experienced in 2018. Had one of the three players who surrounded the foul popup managed to catch it, he would have brought home Arkansas’ first championship in baseball. Instead, the Razorbacks had to settle for their second runner-up finish of all-time.

Even though he doesn’t have a ring - yet - Van Horn is still considered one of the best coaches in the game. He was already among the best when the decade began, as he was just coming off a trip to the 2009 College World Series - his second with Arkansas and fourth of his career.

Over the last 10 years, though, Van Horn has nearly reached legend status. He took the Razorbacks to Omaha four times, including the runner-up finish in 2018. In 2012, they probably should have made the finals had it not been for some questionable calls by Perry Costello.

Despite losing a ton of pieces from that 2018 team, Arkansas was arguably better in 2019 and made it back to Omaha - the first consecutive appearances in the College World Series in school history.

Those last two teams featured bonafide aces and All-Americans in Blaine Knight and Isaiah Campbell, plus Van Horn has coached several other incredible players - including Andrew Benintendi, who won the 2015 Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award.

1. Lance Harter - women’s track and field, cross country

After years of coming up short like Van Horn and being overshadowed by a legend, Harter enjoyed a renaissance during the 2010s. The women’s track and field and cross country programs won five national titles this decade, including each of the last three championships that were held.

Harter’s first two titles came in 2015 and 2016, when he won the indoor and outdoor championship, respectively. By the final year of the decade, he had build a juggernaut that captured the 2019 indoor and outdoor championships and followed it up with the first cross country title in program history - a sport in which Harter’s Razorbacks had finished runner-up four times.

By sweeping the 2019 national titles, Arkansas joins Oregon (2016-17) and Texas (1986) as the only women’s teams to win the three NCAA championships consecutive.

Numerous athletes won individual titles, earned All-American honors and became Olympians under Harter this decade and it doesn’t seem like he’s slowing down any time soon.

Dec. 18 - Top Football Recruits of the 2010s (top 10 on offense and defense)

Dec. 19 - 10 Best Football Wins of the 2010s

Dec. 21 - Top 25 Football Players of the 2010s

Dec. 23 - 10 Best Coaches of the 2010s